This is a romance novel set in a very interesting fantasy setting. It reads like, so what happens between the man and the woman from different worlds brought together to face a terrible menace after they defeat it? In this case, the woman is 18 yr old Fawn, a farm girl who runs away from home after getting pregnant by the town jerk. On the road, she gets kidnapped and is ultimately rescued by the Lakewalker Dag, a 55 yr old patrolman who lost a hand and his first wife in a legendary battle 20 years ago. From this point, a not quite convincing romance develops between the two, and together they must deal with the prejudices between farmers and Lakewalkers and the disapproval of their relationship by relatives and friends.

This is a slow paced book but kind of in a good way. The Lakewalkers posses an ability called groundsense, which is a sort of connection with other living things and natural materials. The descriptions of groundsense are very earthy and lead to a quiet atmosphere, which I really enjoyed.

Then there's Dag, who is a very likable character, strong and respected and always showing tremendous kindness to Fawn. I read somewhere that the book reads like Firefly, which I couldn't really see besides the frontier setting. However, the image of Nathan Fillion as Dag stuck, which obviously increases his appeal. Fawn isn't my favorite, but she's not awful or overly annoying. She's very innocent without being stupid. However, seriously, what is with the age difference? Sure, his experience to her innocence allows for interesting contrasts, but I couldn't help noticing his fatherly ways with Fawn, and that's just icky.

Since Dag and Fawn come from very different cultures with many misconceptions between, this is used to do a whole lot of explaining ... I just don't really enjoy this style of world building, versus having the world unveil itself. However, the culture of the Lakewalkers, their groundsense abilities, the immortal malices that they fight and the knives that need to teach the malices how to die ... fascinating stuff.

And talk about explaining! The experienced Dag having to explain certain "things" about male/female relations to the much too innocent Fawn ... painful.

Mostly, I feel like this book just kind of drags by the end ... I like the quiet build up of the relationship, and I was enjoying the book in general until around the 3/4th mark, when things got just a little too domestic.

I don't know ... I'm almost curious to read to second book in this series. You just feel like there's something building in the background that needs to be explored further ... the tension between the farmers and the Lakewalkers and how the threat of the malices will affect this. And the overall atmosphere is just so slow yet enjoyable. If only the romance and resulting conflicts weren't so dang boring! In any case, there are enough good and interesting aspects of the book that I would want to look into some of Bujold's more beloved fantasy and sci fi books.