The Riddle-Master of Hed
{4/5} “You are Sol of Isig, caught up by fear between death and a door that has been closed for thousands of years. If you have no faith in yourself, then have faith in the things you call truth. You know what must be done.”
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip, published in 1976
Prince Morgon of Hed went to An and played a riddle-game with a ghost — he won a crown. Morgon later found out that King Mathom vowed the winner of the riddle-game would also have the hand of his daughter Raederlein marriage. Morgon goes to talk to Rood, Raederle’s brother, who he went to school with. When Morgon asks Rood what Raederle will say about this, he says he doesn’t know.
The novel has a sort of Peter S. Beagle feel to it.
It’s the type of fantasy where little things here and there are not explained, and I prefer things to be less mysterious over the course of a whole novel.
I suspect, as with Robert A. Heinlein and Larry Niven’s novels, I would have appreciated it more if I’d read it earlier.
This is the 1st book I’ve read by McKillip.