Covenants by Lorna Freeman

I really love it when I find a new fantasy author to enjoy. I finished this one this evening and already went on to Amazon to grab the next one. But dang it, Lorna Freeman doesn't have a website.

TROOPER

A horse soldier, Rabbit is nothing but a grunt in the Royal Army of Iversterre. A lost grint, seeing as how his unit can't seem to find its way out of the mountains. But help comes from an unexpected source: a Faena—or "magical"—from the Border kingdom.

NOBLE

The Faena, a mountain cat named Laurel, blows Rabbit's cover. Turns out he's not just some poor Border farm boy turned trooper, but the son of Iversterre nobility. And their chance meeting is nothing of the kind. Laurel needs Rabbit's help to stop a war.

MAGE

Smugglers from Iversterre have been making runs into the Border, killing its sacred beings. It's enough to make even the calmest Border-born angry. Especially Rabbit. For he's keeping another secret about himself. And it's about to explode—in a big way...

The Border trounced Iversterre once. it will happen again. Unless Rabbit can keep his cool and learn the rules of a game he's never wanted to play...

I just loved this book. It just sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading it once I started. It's a fat book (well, only 544 pages), but doesn't read that way. Rabbit goes through so much in the book and there are plenty of surprises along the way. There's magic, action, political intrigue, and fascinating characters. I know I'm being lousy about explaining why I liked this book, but I did enjoy it immensely. I just liked the writing and world-building and everything.

And I loved it so much I had to immediately order the next book. Should be here by Thursday!