Shadow Gate - Kate Elliott

I found Kate Elliott's "Spirit Gate" to be a well written story, with great character development, but which took a little too long getting nowhere. With this in mind, seeing the sheer size of the second in the series was nearly enough to put me off. Marit is sure she is dead, as she distinctly remembers being stabbed and her eagle is dead, which usually means death for a reeve. However, she is wandering around and all the evidence points to her not only being dead but also being a Guardian, one of nine who used to rule The Hundred. But they are all supposedly dead as well, which makes no sense to her. Worse, one of the others seems to be Lord ...