There are so many fantasy books available these days that it is quite difficult for an author to be unique and tell a tale that hasn't been told in some form already.  There are also cases where an author doesn't even try to be unique and thus we have The Innkeeper's Son. This book is packed full of standard fantasy clichés and it comes with a big dose of "deus ex machina" to make matters worse. The characters themselves are pretty typical and when you combine them with a tired premise it all adds up to an experience that has very little unique about it.