June's recommendation: The Secrets of Jin-Shei, by Alma Alexander.
I'm not sure what set me against this book. I spoke with the author at World Fantasy last year, and thought the book sounded interesting, but by the time I picked it up off the shelf, I was fairly certain I wasn't going to like it. Some wire had gotten crossed, I guess, and I thought it was going to be an irritating feminist fantasy, or something; I only checked it out of the library because the setting is based on China.
I'm glad to announce that I was smoking crack.
This novel is, in fact, quite good. It is, as I said, based on China, but not in China; the empire of Syai is definitely its own setting. This is something I don't see often enough: there are lots of fantasy settings based on Europe without being Europe, but many fewer for other cultures. And Alexander has done sufficient research that Syai feels vivid and coherent. (She even mentions, at the end, some of the nonfiction she read, which I always appreciate.) Moreover, we get an interesting cross-section of society in it; although the Imperial Court plays a central role, we also get to see a fair bit of the religious hierarchy, and the army, and then outward into the trades: one protagonist is the daughter of a women who embroiders robes for Court members, while the mother of another is a launderess. There's a section which leads us through the teahouses frequented by adherents of the Court, to the teahouses visited by commoners, to the teahouses that are one step above brothels. We even get a few brief glimpses of the city's underside of beggars. Syai comes across as a real society, not a vaguely sketched-out setting for the nobility.
The plot also mercifully avoids many of the standard tropes of fantasy. In fact, it almost feels like Alexander cross-bred it with women's fiction, which is possibly where I got the notion that I wasn't going to like it. Inspired by accounts of nushu, the "women's language" of China, she structured her novel around jin-ashu, a script used by women (as opposed to men's hacha-ashu) for personal correspondence. Corollary to jin-ashu is the bond of jin-shei, a form of ritualized sisterhood. The eight main characters of the novel (yes, eight) are all tied together by jin-shei, which obligates them to help and care for each other in ways that are not nearly so simplistic as I feared.
With eight protagonists and a time arc which spans (I believe) over a decade, the story ends up sprawling rather, which is one of the few critiques I have to level against it. The plot is more about the way these young women come together and how they interact than it is anything else; there are unifying strands, but nothing that dominates the novel as a whole. On the other hand, that makes a refreshing change from the usual Dark Lord/Mystic Prophecy/Invading Black-Armored Masses plot structure. The closest equivalent to a Dark Lord is simply a man warped by ambition and power, rather than the inherently evil figure that usually occupies that role, and he doesn't behave in Dark Lord fashion. There's an invading army, but it registers more as China skirmishing with the Mongols yet again, rather than the enormous military threat of standard fantasy -- and besides which, it's practically relegated to a footnote. Alexander manages to wreak plenty of havoc with events like perfectly natural earthquakes and droughts, and with the fears and hopes of normal people.
It's not exactly plot-less, but for those looking for really plot-driven narratives, this probably won't be your cup of tea. It also probably won't suit those whose minds stumble over cover copy that tells you this is the story of Tai, Nhia, Khailin, Xaforn, Qiaan, Yuet, Tammary, and Liudan. But it's fantasy with magic that retains a magical feel, and a vivid setting, and a story that hinges on human frailties instead of epic prophecies, which makes it a nice change from a lot of its fellows in the genre.