The two main characters, Prince Aspen and Snail, are as different as night and day.  The prince has been trained to be a royal and Snail is an apprentice midwife.  Aspen is a hostage prince.  His father, a king of the neighboring Seelies, exchanged him with a son of a king of the Unseelies.  If a war were to break out between the two kingdoms, the princes would be the first to be killed, so this is their way to prevent war.  However, Jack, a traitorous ‘friend’ to Aspen, has told him war is about to break out and he will help him escape to go home.  This is all a lie in order to kill Aspen.  Snail and other midwives and their apprentices are locked up in a dungeon about to be sentenced to death for their bungling in the queen’s birth of a new child.  Snail escapes and hooks up with Aspen to find their way out, encountering a myriad of creatures and soldiers.  Aspen may be the prince but it is Snail and her wits and common sense that save them.  They finally make it to Aspen’s home only to find out that there is no war brewing.  The king decides that Aspen’s return might actually cause a war and orders him killed.  He and Snail escape, again, and she thinks they should begin a new free life and he wants to stop the war.  Good descriptive characterization and  plot,  lots of surprise action.  Should be a hit with fantasy lovers.  This is book one of a new trilogy.