This book is perfect. I can't believe I haven't read it before! Why aren't stories told like this anymore??? It's clear to see from this novel why Tamora Pierce is a Queen in children's and YA literature. This novel contained fully-formed characters who were kind and loving, intense and emotional conflicts, and a myriad cast full of differing ages, races, and genders. I frankly went into this book expecting the unrealistic rendering of childhood I felt in Alanna's story, but while Daine perhaps should have been aged up a few years considering her relationships with everyone around her, knowledge of her parentage (from the Trickster's Choice duology) allowed me to make an exception for her. Pierce wrote a wonderful story in this novel and I can't wait to read the next books in the series.