This is the first in a new fantasy series (now in paperback), and as there are so many new fantasy series, it takes something special to give a book that bump above the ordinary -- and this book definitely has it. Elliott creates such an authentic sense of place and religion in her kingdom of Wendar, the political landscape comes to life, giving the book an edge of reality that even Martin's Game of Thrones doesn't possess. Instead of starting at the top, Elliott starts at the bottom, with the story of Liath and Alain, two young people who are thrust into the upper echelons of a power that they can't begin to understand -- but had better learn to.

