Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane
Here is an interesting thing about this book—the official description makes it seem like the story of a young man who seeks out a famous slayer of dragons, and goes off with him and a witch woman on a journey back to his homeland—BUT the main character is actually the witch! This was written in 1985 (and so has some 1985ness going on) but a lot of the themes are still relevant today—stories vs history, women being torn between families and their own desires/careers/magical powers, how easy it is to stoke up bigotry, etc. Really compelling, even if the writing style is a bit slow. I got a bit of a Last Unicorn vibe (maybe bc I have been reading articles about the 50th anniversary of that book), though this story is crueler and more violent. I loved that witch though. What a great character. A-.
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