This book was given to me by a friend who recommended it as I thoroughly enjoyed the author's previous book "Saint Jack and Toad". Like "Harry Potter", "The Necklace of Stones" has a main character who is a young boy (12 years old) and who is unhappy at home and, also, like Harry, the boy is, through circumstance, tossed into wild (and very dangerous) adventures.

The young boy's name is Morgan and he lives in Manhattan with his mother who works as a waitress. His dad is in jail. Morgan isn't at all sure if his mom likes him or considers him more a "little nuisance" than a son and would rather see him gone.

Morgan's life changes on the day he finds an odd necklace composed of flat stones with crude drawings cut into them. He picks up the necklace and is surprised to discover that the stones have nothing holding them together, yet together they remain as though tied "with knots of air". He places the necklace around his neck and, another surprise, immediately it disappears, sinking into his chest as though his chest had become water.

He takes the necklace home to study it further. Immediately his life is in danger. Strange alien Assassins are abruptly appearing with the vicious desire to see him dead. Indeed he is kept from certain death only by the equally sudden appearance of a "protector" who saves him more than once from attackers.

Morgan eventually learns that the necklace now in his possession is in fact a powerful weapon, or rather weapons, with each stone granting the wearer a unique power, i.e., the Wing-stone allows him to fly, the Dragon-stone grants him great strength, etc., ten separate powers in all. Suddenly little Morgan is one of the most powerful people in the universe (with more powers than Superman).

The "protector" (named Mag) is, it turns out, the protector of the necklace-wearer. He is a shape-changer capable of shifting forms and he carries a great sword with him (he likes to lop heads off) that is also a shape-changer, a living being in the shape of a sword named Diabo. Diabo swore to his parents (pacifists) that he would never fight, yet he enjoys combat and so he has made himself into a sword so that, while he technically doesn't fight for he is wielded by another (Mag) he can still taste blood.

But while Morgan now holds great powers he is also in constant and terrible danger as he is continually under attack by strange beings and creatures who want to obtain the necklace from him. Ultimately, he chooses safety over power (and he fears for the life of his mother as well) and decides to return the necklace to its rightful owner.

To do that he must leave New York City and travel to the Old Dominion where the Keeper (an eons old creature in the form of a six-year old girl) lives. The necklace is rightfully hers.

This is a fast-moving novel, a fantasy page-turner. All of the above (and more) occurs in the first 80 pages.

But getting to the Old Dominion and to the Keeper is not easy (they must first solve the puzzle of the "gate" and then must pass through the "Dead-land", for example).

Once through the Dead-land, more unusual assassins (and perilous adventures) await Morgan and Mag (and Diabo) in the Old Dominion. There they are attacked by the "Pouch Carriers" for example, strange creatures with Toad-like faces that carry their life-forces in pouches hanging around their necks. They travel in a pack of nine like wolves and, when attacking a victim, eight of them hand off their pouches to the ninth who then flies off to a place of safety while the others attack. Since their "lives" are now in a safe place away from the battle, they cannot be killed.

Many adventures are included in this book. In one instance for example, Morgan and Mag travel to 1870's New York (to escape death from "The Eating Cloud")and at other times, they also travel to other dimensions.

Unbeknownst to Morgan or Mag, the Old Dominion itself is under attack and the Keeper is having difficulty keeping the entire world (and other worlds) from being destroyed.

There is much imagination in this wonderful book and not a lull in the adventure in all of its almost 500 pages. There is, quite simply, too much taking place to allow a reviewer to easily sum it all up. Almost every page brings the reader a new adventure or a new experience or a puzzle to be solved. (This book, it strikes me, would make a great basis for a video adventure game on X-box). The writing style is very picturesque so that the reader feels right "there" in each scene. This is a great fantasy book. At the end of the novel it says "End of Book One". I can't wait for the sequel.