The Navigating Fox

Rowe’s (These Prisoning Hills) novella takes the species range that made Zootopia so much fun and combines it with the fantasy and sheer magic of Brian Jacques’s Redwall to tell the story of a clever, “knowledgeable” fox on a quest to save his reputation (as his world’s only navigator of the magic byways) from a conniving, blackmailing priest with a self-aggrandizing agenda. Quintus Shu’al has been coerced into leading an ill-assorted party of mapmaking racoons, ambassadorial water buffaloes, and badly prepared humans, among others, on a trip to Hell. It may be a one-way trip for some of the travelers, but the navigating fox is good at maneuvering his way out of trouble. Quintus Shu’al is everything a hero should be—overconfident enough to get into trouble, while clever enough to get himself out. His journey to rescue his reputation and give his enemy exactly what he deserves is the kind of fable that fantasy readers will love, while his world has everything it needs to keep readers enthralled and hoping for more.