The Book of Deacon was written in 2010 by Joseph R. Lallo. It is a straight up fantasy book, but there is nothing wrong with that provided it is good, and thankfully it is.
The story is about a young girl Myranda who is tying to survive a war that has been going on for decades. She is an outcast because she wants peace without victory. She just wants the war to be over and the killing to stop, but she soon finds a powerful sword and a mysterious friend and her life changes forever.
The setup sounds kind of generic, and pretty much every fantasy being is in this book from dragons to mermaids, but luckily it is so well written and Myranda is such a great character that the story kept me interested. This is the first book in a trilogy, so it is pretty much all just character development and world building, and the greater story arch has not yet really kicked in, but by the end the of this book we do get what Myranda believes to be her greater purpose.
If you are looking for a fun fantasy read then I recommend this one. It is only three hundred pages long, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome and it has quite a bit of action, and the best part is that it is free for Amazon Kindle owners. I got it as part of my indie bundle from awhile back, but it would still be worth reading if it cost more.
Thanks for the heads up! I just picked it up for my kindle. I want to get back into fiction writing, which naturally means I need to read more fiction.
Glad I could help! There are a lot of good indie writers out there, and their books are usually cheaper.