Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey

Ekaterina, or Katya, is the seventh daughter of the King of the Sea. Of all his many children, she is the only one who can walk on land as easily as she moves through the water. She therefore serves her father as his scout, spy and troubleshooter on land, for troubles on land can soon wind up involving the sea. She takes care of a problem for him in far Nippon. The sea-birds there scream of doom and despair, and he asks Katya to look into it, which she does.

Thanks to her innate magic from her Siren ancestors, she can persuade the Traditions to allow her to fit in anywhere she goes. In Nippon, she helps a Kitsune defeat an evil sorceress and save her lover, one of the local lords. In thanks for her help, the Kitsune gives her a magical origami bird which can carry messages for her, and even find the kind of help she really needs.

Aleksandr Feliks Pavel Pieterovich, known as Sascha, is the seventh son and Prince of Led Belarus, and lives up to his position as the Wise Fool. He is also a songsmith, and can persuade the magic of the traditions to keep his homeland prosperous and peaceful. He sings songs to ensure that the cattle are fat and happy, the sheep are healthy and give the best, softest wool, and so on for all the species the farmers raise. Every so often, he also goes on a trip around the kingdom, looking for greater evils that might wish to settle in Led Belarus and persuades them to leave.

He finds that a Russalka has settled in one area of Led Belarus, but she recognizes him and pleads with him not to kill her. She will simply leave. Sascha lets her stay so long as she doesn't kill any man, merely frightens them so that they will never betray a young woman who loves them, and do the same for young woman who might decide to commit suicide after a young man betrays their love. She agrees.

Both Sascha and Katya end up in the same part of the Kingdom and meet by chance near the seashore. He recognizes her as being not human, and she recognizes him as the Wise Fool and Songsmith. But they are attracted to each other, and she listens to him play his balalaika and sing all day, and agrees to meet him again the next. Before she can, however, her father asks her to investigate Led Belarus, which is too quiet to suit him. He fears it is the calm before the storm. She laughs and tells him of Sascha, and her father realizes that she has fallen for him. He tells her to enjoy herself.

That day, she reveals to him that she knows who he is, and he asks her what *she* is, because he knows that she isn't human. She tells him who and what she is, and since neither has anywhere to go at the moment, they end up talking and going on a picnic, where they encounter a white doe. Sascha, knowing the consequences of falling for a woman turned into a white doe, says he will tell the local lord about her. Katya had feared the white doe coming for him, but when she realizes how good and honorable he is, falls even deeper in love with him. They become lovers and share a few glorious days together before her father recalls her to his side for another mission. She promises to return soon, and is sent to investigate the disappearance of a swan maiden and a snow maiden. They have been kidnapped by some man, and Katya pretends to be a simple Beregina, a type of wood nymph, to draw the kidnapper out, but is kidnapped by a Jinn, who takes her to his castle, the former home of a defeated Katschei. Since the Jinn has made its home there, the traditions have forced the Jinn into stealing maidens, and Katya must work with the others to free themselves from the Jinn's grasp.

Meanwhile, Sascha, who becomes alarmed when Katya doesn't return, goes out in search of the woman he loves on his own, encountering many obstacles, such as Baba Yaga herself, and her menagerie of captured servitors, whom Sascha must free if he is to have hope of his own escape. But can he do it, and free the woman he loves as well?

This book is third in the "Fairy Godmother" series, and brings back the characters of Gina and Adamant, Dragons and Champions, that were introduced back in the second book. This book incorporates many myths and fairytales, and brings back the idea of the "traditions", which are rules that govern the types of fairytales characters encounter. The traditions basically will force characters to act in a certain way, but can be manipulated as well. For example, the first son of a ruler will always be a warrior and military genius, while the second son will always be a second in command and able general. A seventh son is a Fortunate Fool or Wise Fool and brings his family or kingdom, if he is a Prince, luck. Sascha's family knows the traditions and pretends to be exasperated with him most of the time, but loves and praises him behind closed doors.

Anyone who has read a great deal of Fairytales will enjoy this series, as it links the tales together and "explains" why fairytales are so similar the world over. And that's only the background to the main tale! The story itself is spectacular and immensely entertaining, drawing on the background of fairytales and yet weaving something new and different at the same time.

Katya and Sascha are similar character types (Fortunate or Wise Fools) and yet have different kinds of talents and powers that become stronger when they work together. Neither is stupid or foolish, though Sascha may pretend to be to put people off guard, and each is capable of looking after themselves in dangerous situations. Both characters are sympathetic and heroic and neither story thread suffers in comparison to the other. Readers will find themselves cheering for both characters, and the ending is satisfying as well as fun to read. This is a book you should definitely read, and I am looking forward to any sequels Mercedes Lackey might write.