Blade of Amber (The Woern Chronicles) (Volume 1)

Passion destroys in Blade of Amber, Book One of the Woern Chronicles, an edgy fantasy sharpened with science fiction. Vic is a young woman who wants vengeance. Taken from her homeland and sold into slavery, she soon escapes and becomes the Blade, a soldier renowned for cunning and daring. She also wins the heart of Prince Ashel, a minstrel who prefers drinking and gambling to fulfilling his royal obligations. When Ashel is captured by soldiers of her former master, Vic sets out on a mission of rescue and revenge. Along the way, the Kragnashians--a mysterious insectoid species--give her the power of wizardry, and Vic realizes she is being forged into a weapon. The question is, by whom and for what purpose? 

In the Woern Chronicles, author A.M. Justice shuffles motifs from high fantasy, fairy tales, and science fiction to forge a story about a smart woman and a charming prince who become ensnared in a decades-long conflict between nations. Wrongs, revenge, rescue, and redemption form the keystone elements of this series set in the distant future, on a planet far from Earth, where the descendants of marooned space travelers must contend with the indigenous people--sentient insects standing five meters tall--as they struggle among themselves for power and peace.