Len Bailey, Fantasms

Fantasms

Len Bailey

Starscape (Tor), Mar 2007, $17.95

The evil Fantasms have concocted a new scheme to cause havoc in the Kingdom of Elidor. No more direct assaults by these malevolent insurgents as they used to conduct before their recent setback caused by "the best dang rodeo cowboy in Oklahoma" that pain in their butts (that is if they had a butt) Danny Ray. Instead the evil-doers kidnap innocent beautiful Princess Amber. The diabolical plan is to freeze King Krystal into a state of inactive grief and fear for his daughter and beyond that his loyal subjects.

A simple abduction has left the Kingdom and its monarch so despondent that the depression spreading across Elidor makes the darkness of the Fantasms grow ever stronger.However, Oklahoma Junior Division eleven years old rodeo cowboy Danny Ray and his close friends (Tuk the hellwain devil, Prince Blues, the Sultana Sumferi Sar, Captain Quigglewigg and the Clabbernappers, KarooKachoo the dragonfly princess, Hoodie Crow and the White Lady) take the bull by the horns (perhaps a chess piece or two) as they set sail on a chessboard of immense side to save Princess Amber and the kingdom of Elidor.

Middle school students will appreciate the adventures of confident Danny Ray and his wild assortment of teammates as they land in one precarious situation after another while trying to save the Princess. The storyline never slows down as Danny Ray once again sets out to prove he is the man albeit preadolescent for the job. Len Bailey provides a wonderful young adult fantasy starring a youthful intrepid hero who as he once wisely said in CLABBERNAPPERS, this "is the best dang adventure ever" again.