Inda is a well-thrashed second son, but also a natural leader with a mind of his own, which comes to broader notice when impending war calls him from childhood war games into training with the king's armies in the royal city. Training which turns out to be more complicated than the straightforward Inda expected. His brother's thrashings prepared him for the drills and hazing, factions, politics and betrayals that seem to entangle everything around him and will change his life several times over...

This is a thick, adult-length, lose-yourself-in-it-for-days book that reflects the author's experience writing for young adults. The story is experienced through a group of adolescents, which helps add freshness to some of the usual politics and plotting, while also giving a built-in guarantee of growth and change by the characters. Reading was a bit frustrating at the start for me because of too many unfamiliar names and word usages insufficiently pinned into my memory by the author. I suspect this is a matter of the author being so much more familiar with her world than the reader, since the blurb says she's been writing about it since age 8. But once I became familiar with her world too, I really enjoyed it. The story is interesting and multi-threaded, with a vivid setting and characters you believe in and care about. I'll be interested to see how Inda gets off his cliffhanger in the next book.