Damian reaches the age of 16 and goes out to duel. He's not known for his brains, but he has honed his sword skills. His family - his twin brother and his mother - are exiles in Ixsaa, and Damian in particular stands out as different. Jullanar has done well enough on the entrance exams to have a scholarship to only two colleges, but when she travels to Galderon she learns she can't go this year after all. So, she decides to go with the package for her aunt outside of the empire of Astandalas and to - you guessed it - Ixsaa, where she meets Damian and they begin a tentative friendship.

This first in the tales of the Red Company came out in April of last year. While it happens chronologically after The Tower at the Edge of the World, either of those two can be read first. I had expected a more traditional quest type of tale where the band of friends goes off on adventures, but it's quieter than that and focuses more on developing friendships and character growth. At this point, I should know better than to think I know what the author has in store for me. It was absolutely delightful from beginning to end, and I loved getting to know both Jullanar and Damian, and the ways in which two seeming misfits understood each other and became friends. I won't spoil, but suffice it to say an expected meeting was laugh-out-loud funny, and I was very happy to read in the Author's Note that the group shall have more adventures to come soon. ( )

This was not at all what I thought it would be, having met Jullanar in later life, and heard so many legendary tales of the Red Company, and that is what makes it perfect. It's a delight to meet them young and unsure and unpolished. To see what's there in their bones that will become honed and more forward in time. I really appreciate the craft that goes into Goddard's storytelling, so that we can pick up characters earlier and later and enjoy the stories just as much. ( )

Damian Raskae and Jullanar Thistlethwaite, young people of two very different worlds, one within and one outside the Empire of Astandalas, both considered unlikely to do well by their family, and each has to some extent internalized that. When they get together they will start to make a better assessment of themselves and when Fitzroy (no surname yet) literally falls on them they find themselves ready for adventure, at least on a small scale. This novel strolls steadily through its events, spending the time getting to know these two proto members of the Red Company. Of course once Fitzroy appears the pace becomes frenzied. ( )