Ok. Yes. This book was really amazing. It was filled with so many emotions that were wonderfully described. I also really love the way that "love" worked in the book. There was love of so many different kinds but they were all treated with the same respect. I really loved that. ( )

I’ve wanted to read more by Judith Tarr ever since finishing A Wind in Cairo and, thanks to a very bountiful visit to Hay-on-Wye, I now have quite a few of her books lined up. The opening salvo was this high-fantasy trilogy, combining court intrigue with an elemental struggle between light and dark. It begins with a loss: the disappearance of the old king’s daughter, chosen as his heir but consecrated to the Sun God. She leaves on the traditional Journey of a trainee priest; and never returns. For twenty-one years, the old king stands waiting every morning on the battlements of his mountain-locked castle, hoping that his beloved heir will return. One morning, he has an answer, in the form of a young man, a stranger, who bears an almost incredible message. He is Mirain, the son of the lost princess, fathered by the Sun God himself, and he has come home. His arrival brings joy to the heart of his aged grandfather, but alarm to the court – for this stranger has, at one stroke, destabilised all the hopes of the king’s illegitimate son…

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/08/17/the-hall-of-the-mountain-king-judith-tarr/ ( )

Vadin is a squire, new to the service of Han-Ianon. His greatest wish is to serve Moranden, greatest warrior in the land and bastard son to the king. The king is old and knows he nears the end of his reign, and so day after day he stands on the battlements, hoping that his daughter will return home. Decades ago she traveled south to be a priestess, and has sent no word since.

But then a small young man in shabby priest's garb walks into the capital. He resembles the late princess and in fact, is her sole child, fathered by no less than the god Avaryan himself. The king immediately proclaims that Mirain to be his heir. Moranden has always hoped he would get the throne, and is incensed. Vadin is ordered to be Mirain's squire and watches their rivalry unfold from an intimate vantage point.

Although the characters have complex and emotional inner lives, this book is otherwise quintessentially High Fantasy. It's told in a stylized, portentous tone, and although there are no prophecies, the gods really do interfere in the lives of mortal men. In fact, this felt a bit like a Greek epic, complete with gods playing favorites, incredible feats of strength and endurance, and intense (and sometimes homoerotic) bonds between men. ( )