After finally putting down "Snow Crash", I quickly turned to the plethora of other books weighing down my bookshelves and picked up "Ysabel" buy Guy Gavriel Kay. Kay is one of my favorite writers. His books are very well written and frankly hard to classify. His works typically fall in the fantasy category in the local bookstores, but it's not the typical hack and slash of any of the Dungeons & Dragons books. His work is more reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien's but he does a better job of turning out works on a more productive schedule.

I've read most of Kay's works -- there's still a few older ones on the list that I haven't gotten around to (I'll add them to the list) -- but if you're interested in reading some of Kay's works, I strongly suggest you start with the Fionavar Tapestry series. There's a tie-in between that three book series and "Ysabel," but I don't want to say anything more and spoil it.

Ysabel is the story of 15-year-old Ned who comes to the Provence area of France with his father -- a famous photographer -- to shoot pictures for a photo book. Ned meets a strange man as he tries to kill time in an old church while his father shoots the outside. From there, strange things begin to happen. Ned can sense when certain people are near. He seems to know things he shouldn't know. What follows is a compelling adventure bringing together the past -- multiple pasts -- and the present. Ned is assisted in his quest by his father and his three assistants, Kate Wegner, a young American foreign exchange student and his aunt and uncle.

The book is a tad over 400 pages, and I started and finished it on Sunday. It's a great book that's well worth your time. For those on a budget, the paperback version is coming out early next year.