Darkland (science fiction? fantasy?) Darkland by Liz Williams - initially, I think I picked this book up because I'd been looking on Amazon at some others by her (the Detective Inspector Chen series, in case you're wondering, which starts with Snake Agent) and was curious as to what else she'd written. I admit that my seeing Liz Williams compared to Ursula Le Guin on the cover blurb got my goat a little, because it smacked a little of token-comparison-to-other-female-sci-fi-writer and Le Guin is probably one of the most famous of those to the more sci fi-oriented amongst us.
However, having now read Darkland, I can see exactly why that comparison has been drawn, given the intensity of the world-building involved, which is reminiscent of books by Le Guin like The Left Hand of Darkness and The Word For World is Forest.
Our protagonist is Vali, who was a tracker and who involved with a man called Frey who essentially crushed her character in the guise of training her to use her talents to their utmost - in the end, Frey betrayed and abandoned her to an animal attack that nearly claimed her life and left her horribly scarred. We first meet Vali as she is now, working as an assassin for the Skald, a female-run organisation that has sent her to infiltrate a horrifically patriarchal regime and kill its leader. After that, Vali takes on another mission, one which will take her to Frey's homeland and, she hopes, give her a chance at revenge.
The entire universe in which Darkland is set is very much one of change. Though they were settled by people from the northern parts of Earth, taking many names which will seem familiar with them, centuries of genetic engineering have very much changed many of the peoples who inhabit Vali's own lands and others she encounters. The line between animal and human is blurred, nowhere more so than on the planet where Vali eventually tracks down her treacherous former lover. All in all, Darkland is a fascinating and compelling read and I was pleased to discover there's a sequel published last year (Bloodmind) - no surprise there, I have to say, considering just how Liz Williams leaves things at the very end of this book; I look forward to checking out both that one and her other books.