Jo Walton 
Prize in the Game [EPUB ebook] 

On the island of Tir Isarnagiri, Gods stalk the land, laying subtle but inescapable dooms upon the feuding kingdoms there. The lives of four young friends – Conal, Emer, Darag, and Ferdia – have been intertwined since their births. Each is destined for kingship in his own land. But when they unwittingly incur the wrath of the Horse Goddess, they find that ties of friendship – and even love – may not be enough to prevent their countries from attacking each other in a war that will devastate the island – and alter their fates are forever.Praise for the Trilogy’Walton writes with an authenticity that never loses heart, a rare combination . . . She can dig down to a true vein of legend and hammer out gold.’ Robin Hobb’The people, the politics, the details of warfare and daily life, all ring as true as the steel sword the heroine wields so doughtily. This is much more than a retooling of the Matter of Britain: it is a fully imagined, living, magical world.’ Delia Sherman’Beautiful and thought-provoking. Walton tells a story set in a world and a history almost like ours, but different enough to be in itself a kind of elvenland.’ Poul Anderson’Head and shoulders and sword-arm above most fantasy. Like a lost memoir from the Dark Age of a subtly different history, tough and unsentimental and all the more touching for that.’ Ken Mac Leod