Catching up with blasts from the near past a little.
This was very good fantasy. Very good. It was still just a Campbellian Hero's Journey but this was no tale of a chosen one who Mary Sue's themselves to ridiculousness in 100 pages. There was a twist here in that standard fantasy trope that made this way more interesting.
This book was all about the world building. An Empire is creeping it's way over this fantasy world. It brings progress (hygiene, medicine, technology) but it also brings repression (gays bad etc). This book was a story of a very smart young girl who says 'You know what? Fuck that'. It is also about the compromises and hurt she goes through to get to the point where she can act on this thought.
I recommend and I will be continuing with the series.