Of all the Mercedes Lackey re-told fairy tales I've read, this is one of my least favorites. Ivan is constantly getting beat up, to the point of broken bones - and yet days later he's able to climb trees & jump fences. My husband bruised his ribs once and it was 3-4 weeks before he could even lay flat! When Ivan isn't half-dead from his latest beating, he's chasing girls. Or thinking about girls. Or thinking about the girls his father and brothers get instead of him - or after him. While there is no descriptive sex, half of the plot revolves around either hormones or violence. We're supposed to root for Ivan the hero becuase he doesn't abuse his girls as his father & brothers do, because the girls think he's good in bed, and because he doesn't enjoy hurting people. I didn't like him because of his constant wenching, his wimpiness (he never does learn to stand up to his brothers), his stealing, lying, and at the end, petty victory over one of his brothers. A hero by comparison to the bumpkins around him is not a hero at all.
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