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  Let your mind be like the eye of the hawk…Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him. In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction. If Khai is to keep his soul’s twin Zariya alive, their only hope lies with an unlikely crew of prophecy-seekers on a journey that will take them farther beneath the starless skies than anyone can imagine. -- Why did you choose to read this book?

Full disclosure: Jacqueline Carey is my favorite author. She writes high fantasy, urban fantasy, and science fiction along with some other things thrown in for fun. Her prose is fantastic no matter the style and I love her diverse characters. I’m not super objective about this one.

The first half of this book is like one long, glorious training montage. I don’t know about you but I love a good montage. I also love that it is a stand-alone book. Sometimes I don’t feel like committing to a series and I want my plot wrapped up in one; this book delivers.

One of the main characters is disabled yet fierce, independent, and capable. She’s not portrayed as lesser or pitied. There is great LGBT representation in it as well, which I won’t go into because spoilers.

Anyone who liked the game Assassin’s Creed but thought it needed more magic. Also, anyone who likes fantasy books with great characters and an adventure.

A night of stargazing in the desert. But, considering we don’t have a ton of desert in North Carolina, the stargazing at the beach would also work well.