Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

I had expected a decent teen fantasy from Wrede, seeing as she's the author of such fine novels as Dealing with Dragons and Sorcery and Cecelia. The first in her new Frontier Magic series transported me far beyond my expectations. A quote from Tamora Pierce on the back cover sums it up better than I could: "It's a fascinating adventure in an America where an 'unlucky' thirteenth child finds her own magic on a frontier where the dragons and the mammoths play."

Recommended especially to readers looking for something along the lines of Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword, Kristin Cashore's Graceling or anything by that master of heroic girls wielding magic, Tamora Pierce.