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Every once in a while you find a book that is so good that you go around telling every single person you know to read it. You give it to all your friends for every holiday. It’s so good that the moment you finish it, you read all three sequels and then you cry that it’s over. 

Inda is that book, the first in a series of four books by Sherwood Smith. It has everything: queerness, people of color, nuanced female characters, complex friendships, people with disabilities, and it’s all part of an astoundingly rich setting for a really good fantasy story. This book will rip out your heart and stomp on it. 

Inda is the son of an important and powerful prince. As the second son he is destined to inherit the protection of his fathers land, a military support to his older brother. All of that goes out the window, however, when all custom is broken by a summons from the king: all second sons of age from noble families are called to the royal martial camp to begin training, an honor normally reserved only for first sons. 

Inda and his peers are thrown into a world they never anticipated and must navigate an awkward and mysterious political situation while undergoing grueling training. Naturally, things begin to go horribly wrong and they must all learn that sometimes danger can come from closer to home than any of then anticipated. I can’t say much more than that without giving away some major spoilers, but let me try to advertise this book to you another way: 

Do you want characters of color? Practically everybody in Sartoran is dark-skinned. When you meet a fair-skinned person in the third book, everyone notices how unusual her color is. 

The women, of which there are many, all have deeply developed motivations and plots. The women have nuanced and complex relationships with each other. They have their own culture and political alliances and extremely important political and military roles which the men have no influence over. They literally train the main character to fight.

Do you want queer characters? The king of Sartoran is queer! Most people are expected to marry into a heterosexual alliance but queer relationships abound. Many married people openly have lovers, queer or straight, and it’s not a problem. Queer couples even raise children together! I won’t give away which major characters, but I’ll tell you that major POV characters are queer. 

Do you want complex and nuanced explorations of friendships, relationships, sexuality, and all the many ways they can be navigated without putting an overemphasis on romantic or sexual relationships? You got ‘em! Characters with disabilities? Smith is serving 'em up! What about a nuanced and sensitive characterization of PTSD? It’s right here!!

These books are also so much fun. There’s fighting and swashbuckling and politics and heart break and amazing friendship and betrayal and it’s not melodramatic at all. It’s just good. It’s so good. It might be the best adult fantasy I’ve ever read.