Forest Mage (Soldier Son Series #2)

The second volume in Robin Hobb's epic fantasy tale about a noble's son claimed by an unknown magic . . . and involuntarily forced to act as a liaison between two very different peoples.

Spring has come and Nevare leaves Old Thares to journey home for his brother's wedding. Though he is still having nightmares about Tree Woman, he believes he has put all encounters with magic behind him. Upon arriving home, however, he finds himself the victim of a rare, embarrassing side effect of the Speck plague. As he is attempting to recover, plague arrives, devastating his family. Although Nevare takes over the family estate while his father recovers, his father is angered by how Nevare handles things, and disowns him.

Nevare travels east, seeking to enlist as a soldier. Though he manages to enlist, the only task his commanders will give him is to guard the cemetery. He soon finds this is a more dangerous post than the imagined, leading him to encounters with the Specks from the forest. He meets a young Speck woman who is very interested in him. Nevare attempts to resist her advances, even as his loneliness becomes overwhelming.

But then the plague comes east, and the dead seemingly rise from their graves. Nevare finds himself facing the task of standing up to them, and, in so doing, being branded as a traitor to his own.