“In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.”

About fifty pages into reading Truthwitch I had one of those moments when my present self connected to my teen self, and in great excitement my teen self shouted: “THIS IS THE BOOK I WANTED TO READ BUT COULDN’T FIND BECAUSE ALL THE ADVENTURE FANTASY SWORDS-AND-MAGIC EPICS WERE ABOUT GUYS!”

That’s right. This is the epic fantasy I couldn’t find when I was a teen, about girls, who are best friends, who fight enemies, run for their lives, stumble across hot love interests in complicated ways, and rely on each other. Meanwhile there is a larger and complex political situation whose twists and turns relate to actual believable political dealings like treaties and economics as well as the usual and crucial personality conflicts and ambitions and betrayals. In other words: unabashed adventure fantasy with sword fights, chases on land and at sea, different modes of magic each with fascinating benefits and drawbacks, young women being loyal to each other and also stubborn and reckless and angry, OLD WOMEN WHO ARE COMPETENT AND IMPORTANT TO THE STORY (whoops, did I get excited there?), looming threats, old grudges, back-stabbing, and the promise of yet more to come. Frankly, reading this was just plain epic fun.

Listen, people. We are living in a golden age of fantasy and sf. Enjoy it, because I sure am.

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(Next week’s Enthusiasm Thursday: Introducing my non-sff-reading/viewing sister to Firefly)