The Thousand Names

By Django Wexler,

Book cover of The Thousand Names

Book description

Set in an alternate nineteenth century, muskets and magic are weapons to be feared in the first "spectacular epic" (Fantasy Book Critic) in Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns series.

Captain Marcus d'Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire's colonial garrisons, was serving out his days in a sleepy, remote outpost-until…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Thousand Names as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’m a complete sucker for fantasy built around a seemingly unremarkable protagonist who responds to extraordinary circumstances with remarkable strength and courage. Add in a cross-dressing bad-ass heroine, and I’m hooked. This book is, in part, the story of Winter Ihernglass, a young woman who escapes her past by dressing as a man and enlisting in the Vordanai Colonials.

This is a complex novel reminiscent of the Napoleonic wars. The world-building was wonderful, the writing gritty, the military action realistic, but it was the way Winter earned the respect of her fellow soldiers that wouldn’t let go of me.

The Thousand Names has one of the most unique protagonists and refreshing settings I’ve seen. Winter Ihernglass is disguised as a male soldier in a world of gunpowder and muskets, and ancient demons that can be released with the right magic. I loved watching Winter advance through the ranks and prove her brilliance time and time again. She continues to disguise herself throughout the series, even as women are allowed into the army and more people become aware of her gender, leading me to believe that the look is less a disguise and more her actually living as she truly…

From Reese's list on cross-dressing women in wartime.

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