Rated 4.5 / 5 from 1 log on Katalog
Listen, it’s perfect for what it is, and what it is is a classic fantasy book, first of three, that feels like a well-loved child of Ursula LeGuin and Robert Jordan. It’s quest fantasy, a familiar good against evil, complete with a plucky protagonist. It’s also got horrific violence, a weirdly compelling evil antagonist, and worldbuilding just developed enough to feel like you’ve just scratched the surface of this massive thing, while also staying in that LeGuin style of lyrical mysticism where magic is less about spells and power levels and more about metaphor. There is magic, yeah, but they’re less Dumbledore and more Gandalf. The author teaches medieval lit in his real life, I think, so the whole thing is very Arthurian in a sense. And the prose is appropriately competent.
