IN THE SUICIDE MOUNTAINS

Uh-oh. A "children's story for adults," wherein three made-for-empathy rejects meet on the mellow shtick road to Suicide's Leap. Chudu the Goat's Son, a magician who'd rather not, has had it with being the repulsive village scapegoat; tiny-waisted Armida has occasioned the deaths of her stepsister and stepmother, but her real problem is that she's secretly "God help her, mannish—complex and quick of mind and as strong as a gorilla"; and Prince Christopher the Sullen, commanded by Dad to battle the unconquerable Six-Fingered Man, is, of course, "womanish," preferring his violin to violence. Before any of them can do the dreadful deed, however, they stop at the Abbot's Ancient Monastery and are treated to three dullish, Abbot-y tales ("Armida sighed"), a suicide seminar, and some free therapeutic advice: go kill a dragon, specifically Old Koog. Armida does the actual lance-on-horseback slaying while the prince fiddles (they'll keep that a secret to preserve the princely image), but when the Abbot turns out to have six fingers (!), Christopher manages to join in the attack. And, when the slain Abbot/villain turns into a baby, there'll be one last tale—about, sigh, Misery. After a moody, entrancing first chapter worthy of Joe Servello's few but fetching illustrations, this shifty fable shakes down to one part cutes, one part philosofad (role reversal, being "born again"), and one part John Gardner word magic (always welcome)—a guaranteed triptych ticket into the trendier Christmas stockings but nothing likely to last into the New Year.