The Summer Tree (Fionavar Tapestry Book 1) by Guy Gavriel Kay

Loren Silverclock has been selected to bring five people from another world to the festival celebrating the High Kings birth day one for each decade of his rule. In Toronto he chooses Kim, Kevin, Jennifer, Dave and Paul and persuades them to travel back to Fionavar with him. But momentous events are about to take place in Fionavar and the Five are to be caught up in them and none of them will be left unchanged by these events.

I am not a big fan of books with people travelling from this world to a fantasy world. The reasons for that are first that the main language of the other world always seems to be English. It would not be so bad if the story had some explanation like the magic of the crossing gave them understanding of the lands language Etc. The second reason is that the people tend to whine about the things that happen to them. In this book it has the first fault but not the second. I quite liked the book and will likely buy the rest of the series. I thought mot of the time the characters from this world handled themselves quite well. But I really disliked the last chapter and thought it was a really depressing way to end the book.