Duskfall

Tensions are high between humans and the elflike tiellans they once enslaved. But when human Knot, suffering from amnesia, is pulled from the freezing sea by tiellan fishermen, he settles down with them by marrying Winter, a tiellan girl. The wedding is disrupted when unknown men in robes attack Knot. Upon recognizing his own killing instinct, Knot abandons Winter, but she pursues him, only to fall in with a group that sense in her a gift that should be impossible for a tiellan to possess. The couple's paths will intersect with religious dissident Jane and her sister Cinzia, a priestess of the Cantic religion. All seem to have an important role to play as darkness builds in a land across the mountains. While the pieces of this traditional fantasy debut—prophecies, magic squaring off against religion, political conflict, and even amnesiac heroes—are not particularly original, the storytelling is fresh and assured and the characters appealing. Winter is especially compelling, as her supernatural studies lead to a troublesome addiction.