2 Books Like Children of Solo

I'm rereading this series now. The style is a bit different from what I'm normally used to (limited third person; this one bops around from one PoV to another). The focus is on the titular character, an unassuming boy of high rank with extraordinary potential in military strategy and leadership. But he's also a victim of political intrigue among different factions and princedoms with their own amibitous as well as hereditary feuds. The culture is an interesting one - dominant, warlike, but backwards in certain ways and aware of it. It has its own habits and tics, as it were, which are contrasted with those of other cultures as the characters venture abroad.

There's also a combination of military and maritime themes that you don't often find in one book. The principal action has to do with cavalry and the defense of castles, but then there are also pirates, a… show more.

This is basically the first-half climax of the series, and the end of the book delivers with several very large developments that also expand the theater for future action enormously. The heroes' attempts to strategize and outmaneuver their opponents (including the divine variety) is still one of the series' main strengths, and that element is central to this book, where the good guys have to decide how to manage their time before the duel scheduled at the end of the previous book - who will go where, what are they allowed to do under the terms of the ceasefire, and what can really be accomplished in such a short time?

Characters are well established by now, but they don't always evolve in expected ways, which keeps things interesting. Though I have appreciatee the focus on mental illness in its various guises, I am starting to get tired of the idea… show more.