2009 book 55

Alison Croggon's The Naming
Ah, fantasy epics, you're all the same. Take one orphan living in depressing circumstances, have him or her be revealed as having special powers, then reveal further that he or she is some sort of chosen one who must defeat some evil power or another. All of those elements are here--a young slave girl turns out to be a Bard, and has special powers, plus she's the chosen one. There's way too much traveling on dangerous roads in this story, plus an abundance of capital letters to make words sound Special and Meaningful. Some of the characters were very likable though. I mean, I enjoyed it enough to read the whole thing, but haven't decided if I'll read the next one yet (of course it's part of a series). B/B-.