76. Gifts, by Ursula K. Le Guin

Gifts is about two Upland children, who live in a settlement where most people are Gifted with a power that travels through their families. Gry's family calls animals, whereas Orrec's family has the power of Unmaking. But Orrec can't control his power, and Gry refuses to use hers to call animals to slaughter.

Gifts was another of my $1 bargain books that I've finally got around to reading. Previously I've been a little ambivalent towards her books - they're interesting, and good fantasy, but they weren't catching my fancy as they could have. Gifts was a good read though, and I'd definitely give another of her books a chance, should one tweak my interest. Her characters are interesting, but I would have liked to see a bit more fleshing-out of how their magics came to be and such. This isn't really covered in the book, but it's also quite clearly the first in a series (works alright standalone, but it's clear the story continues) so perhaps that's something that is more fully described later. In any event, it was an interesting book, and I enjoyed reading it.