I want to read a book that

[mer]

...is without cynicism
...is wildly romantical without being romance-focused
...is entanglingly character-driven
...has characters with swords
...has mysterious religions
...is written with transparent prose so I don't have to fight my way through it going, "Wait, this is what I wanted, but it's not."
...has assassins. Good assassins.
...and gruff old men with hearts of gold
...and lost heirs in disguise
...and is basically all wish-fulfillment fantasy, all the time, but for girls who used to like unicorns but don't anymore
...and maybe there's a desert. And if there's no desert, there's a mountain fastness. And if there's no mountain fastness, there's a some other fancy, dominating landscape.

I want, basically, The Blue Sword again for the first time. Plus a little Seven Daughters for Seven Sons and a lot of Crown Duel, and maybe even a tiny bit of Dragonsong, with a dash of David Eddings and Mercedes Lackey (no really). And little tiny bit of I Capture the Castle, but only in the voice.

Anyone know where I can find that?

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Swordspoint? Wouldn't say Alec has a heart of gold, but...

ETA: oops, NOT Swordspoint! I meant to suggest The Privilege of the Sword.

Also, maybe Stevermer's A College of Magics. Or A Scholar of, whichever comes first.

[colomon.livejournal.com]

College comes first. (Well, technically When the King Comes Home comes first.) It was also what I thought of right off the bat, though it misses on a couple of the points.

As your first suggestion, there's an awful lot of cynicism in the Kushner books, IMO, but they are absolutely terrific.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I think there's a lot less in TPotS than in Swordspoint though - or maybe it's just that the MC herself is totally not cynical, even though there's just as much in the world around her.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Well, the good news is that I own all the ones you've mentioned, so I don't even have to delay my gratification much.

I read Swordspoint about a hundred years ago... okay, I was thirteen. Do I need to re-read it and Fall of Kings to get Privilege of the Sword?

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Nope. In fact, I read TPotS first.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Awesome.