sdlotu
11/23/2023
A pretty miuch bog-standard sword and sorcery tale, light on magic but heavy on legend. It is a Joan of Arc story about a young girl (early teens) who is called to save a kingdom as the inspirational leader. She hails from a culture of women who have set themselves apart from men, but otherwise is still pulled into the machinations of politics and revolution. Fortunately, it does not have a Joan of Arc ending.
This is the second story in a trilogy, but stands apart well enough that one does not need to read the first book to understand what is going on. The author has a great command of fantasy tropes and language that moved me as a reader, but the military scenes were more sketchy and vague.
Highly recommended for fantasy fans, not so much for SF fans. Excellent writing by a prodigious author of several hundred works, and a good introduction should you need one.