The Ikessar Falcon

I am left in awe at the balancing act that K.S. Villoso manages in the Bitch Queen books. Talyien manages to be both incredibly badass yet show her emotional vulnerabilities in an extremely realistic way. Honestly this feels like the most feminist SFF book I have read becuase of that brilliant balance - allowing our character to be both feminine and truly heroic at the same time, without trading or overbalancing in one direction. The level of nuance that is brought is perfection.

The Ikessar Falcon, the second book in this series, brings up that vulnerability a notch from the first yet still keeping Tal as a hard nosed diplomat/leader. The tenderness brought to the role is just so well done.

This is not the most action packed fantasy, a lot of it delves into personal introspection on the characters parts, but when the action ramps up it is also properly epic. There is also a wonderful greyness to most of the characters - capable of doing both good and bad things for good and bad reasons. Everything feels reasonable and believable. The politicking really explores this in a way that is reminiscent of GRR Martin.

The world building is also fascinating - with a definite lean to oriental society but at the same time there is a lot of ‘european' fantasy constructs and tropes employed, with everything nicely balanced.

I cannot sing praises high enough for this series. It deserves far more attention than it has received.