Two-time Campbell Award–finalist Lisle (Midnight Rain
) tries to show she can handle shifts between first- and third-person in her latest fantasy, but the mental channel-flipping only serves to distract from an otherwise extremely well-written story. It's fascinating to be in the head of Talyn of the Tonks as she deals with being a career soldier abruptly dismissed when the foreigners known as Feegash broker a cease-fire in the 300-year war between her people and the neighboring Eastils. It's intriguing to also see through the eyes of Skirmig, her deeply twisted and controlling Feegash lover, and Gair, the Eastil captain who helps her incite rebellion once they realize the mutual disarmament is a way for the Feegash to take over both countries at once. Anyone who can get past "I thought about him" suddenly turning into "he thought about her" in the space of a paragraph and the plot-spoiling that inevitably stems from head-hopping will likely be captivated by this stern and stirring treatise on the dangers of enforced peace and the virtues of paranoid preparation for the worst. Agent, Robin Rue at Writers House. (Aug. 18)
