A review by synoptic_view
The Naming by Alison Croggon

This wasn't to my taste. I don't like the fantasy genre's preoccupation with lineage, and typically dislike "chosen one" stories that aren't working hard to subvert the trope. I had hoped this book would do more subversion, because the setup was there. Maerad's childhood as a slave could have led to a discussion about the differences between slavery and the coercive aspects of being fated to save the world. The characters even started to have a conversation about this somewhere around chapter 20, but it was dismissed after a couple sentences.