From the Kindle Reader Blog (http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/ )



Free Fantasy Novel for the Kindle: Reiffen's Choice (http://kindlereader.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-fantasy-novel-for-kindle-reiffen.html)

http://lh6.ggpht.com/Merralin/SAoU7RuC0BI/AAAAAAAAAMI/E-RY7tM9IH0/Reiffen%27sChoice.jpg?imgmax=800 Reiffen's Choice (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015UB10M?ie=UTF8&tag=thekinrea-20&link_code=wql&camp=212361&creative=380601), by S. C. Butler. Tor Books, reprint ed. 2008. FANTASY NOVEL. Kindle edition $0.00.

With a current reader rating of 4 1/2 stars on Amazon, this epic fantasy novel is currently available free to Kindle owners. It is the first book of the Stoneways trilogy. Book two, Queen Ferris (http://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=queen%20ferris&tag=thekinrea-20&link_code=wql&camp=212361&creative=380601&_encoding=UTF-8), is not yet available for the Kindle.

"Reiffen, only twelve years old, is the true heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking. He and his friends Avender and Ferris live in a magical world of talking animals, dwarves, and shape-shifting bears but…he lives with the shame of knowing that no one will ever let him rule these kingdoms, that their crowns will bring him nothing but betrayal and sorrow…and that he is powerless. Reiffen will have only a short life of child’s innocence, a brief respite from the trial of impossible adult responsibility, the trial of attempting to finish a task he can never complete." - Amazon book description.

Reiffen's Choice received a favorable review at Sci-Fi.com (http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw13671.html).

Here comes some guesswork, they're giving away volume 1, because volume 2 is due to be released soon? The release date of the hardcover is October 30th. 6 months from this date falls on the 30th of April. Perhaps that's when the Kindle version is due for release. Certainly it would be pretty daft for them to release the free volume 1 if volume 2 isn't due on Kindle soon.

In any case, this to me sounds like good news. If an author/publisher is prepared to give away the first book of a trilogy because they feel it's good enough that you'll buy the rest then I'm more likely to read it. And conversely, I might read volume 1 and by the end feel it's been a slog and not want to read any further.

This is the current free e-book from Tor's weekly book giveaway. See this thread for more details: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20367

I wonder if Amazon is just piggybacking on Tor's giveaway...