Ah godammit, I had a quite long post extolling the virtues of what is probably my favourite series, and then I accidentally navigated away and lost the whole thing. So I have to start again...
Every time a topic like this comes up I recommend this series and I will continue to do so until it gets more recognised, because they're great. The Watergiver Trilogy by Glenda Larke, starting with the first book, "The Last Stormlord".
It's similar in scope to the Game of Thrones series, but set in a desert environment, and one of the best realised ones I've ever seen in any media. It's got an utterly unique setting complete with well established rules and internal mythology, and a diverse cast of interesting characters. The desert is separated into four quarters; the Scarpen quarter, mainly city folk who live in the desert ranges, the Red quarter a vast sea of dunes inhabited by various tribes of nomads called the Reduners, The Gibber quarter, mostly slums and mines and the White Quarter, a large area filled with salt flats inhabited by the reclusive Alabasters.
The main source of conflict centers around water, being a desert. The only known type of magic in this world is water magic, specifically the detection and manipulation of water. There's 3 tiers of water sensitive, Reeve, Rainlord and Stormlord. Only Stormlords are powerful enough to move clouds and make drinkable water from the sea. Problem is, there's only one left alive at the moment, as a series of tragedies has befallen the only hopefuls who could've taken up the mantle. Said Stormlord is working himself to death trying to keep enough people in water and things are getting tense.
It's just a very well written series, with a lot of good stuff going for it.
Every time a topic like this comes up I recommend this series and I will continue to do so until it gets more recognised, because they're great. The Watergiver Trilogy by Glenda Larke, starting with the first book, "The Last Stormlord".
It's similar in scope to the Game of Thrones series, but set in a desert environment, and one of the best realised ones I've ever seen in any media. It's got an utterly unique setting complete with well established rules and internal mythology, and a diverse cast of interesting characters. The desert is separated into four quarters; the Scarpen quarter, mainly city folk who live in the desert ranges, the Red quarter a vast sea of dunes inhabited by various tribes of nomads called the Reduners, The Gibber quarter, mostly slums and mines and the White Quarter, a large area filled with salt flats inhabited by the reclusive Alabasters.
The main source of conflict centers around water, being a desert. The only known type of magic in this world is water magic, specifically the detection and manipulation of water. There's 3 tiers of water sensitive, Reeve, Rainlord and Stormlord. Only Stormlords are powerful enough to move clouds and make drinkable water from the sea. Problem is, there's only one left alive at the moment, as a series of tragedies has befallen the only hopefuls who could've taken up the mantle. Said Stormlord is working himself to death trying to keep enough people in water and things are getting tense.
It's just a very well written series, with a lot of good stuff going for it.