Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

Finnikin of the Rock is a great fantasy quest novel. Finnikin is the son of the King’s Guard, friend to the heir to the kingdom and his cousin (and also the youngest princess, but she just tags along). When Finnikin is 9, he and his friends make a pledge to protect the kingdom, a pledge sealed by the blood the three boys draw from their legs. Only days later, the unspeakable happens: the entire royal family is slaughtered, an impostor king and his army invade (taking Finnikin’s father prisoner), and the Forest Dwellers (those with a bit of magic) are burned at the stake, and as the head of the Forest Dwellers dies, she spits a curse out on the kingdom. The ground shakes and splits open, and the land is covered with a strange, dark mist. About half of the people in the land make it outside of the kingdom’s walls, but the rest are trapped inside.

Ten years pass; Finnikin has been traveling the different countries surrounding his home, learning the languages, the cultures of the other countries, finding his people in refugee camps, writing their stories and the names of their dead. He’s called to a cloister of nuns (novices), and there Finnikin and the King’s First Man, Sir Topher, pick up Evanjalin, who keeps secrets of her own. She has seen the return to their kingdom, and Finnikin has been trying these 10 years to carve out a piece of land for his people to call home, a new home. Evanjalin, stubborn and quiet, sees things much differently.

Similar to Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Finnikin of the Rock is a darker fantasy with a male protagonist. Evanjalin is very much a part of the story, too, but most of it centers on Finnikin. An excellent read. Definitely intended for older audiences; there's a little swearing, sex, and an attempted rape scene.