"The truth is a riddle wrapped in an enigma--or sometimes in a nicepiece of hot flat bread fresh from the oven. That's my friend Etjole." Sosurmises the boisterous sword-swinger Simna Ibn Sind, one of three fantasticalcompanions that the seemingly simple Ejtole Ehomba has gathered in hiswanderings through the three-book Journeys of the Catechist series (preceded byInto the ThinkingKingdoms and Carnivoresof Light and Darkness--Triumph of Souls concludes the series).But as every fan knows (at times, unfortunately, to the point of eye-rolling),the self-effacing Ehomba only seems simple: Alan Dean Foster's answer toBaron Von Munchhausen is a modest, humble sheperd who talks with dolphins,fights tornadoes, summons man-eating sharks out of the air, and plays music thatwill make the snow dance. And that, predictably, is not the half of it.Fulfilling the dying-gasp request of Tarin Beckwith from book 1, Etjole isfinally getting around to rescuing the Visioness Thermaryl of Laconda from theevil clutches of Hymneth the Possessed, a very disagreeable sorcerer-type. Alongwith Simna and his two other companions, the big talking cat, Ahlitak, and thehulking man-beast, Hunkapan Aub, Etjole dutifully heads west to rescue thedamsel, but must first control the four winds, get his ship towed by ajet-propelled Kraken (for, literally, the price of a big cup of coffee), staredown skeletons, dupe demons, and all other sorts of such likable nonsense.--Paul Hughes
