
The Seer and the Sword by Victoria Hanley
It's hard to muster up any particularly strong feelings for The Seer and the Sword. It is your standard medieval-adventure-fantasy, with every plot development and character arc foreseeable far in advance, told in sparse and simple prose. It's hard to be too enthusiastic about it, yet at the same time I can't be too dismissive either.
The story revolves around two young royals: red-headed Princess Torina of Archeld, and Prince Landen, whose country of Bellandra has just been defeated by Torina's father. Landen is brought to Archeld as a slave, but is freed by Torina and allowed to join the ranks of King Kareed's army (why the king would have the son of his defeated enemy trained in combat is something of a mystery). Whilst Landen wonders over the fate of the Sword of Bellandra that was seized and concealed by Kareed, Torina finds that she has a gift for seeing fut... Read More