This is the story of a princess whose people have been subjugated by a foreign power and the outlaw who is her unlikely companion. Elenn is fated to be a paladin, and bears a magical artifact of tremendous destiny, but she can’t fulfill her destiny if the occupying Vitalion get her first. Aedin is a robber who escaped Vitalion gallows by pretending he had secrets of occupied Deira, and whose path of redemption now is to protect the last of Deira’s royal family.

This is fast-paced epic fantasy with a Romans vs. Barbarians kind of feel in its naming conventions, its technology, and some of the pseudo-medieval Christianity of its institutions (e.g., monastic orders). If you’re looking for the action and adventure of the Game of Thrones and don’t want the blood and the nihilism, The Crown and the Dragon may be just the book for you.

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