Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn

Young Princess Ivy asks a ghost of Castle Roogna to explain how he died, and the tale unspools through the castle's magic Tapestry: centuries ago the self-healing adventurer Jordan the Barbarian fell for a woman already claimed by a jealous magician, and paid for it in pieces. Ivy's own talent for enhancement lets her do more than watch the story — she can act on it. The eighth Xanth novel is one of the series' most macabre romances.