A Woman Worth Ten Coppers

My interest in the book came from two sources: 1) I enjoy Morgan Howell and 2) I was intrigued by the slave part of the story. I was not disappointed. Yim is a complex character, struggling to stay faithful to a goddess who calls Yim to a destiny overrun with hardships, a goddess who seem powerless to allay those hardships or even protect her people in them. Howell does an excellent job of showing the conflict in Yim. Honus is also a well-constructed character, facing his own past, internal conflict and waining faith. Together, they journey physically and metaphorically towards the truth.

Howell's plot and dialogue are well-crafted and he has an uncanny ability to create horrific villains, dark and evil and creepy. The romance and love show more in the book is handled delicately but not weakly, and I enjoy the way it dawns on the reader about the same time it does the characters, despite having been there the whole time. It's a rare talent to build in such subtlety to the story. Word of warming - don't get attached to any secondary characters: they tend to die with little warning. While the books ends as it should, the story doesn't stop, but flows into the next book (which I'm already three chapters into). I'm excited to see how things turn out. show less

This superb book has earned 4.5/5 stars. I heard of this book from a friend and decided to check it out, and wow, I was not disappointed. I just bought the first book of this author's Orc trilogy, as this one has roused my interest in the earlier series. This hook had its ups and downs, but the descriptions were realistic. It was definitely an engaging read, I finished it in two days! I am definitely more than eager to read the next installment of this series.

Intriguing yet ultimately unsatisfying. The world Yim and Honus travel is bleak - an evil is taking over the minds of men, driving them to hatred and horrific acts as they work to conquer lands for Lord Bahl.

Yim and Honus follow the ways of the goddess Karm, but as they travel, they find fewer and fewer sympathetic fellow followers and frequently end up in harm's way.

I was disappointed in this because I initially believed it to be a romance, but while a character does fall in love with the other, that love is not only not returned, but considered a burden to the other. As fantasy fiction, this works, but it was too...slight for my tastes. I've been reading a lot of Robert Jordan and Jim Butcher's epic fantasy series, so the lack of show more detail frustrated me at times...

Yim is a strong character, though she's strong in that 'I'm a female, so I'll persevere through pain and fear' way that I find somewhat annoying (though she does unleash a tough side at one point). I must admit, I prefer my heroines to be proactive and ready to fight, rather than of the 'turn the other cheek' sort. show less

A Woman Worth Ten Coppers by Morgan Howell is the first book of the Shadowed Path trilogy. I’ve owned this book for quite a while, and finally picked it up. I’m glad I did; it definitely helped fill the fantasy craving I don’t indulge often enough lately!

Yim is a really special young seer – she has been told now for many years that she is ‘Chosen’ (with a Capital C) and will fulfill a vital destiny to help save the world. Man, no pressure though, right? She doesn’t know a lot of details, but she has the faith that the goddess Karm will guide her. Through an unlucky chain of events, she ends up being forcibly taken and sold into slavery where she is soon purchased by a Sarf named Honus (A clear definition for the Sarfs is show more hard to pin down – but basically he is a holy man with crazy awesome ninja warrior skills).

Yim is obviously very resentful of her new role as a slave, but she keeps herself mostly in check, waiting to see if Karm will guide her or if she has been abandoned by her goddess. Luckily (or, as she sees it: unluckily) for her, Honus is neither a jerk or an idiot – he can soon tell that there is more to Yim than meets the eye. By the end of the book, their relationship has melded more into a partnership of sorts than a servant/master dynamic. It also seems like Karm had a plan all along – maybe Honus is an integral part of Yim’s destiny after all?

So, I really enjoyed both Yim and Honus. I loved the way Yim constantly tries to hide who she really is and Honus constantly tries to figure out what she is doing. The majority of the book is spent with them traveling, and some of their interactions are fairly hysterical as they get to know each other and get used to constantly being together. Romance really isn’t much of a factor in this book, although it is introduced toward the end – I think it’ll be a bigger plot element in the next books of the trilogy. I also think things are set up for the next book well – I’m pretty sure it’ll be as good as – or better than – this introduction to the story!

If you are a fantasy fan, I do recommend picking these books up. I read A Woman Worth Ten Coppers through in one afternoon, not wanting to put it down (it is fairly short for fantasy, clocking in at around 330 pages). It won’t make my favorites list and I won’t be telling people to read it as their introduction into fantasy – but for people who are already fans, it is a strong addition to the genre! show less

A really enjoyable read. Unfortunately, it didn't wrap up many of the threads that got created so I'm going to have to find the second book in the series quickly - I guess that's a sign of how good it was too.

Good characters that were very thoroughly developed and a good plot. This was the first I've read of Mr. Howell and I really enjoyed all of it.

Not a bad read. The characters are interesting with puzzles about them still to be resolved. The plot moves along fairly well. The downside is that we get the usual fantasy quasi-feudal, mercantile society with a fairly clear divide between forces of good & evil. There is a bit of a twist in the not knowing on which side your neighbors will end up, but we don't have much development (so far) of why the evil. While the good characters have their flaws & faults, there is little to redeem the bad guys and only cursory exploration of why someone might become evil, let alone so completely evil and irredeemable. In the end, I'll likely read the sequel (Candle in the Storm), but I'm certainly not champing at the bit to get it.

Prelim review: I read Howell's previous trilogy, Queen of the Orcs, with an excited wonderment. I began this one with an anticipation of that same wonderment and I'm served rightly for it. What is fate? What is obligation and duty? A Woman Worth Ten Coppers seeks to answer those questions.

Full review will be posted later at BSCReview