The Lord-Protector's Daughter by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Mykella is one of the three daughters of the Lord Protector of Lanchrona. This is the same universe as his earlier Corean Chronicles, but is set many hundreds of years into the future. Mykel is dead, and many of his abilities and feats have passed into Legend, along with the knowledge of those who have Talent. While Mykel had heirs, his wife Rachylana predeceased him, and Mykella is the first member of the Lord Protector's family to be named after him ever.

Mykella has two sisters, Rachylana and Salyna, and she has one brother, Jeraxylt. while Jeraxylt is the heir, Mykella senses that he would not make a good successor to her father. But she will have nothing to say about it, given that a woman's place has always been to birth heirs to the throne or be married off to strengthen the land's alliances by marriage. Mykella and her sisters know that is to be their fate, but none of them wish to leave Lanchrona. In order to do something worthy, Mykella has delved into the finances of the Kingdom, Salyna has done her best to become skilled in swords, guns and bows, even to the point of sparring with the guardsmen, and Rachylana has dealt with it in her own way, by becoming close to her cousin, Berenyt. She hopes to marry Berenyt, and stay in Lanchrona, but both Mykella and Salyna know enough to know that Berenyt is only playing with Rachylana's heart.

In her delving into the financial books, Mykella has discovered that someone is embezzling funds from the kingdom, and she also suspects she knows who it is, her uncle Joramyl, her father's brother. Berenyt, the man whom Rachylana loves, is Joramyl's heir, and his scornful attitude towards her does nothing to endear him to her. But one day in the gardens, Mykella sees a Soarer, something no one on Corus has seen for hundreds of years. Later, that Soarer appears to her in her bed-chamber and tells her "If you would save your land and your world, go to the Table and find your Talent."

Mykella knows of only one table, and that is beneath the palace, in an otherwise empty room. But since no one seems to believe in Talent any longer, and none are known to possess it, she is not sure what is going on exactly. She does go down to the table, and finds that she can see images of those she knows personally within it, as well as some other places. Drawn by the urgency of the Soarer's message, she returns to the table time and again, trying to understand what the Soarer meant by her Talent.

Meanwhile, during the day, she tries to track down actual facts on the stolen and embezzled money. But while she doesn't have much luck with that, by trying to see images in the table, she finds that she can feel emotions from the people around her, and how many people seem to be lying to her father, and to her. While she can't do anything without proof, she continues to try to find out what is possible with Talent.

Even as she comes under attack from a creature through the table which she calls an Ifrit, she seeks to keep her family and kingdom safe. But while there are things that she would rather not know, and rather not learn, she must face them if she is to save her kingdom from a hidden murderer who would like to kill anyone who opposes him. But can Mykella find the strength within herself to keep herself and her people free, while protecting her sister and the rest of her family?

I was surprised in a good way by this book, as I was used to reading about Mykel and Rachylana in the first books of the Corean Chronicles, and this book takes place so much later in time than that. But Mykella is a worthy successor, character-wise, being strong, intelligent and wise, if a bit naive at first regarding her own father. At the beginning of the novel, she still looks up to him as a ruler, not realizing that he esteems his son so much more than any of his daughters. But because of his blindness to them because of their gender, he can't see that they are more trustworthy than many of the people he has surrounded himself with. And because he refuses to rethink or re-assess the motives of those who have shown themselves worthy of his trust once, he cannot see the disaster he is leading his kingdom into.

So it is up to Mykella to try and protect the family, but despite her best efforts, her father and his advisors have determined to try and marry off his daughters, and welcome several envoys to Landrana for the purpose. While Mykella attracts the eye of one of the envoys, although the man she is being obtained for sounds like a poetry-quoting idiot, she has no choice in the matter. Salyna, too, is chosen by another envoy, and she hates it, because the country he comes from gives no rights to women.

But when Jeraxylt is killed, supposedly in a training accident, her father is thrown into severe mourning, even worse than that after his wife was killed. But true to form, he continues to accept envoys for Rachylana's hand. When Rachylana is poisoned, Mykella manages to heal her, but is not able to do the same for her father. But can she survive the plots which killed him, and may kill her as well? The soarer warned her that using Talent has a cost, and while the cost might not be borne by the individual with the Talent, it can end up being passed on to the members of the family with no Talent at all. Is this what happened to Mykella's father and brother, or is the soarer speaking of the future and her sisters?

By the end of the novel, we aren't sure, and while Mykella has cut out the insidious poison that took out her father and brother, this is surely not the only problem she will be facing in the times to come. What will happen... I'm not sure, but probably attacks on Lanchrona from those who think it will be easy to wrest the country away from a young woman, and troubles from those who don't think a woman can or should rule. But I'll be there reading about them, for this series is just that good.