This is a re-read of a book read a long time ago, which I couldn't remember. It is the kind of thing I liked at the time - kick-ass woman warrior who also has healing and other powers and has an empathic bond with a horse - which has twin horns, just for variety. I wonder if the writer was influenced by Joy Chant's Grey Mane of Morning which also has horned horses and women warriors? Anyway, the character Rifkind is an anomaly in her desert home because she spurns the domestic way of life where the women are practically chattels, and fights to become a warrior and also to win her own war horse. This is all backstory that eventually emerges as the story starts quite grimly where Rifkind returns to her tribe's camp to find the whole tribe wiped out by the other tribes because their leader has broken the warrior code. She has been estranged from her father, the tribe's ruler, and her brother, because of her brother's hatred of her and his basic failure to match up to the warrior ideals - she is much better than him and he always bullied her and used treachery to get the better of her but she has fought through to become a warrior. Her father has become crippled in an accident but has not taken the honourable way out expected, leading to a power vacuum and the fortunes of tribe going severely downhill.

Due to the odds being stacked against her when her sword teacher is apparently murdered with impunity by her brother and his cronies, she was persuaded to leave by a woman healer who has spent four years training her before the story starts, and Rifkind is now sworn to the Bright Moon, one of the goddesses of her desert homeland. Due to the massacre of her people, Rifkind wanders into the Wet Lands where settled people live and worship different gods and soon comes into conflict with them, being viewed with suspicion as a desert tribeswoman (whom the Wet Landers view as enemies) and as a witch. The story tells of how she finds some limited acceptance in Glascardy, a mountainous country, and is used by the ruler, Lord Humphry, to go up against a sorceror who is working for the king. Rifkind goes along with it as the sorceror is an age-old enemy of her goddess who wants her to punish him although she realises that Humphry has his own agenda.

Rifkind is a prickly character, not always likeable, but the main issue with the book is that the prose is written in a very convoluted, 'kludgy' style. I wondered if this was deliberate, to create the effect of a viewpoint character who is from a very different culture, but from what is written elsewhere on the internet, it seems this was Abbey's first novel and she wouldn't have written it that way now. The style does get between the reader and the action, as it slows down what would otherwise be fast paced and exciting encounters between Rifkind and her horse Turin, and their various enemies.

I was also not convinced by the way that a couple of characters appeared to have a personality transformation, starting off as her loyal supporters and for no very good reason turning against her. The book ends as a civil war is erupting, with Lord Humphry trying to become king, and Rifkind going back to Glascardy with one of his sons, Ejord, who appears to be a romantic interest potentially, as she respects his courage, martial skill and ability to plan and strategise, which is an ability she doesn't have. However, this setup is not fulfilled in the second book, which does not deal with the war that was built up to by the first, rather oddly. ( )

This is the first book about Rifkind, a swordswoman and magician from an approximately Arab/nomad culture. It begins with her finding her whole clan has been wiped out, after which she eventually ends up leaving the desert clan and adventuring in the "Wetlands" where there is a more conventional European/medieval style culture. ( )

Average at best.

Rifkind is a savage warrier priestess from a desert tribe. When her clan is slaughtered rather than seek revenge she flees into the "Wetlands" with her horned warhorse.

What follows is a very ordinary 'savage meets civilisation' story. Rifkind learns the peculiarities of eating with a fork, and dancing. Meanwhile her martial skills and magical abilities frighten everyone she comes into contact with, except Ejord, a lesser noblemans' son who is for no explainable reason, immune to magic.

The characters are flat, Rifkind almost gain a smidgin of depth through the rather peculiar process of internal mental soliloquies. The world is dull and uninterestingly typical, only the horns on the warhorse offer any break of unfamiliarity. This would be fine, if the magic system was interesting. But it isn't. It's imbued from moon gods, and there's a Bright and a Dark. And some old ones, but no-body does anything with them.

The prose is ok, flows well enough not to be too disconcerting, the plot just about holds together, although there are a few unexplained features - the old gods and Ejord being major points. There isn't even any redeeming social commentry, the women are all skirts and fashion and the men boars. It's readable but uninspiring. Which is a shame because I've read some of Lynn's short stories and they were excellent with interesting characters, and pathos.

This ebook version also contains a few formatting errors. ( )

Despite the terrible cover, this is a good book! Rifkind, the heroine must try to stay alive and avenge her tribe, using her sword and a limited amount of magic. This book has a mystical feel about it, even though it is not heavy on magic. ( )