A solid book, though nothing incredible. I'll give this book points for being a unique take on the fantasy genre, but it just wasn't all that compelling and unfortunately dragged at times. I'm happy I've read it, but I likely won't continue the series. ( )

I was bored, I didn't finish it.

This one started off slow, but once I got used to the period style, I was hooked, and ended up thoroughly enjoying it, possibly more than I expected. The book is basically a romance set in a sort of alternate medieval times. What little touches of fantasy are present are very subtle. Overall the book is pretty straightforward period literature. Class and the structure of this little society were a big part of the book, and everything was very well drawn, down to the last detail. I'm glad to know it's a planned trilogy... I'm curious to see What Happens Next. ( )

Meh.

Not enough fantasy elements to really scratch that itch for me, but never committed enough to the romance to fully explore that relationship - this felt like a good idea of a novel that didn't quite get there. ( )

I am wildly in love with this book. It is told through the eyes of Firethorn, a foundling mudchild who grows up under the kind but stern tutelage of a Dame of the Blood. Firethorn learns herblore and pride from the Dame, but after her mistress's death she is adrift. Too proud and grief-stricken to serve under the Dame's nephew (who rapes her, btw--this is not a cozy book), she runs away to the Kingswood. She lives there for a year, nearly starving poisoning herself on berries in the meantime. Finally, she crawls back to the mudpeople's village.
A chance meeting with Sire Galen, a bold and handsome knight passing through, leads her to link her fortunes to his. She follows him to war. Their passion for each other is in constant battle with their prideful natures and the vast gulf between their stations.
Micklem has written a remarkable book. It is not a romance, although love and lust play powerful roles in the plot and Firethorn's motivations. It is not accurate medieval history, although Micklem's detailed and nuanced world seems an alternate to our own. It is not even fantasy, because it is never clear if Firethorn's herbal remedies and incantations are magic, science, or coincidence. It is an often brutal, sometimes sweet, tale of a young woman surviving in a society that holds her unclean and unworthy. The battles, tourneys and love scenes are intense, but no more so than the roiling inner life of the main character. I could barely take my eyes off the pages, and in fact I ended up being half an hour late to work today because I needed to finish it. ( )