This is the first book in a new series, “The Corean Chronicles”. It’s
about a young man with extraordinary powers he slow learns to use.
Once he does, he finds himself in a position to destroy a serious evil; moreover, no
one else is likely to be able to do it. In the meantime he grows up and
becomes quite remarkably talented at the trade which is thrust upon him.

Oh, and he falls in love too.

Put that way, this sounds rather like The Magic of Recluce,
doesn’t it? The magical underpinnings and history of our hero’s world
are entirely different (which is refreshing), as is our hero’s trade;
instead of being a woodworker, he’s a sheep herder (which is trickier
than it sounds) and an amazingly lethal soldier.

In fact, the bulk of this book is really just military fiction. If you
like reading about advances and retreats and strategy and tactics at the
level of a cavalry trooper, it’s not bad. But it’s a long slow book, and
things really only pick up toward the end.

I dunno. The book’s well-crafted, certainly; it was long and slow, but it
wasn’t–quite–tedious. But it’s maybe a chest of drawers where I was
looking for something more like a grand piano.

I’ll most likely read the next book in the series.