Hambly is very good at sticking her characters into terrible, hopeless, horrific situations before she allows the first glimpse of a solution - a talent clearly displayed here. I was seriously slogging through the first half or more of the book, as person after person ran into truly horrific events - some mostly physical, some mostly not (dreams, but dreams they were sure were true). The dark magic attacking them was actually less awful, because less pervasive, than the perfectly normal men acting perfectly normally (for that society) and beating their wives or daughters, belittling or attacking other women...ugh. But I slogged through, the dark magic became more clearly the enemy, and they did finally figure out who and what it was. Happy ending...And possibly the society will become able to encompass the concept of "women who do magic". I doubt it's happened yet, though some of the opponents have figured out reality. I do want to read the next book(s?), but not soon - I need something light, after this.
Oh, one annoying thing - my ebook edition (Open Media) was clearly scanned in, and no one went through and cleaned it up. Lots of scannos - hound for bound, lo for to...some were words and would have required actually reading the book, but just a spellchecker pass would have greatly reduced the errors. "hullyboys" is not a word, though it made me stop and try to decide that - threw me out of the story until I translated it to "bullyboys" (one example of many). ( )

I really enjoyed the world building in this one. I thought at first the naming scheme would be off-putting, but it added to my understanding of the society and the enormity of what the Raven sisters were up against. Definitely an interesting read if you are looking for some solid fantasy. ( )

In a fantastical kingdom in the desert, wizards (who have always been male) are losing their magic—and women are gaining it. Before, women having power was so unthinkable that there wasn’t even a word for women who can do magic. Now they can, and many are being brutally murdered. The king’s concubine and the one woman accepted into the Sun Mage academy join forces to stop the murders. All this set against a tale of religions, classes, and personalities struggling for control as society itself changes. happyelfling and I like King Oryn and Summerchild the best, and in fact, we wish the novel could have focused on them instead of dividing itself into so many disparate characters. There were just too many plot points and characters, and it slowed down the mystery. ( )

This book has more pages than the Herriot I read earlier this year but less content. Modern publishing! Engaging enough but I've think I've grown up past this writer. ( )

i should create a "skimmed" shelf. proof that my reading tastes have changed. ( )