The Absent Gods
Fantasy
Gryphonwood Press
November 1, 2007
324
Taught the sword from childhood, Shanis Malan's only dream is to be a soldier, but a woman cannot join the Galdoran army. When Prince Lerryn holds a tournament in her home town, she believes her dream has come true, but circumstances snatch her from her home and into the midst of a search for a legendary artifact that can save the world from the minions of Tichris, the Ice King--Publisher's description.
I liked this book. Shannis is a good flawed character, and I enjoyed her tenacity and even her occasional tantrums. The supporting characters are interesting and well-flushed-out.
A couple other reviewers mentioned the naming mixups of “Larris” and “Lerryn” (two brothers in the story), and I also found this quite jarring. It is almost as if the author decided to switch their names for some reason halfway through writing the story, and he didn’t do a good job of “Search and Replace.”
I’m engaged enough to read on because of the interesting characters and plot.