Markswoman by Rati MehrotraMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Markswoman reads like a cross between the post-apocalyptic world of Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East, and the romantic space opera style of Star Wars. If that sounds like an interesting mix, you'll likely enjoy it.
The book is set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where the human population is fairly small and technology is limited. But occasionally high technology (or magic, call it what you like) shows up, left over from the old world, such as the psionic blades wielded by the Orders of Markswomen. They are peacekeepers and (when necessary) executioners, focused on martial prowess and mental discipline.
The story mostly follows Kyra, an orphan who recently became a full member of the Order of Kali. Events force Kyra to leave everything she knows to strike out into the world. Along the way she discovers truths about the past, finds romance, confronts dangerous enemies, and makes allies. It's a fairly straightforward hero(ine)'s journey plot, but I thought it was well crafted.
Kyra is a well-developed character, as are many of those she meets along the way. The completely predictable romance angle is a little boring, but otherwise I thought Mehrotra did a good job of keeping the characters interesting.
One of my favorite parts of any sci-fi/fantasy work is discovering the world, and Markswoman is no exception. There are lots of hints of the history that led to Kyra's world, but not much in the way of hard facts. That worked fine for me in this case, as Mehrotra keeps the historical reveals relevant to the unfolding story. This book leaves plenty of that history to the imagination, presumably to be revealed in future books.
Markswoman doesn't break much new ground, but many of the themes that it repeats are some of my favorites in the genre. I'll likely search out the later books in the series to see how it delivers on this good beginning.
