Rani Trader is a member of the merchant caste by birth, but her parents have bought her way into the glasswright’s guild to serve as an apprentice. The murder of the Crown Prince, however, causes the glasswright’s guild to be destroyed in the king’s hunt for the prince’s murderer – and he’s convinced that Rani is involved.

Now Rani has to try to prove that she had nothing to do with it, and has to discover who really was behind the murder, all the while trying not to get caught for who she is. Her journey leads her through all areas of the city, including spending some time with street kids all the way to living in the castle as the First Pilgrim. But can she discover the truth about the prince’s death before the wrong people discover who she is?

Gosh. Other than Sarah Douglass’ books, it’s been YEARS since I’ve read an epic fantasy book. There was a period when that was the only thing I read. And while I’ve gotten to experience so many different types of books in the past few years, I have missed epic fantasy so much! I think I’m going to attempt to read more of it, and it’s definitely going to start with the rest of this series.

I’ve been wanting to read this for a very long time. Probably since it was first published. But things get added to the TBR list and there are just SO MANY that it takes me so long to get to some of them. And it was certainly worth the wait.

There was really only one thing that I did not like about this book – I wanted to shake Rani so many times when she did not see what was right in front of her eyes. She was a little bit too oblivious about some instances when it seemed obvious what was going on to the reader.

Other than that, I loved this book. It was my favourite kind of fantasy – taking place in another world, a more medieval kind of world, and not necessarily with the magic or mythological/magical creatures… but with a struggle of good against evil, whether that evil be supernatural or not. Where there are kings and queens, merchants, guilds and (of course) evil societies.

Seriously. What’s not to like? It’s got murder, intrigue! Princes! Mystery! What fun!

The Bottom Line: Definitely a good reintroduction to (non-YA and non-urban) fantasy for me. It was a great start to a series – I’ll definitely be reading the rest in the series and really hope I enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this one.