"Kedrigern in Wanderland" by John Morressy

"Not at all, my boy. You can do great things with herbs. Nice clean kind of magic, too. And if it doesn't work, you've at least got the beginnings of a decent salad. You can't go wrong with herbs."

Lazy wizard Kedrigern is enjoying his time at home on Silent Thunder Mountain with his lovely -if a bit manipulative- wife Princess. Their third anniversary is coming up, so Kedrigern is already thinking about a nice present. Unfortunately it's a magic wand that Princess desires, and a decent wand happens to be very hard to come by. It means travelling, and that's the one thing that Kedrigern hates the most.

But the kindly wizard can't deny his wife anything, so the pair set out in search of the trinket. On their path, they encounter a princess who has been turned into a sword, and who is looking for her brother and sister (who are now a shield and a crown respectively) and they decide to help her find her way back to her kingdom. The story also features the world's worst fairy tale writer, a trio of malicious (albeit not too clever) witches, an evil wizard and a devious bog fairy.

"Kedrigern in Wanderland" is number three in the series, after "A Voice for Princess" and "The Questing of Kedrigern". To be fair, there isn't too much difference with the earlier books. Kedrigern goes travelling and needs to help some people who have been transformed by a spell. The basic story is always the same. But then it's been a while since I read the first two books and it was pleasure to meet Kedrigern again. A very light and quick read. Original it isn't, but it's so much fun.

Author: John Morressy
Title: Kedrigern in Wanderland
Publisher: Ace, New York
Year: 1988
Number of pages: 247 p.
ISBN: 0441432646