Huntress

In Malinda Lo's sapphic fantasy, a long drought and failing harvests have left the human kingdom in danger. Nature is out of balance, and the oracle stones choose a small party to make the perilous journey to the city of the Fairy Queen.

Among them are two seventeen-year-old girls: Taisin, a sage who has visions, and Kaede, a skilled fighter from a powerful family who has no talent for magic. They travel with the king's son, Con, and a handful of guards, and the road is full of dangers that test every member of the party.

As the journey goes on, Kaede and Taisin fall in love, which is a problem. Sages are expected to be celibate, and Kaede's father has his own plans for her future. The kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what that takes could tear the two apart.

Huntress is a prequel to Lo's Cinderella retelling Ash, set centuries earlier in the same world, and it can be read on its own. It was a Lambda Literary Award finalist.