One for the Morning Glory

If you've read anything else by John Barnes, you owe it to yourself to forget that and read One for the Morning Glory. Not that Barnes' other books (A Million Open Doors, etc) are bad, but they're entirely different--this one is a lot more like A Princess Bride or A Face in the Frost, almost like some of the Discworld books but with more subtle hunor.

The tale is of prince Amatus, who drinks of the Wine of the Gods and grows up with his left side missing--not invisible, just not there at all. He grows up with an exiled princess and dashing friends, and with four Companions:

One for the morning glory,
Two for the evening dew,
Three for a man who will stand his ground,
And four for the love of you.

He leads a venture into goblin territory, meets the Riddling Beast and the notorious robber chief Dean Dick Thunder, and defeats a vampire, and battles Waldo the Usurper.

If you read fantasy or fairy tales, One for the Morning Glory should be on your must-read list.