I picked up Watersmeet, because I loved the cover with the piercing green eye and the plot sounded promising. I'm a big fan of fantasy, and love trying out new authors in the genre.
Abisina is an outcast in her town of Vranille, because she has dark hair and green eyes, not the ideal of blonde hair and blue eyes. The only reason she wasn't left to die as an infant is because her mother is the town's healer. Abisina is used to the ill treatment of her town, being at the end of lines hoping for a scrap of food, sometimes even being beaten. When Charach, a highly praised priest of Vran, visits the town, he incites the people to attack all those that don't measure up to Vran's ideals -- the outcasts. Abisina luckily escapes over the town's wall, but her mother is killed helping her escape. Abisina partners with a dwarf on a journey to find her father, a man from a town on the far side of the mountains known as Watersmeet, where all creatures are welcome.
The story hooked me within the first couple of pages and I had a difficult time putting the book down. It's fast-paced with plenty of action. Even with some of the strange people and place names, I found the story easy-to-follow. Even those that don't normally read fantasy might find the story compelling, especially with Abisina's developing relationship with her father. It's not a perfect story, several questions were left unanswered and some plot points were just dropped. Possibly, this is with the intent of writing a sequel.
I will definitely look for more by Abbott in the future. Watersmeet is an entertaining fantasy and earns a solid 'B' from me.
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