Red Seas Under Red Skies

How it reads

Red Seas Under Red Skies is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are secrets, power and politics and friendship. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending resolves happily. At 558 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.