God Stalk by P.C. Hodgell
This is one of those books I read in my teens and hung onto. I don't think there's any great meaning to it, but it is an awful lot of fun to read. The story revolves around the arrival and adventures of an amnesiac girl (Jame) of the Kencyrath that arrives in the city of Tai-tastigon on the eve of the Feast of the Dead Gods. From there, Jame gets caught up in the intrigues of the city, its god, her people's God and her people (even though they are a great distance away).
Its a good book. Its fun and hilarity ensues is a great way to describe the action surrounding Jame. When I first read it, I didn't know there was a sequel (Dark of the Moon until almost 10 years later when I found it at a used book stall at the flea market. The strangest thing is how well the books hold up to me - the setting and characters are fresh and fun, with new details turned up on each reading.
Highly recommended.
Welcome to the holy city of Tai-tastigon, overrun with thieves and lousy with gods. Welcome to the House of the Luck-Bringers, where the ale flows, the jokes are ribald, and if you're lucky, you can see the Kencyr girl dance. She's a thief apprenticed to the Master Thief, the only living being who knows the secret of his ways. Why, she stole the very britches off the Sky King himself! And if you want to hear a tale even wilder than that, just listen...
From the dust jacket blurb:
Jame is a Kencyr. Kencyrs are not native to the planet where they now live. For 30 centuries they have been the weapon that their Three-Faced-God has used against the power of Perimal Darlking. And though they have fought well, the Darkling has come to planet after planet, and the Kencyrs have moved on.
Jame knows this as she stumbles out of the hilly, baren Haunted Lands into the city of Taitastigon. But she knows little else. She does not remember where she has been or what she has done for the last ten years of her life. Her memory goes back only a week or two--to finding her ome destroyed and all her family dead.
In Tai-tastigon Jame begins a new life that seems to be at odds with all that the Kencyrs stand for. Kencyrs are honest and just, but Jame becomes an apprentice to the most renowned thief in the powerful Thieves' Guild. Kencyrs are confirmed monotheists, yet Jame explores the rituals and activities of the thousands of gods in this religious center.
Within herself Jame finds power she does not want. and she starts moving through the rich and bloody stew of the city like a hot spice, trying to discover what her powers mean to her and to her people.
