Riddle-Master

I'd like to read this again, because there's a lot here to like but I just didn't really click with it. I enjoyed her later work more. The dialogue here is a little heavy-handed and stilted; and although I like that the second book focuses on the women, it's a lil frustrating that it basically retreads the first. But it feels weird to complain about such a great author bc I know the next fantasy I read is probably not going to be at her level.

Also the repetitive names drove me a little nuts. Morgon, Morgol, Hel, Hed-- enuf!!

Beautiful story. I've read lots of McKillip's later works, but for some reason this original masterpiece of her has been evading me, even though I've had the book in my shelf for couple of years.

McKillip has created an intriguing world, with riddles, land-law, harpists and the elusive High One. McKillip says she was inspired by Tolkien's work, yet there is very little of Tolkien in this story. It is epic in scale, and has interesting twists and turns for a story that's about fate, written in stars long before our protagonist is even born.

Wonderful, and well worth reading.