The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy: The Wizard Hunters (443 p.), The Ships of Air (475 p.), The Gate of Gods (484 p.) by Martha Wells (1402 p. total in paperback).I was sick all during the holiday weekend (boo!) and too muzzy-headed to concentrate on anything new, so I went for comfort reads. The Fall of Ile-Rien may be my favorite fantasy trilogy ever. I'm fond of all of Martha Wells' books, but I really, really love Tremaine Valiarde, our main character. (Tremaine would object to being called a "heroine.") She's drawn into her country's war effort because it's dangerous and she has a death wish; she discovers that she wants to stay alive because the enemy sneers at her and damn it, if she's gonna die it's gonna be on her terms. I know I'm doing a really bad job of selling this, but Tremaine just delights me as a character. She doesn't follow the traditional fantasy young-hero-coming-into-power path, which makes her growth and experiences much more interesting to me.
Plus the books are full of all of Martha Wells' strengths: well-drawn settings, interesting and varied characters, culture clashes that make sense from both sides. Some day I'll figure out how to describe her books well enough that everyone else will want to read them, too. If we lived in a just universe, she'd be a bestselling author.
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