I got this handsome hardcover from Better World Books. It's Shan's version of a traditional quest-style fairy tale, with some twists: instead of the three sons of a woodcutter, we have the three sons of an executioner, in a land where that role is second-highest in the land, with status only below that of the high lord. Jebel, the skinny youngest son, aspires to the hand of Debbat, lovely daughter of the high lord, but the only way he could possibly win her would be to win the contest determining who'll be the next executioner - a contest that both his older brothers are aiming for, and which many others will also want to win.

Jebel, as we first meet him, is rather selfish, insensitive to the plight of the many slaves in the city, and completely indifferent to the beheadings his father performs on a regular basis. When he decides to undertake a quest to become invulnerable - a mystic quest that few succeed in - he accepts the help of an old family friend to provide him with the required slave to be sacrificed to the god as part of the quest.

To Jebel's surprise, if not to the reader's, the journey teaches him to respect the slave who is giving his help - and his life - to protect his wife and children. Jebel also finds an appreciation for life itself, and by the time he reaches the goal of his quest he's become a very different person...

There are a few more twists in hand, once Jebel returns home; the contest for next executioner, the choices Jebel makes, and the author's casual comments on how this alters the structure of society in his land, are all a bit surprising. Good story!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the book with some entertaining tidbits.]

I left this book, bagged against the elements, on a flowerbed near the Chelmsford Street entrance at around 6; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2017 Allergic to A release challenge. ***