The hostage prince by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

In this first installment of the Seelie Wars, Yolen and Stemple introduce us to the main characters that we will follow in the trilogy.  Aspen is a Seelie prince living as a hostage in the Unseelie court, his freedom is the price paid to prevent a war between the two.  Snail is a midwife apprentice with a mysterious past (I am sure we will learn more about that later).  The unlikely pair are on the run after circumstances beyond their control cause the two countries to be at war.  They must escape dungeons and traverse the wild countryside, encountering trolls and merfolk on their way to Aspen's homeland and freedom - or so they hope.

This book was a good introduction to the characters and world of the Seelie and Unseelie.  However, it was plainly an introduction.  The action really does not begin until two thirds of the way through the book, and by then I had already begun to lose interest.  I like series, in fact I LOVE series, but I love it more when the books can stand alone and make a good story - especially the first in the set.  If the first set is nothing but setup for the rest of the series, I feel a little disappointed.  And that was this book.  It was a setup, and it was discouraging to read.  I wanted to love it - I love Yolen and I love series, but this one missed the mark for me.