Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan started pretty strong for me, but ended up really dragging in the middle.
I’ve only got a few chapters left, but I’m struggling a little finishing with the resolution coming soon.

Apparently this is actually the middle book in a series, but it’s also kind of a prequel, since it takes place 500 years before the main series. One of the characters feels like her role is more set up to be a villain in the second half of the series than doing anything interesting in this book.

The main story is a fantasy world where two nations are tiptoeing around a war with each other. One aspect that makes it kind of interesting is that the army is made up almost entirely between people with magic — civilians have so little affect against magicians that they are mostly cannon fodder.

The main character, Tessia, is a young woman who comes into her magic power fairly suddenly, and ends up getting drawn along for the ride with her new apprentice-master as he gets embroiled in the war. She’s a fairly interesting character, and her main goal for much of the book is figuring out how she can use her new magic powers to both become a healer and fight their patriarchal society.

Once the war actually starts, however, it’s chapters and chapters of two groups chasing each other, camping in the woods, and not really doing anything.
I was initially really impressed with the worldbuilding and how the plot was set up, but this book got real long.