Chalice by Robin McKinley

Just finished reading Chalice. Lovely, lovely book. Much like her other books, from what I remember, everything is written and told in a rather calm, slow-moving way but everything that you read is of the utmost urgency and importance. You must keep reading to know what will happen. The tone reminds me of Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief books, where they are somewhat formally and calmly told and not much seems to happen but you keep turning pages anyway, and because a lot of the plot and urgency is political. It's more than political for Mirasol's demesne, though; her land cries out for unity and for healing.
Mirasol is a beekeeper who is chosen to be the Chalice, the second-most powerful and important member of the Circle, who rule and ensure the demesne's unity and wholeness. The most powerful and important member is the Master, but he had been sent to the priests of Fire long ago to learn their ways, and is no longer quite human... What can be done to repair the hysterical land when the Master is feared and inhuman, the Circle members do not trust each other, and the Chalice is inexperienced and has no idea what to do? Mirasol does her best with the help of honey, her bees, and lots of reading, but the members of the Circle must come together and trust the Master.

The story is, of course, more complex than this; the above blurb does not do it justice. The only not-great thing about this book is that it can be somewhat confusing. It's not told in a straightforward way, jumping forward and back in time, and it can be kind of hard to figure out what is going on and why things are important somehow. And the climax at the end is confusing as well. This is my second time reading it, and I think that I finally figured out what happened (highlight to read the spoiler): I was unsure how the would-be usurping Heir was killed. He was covered by Mirabel's bees but we hear him scream that he is on fire and being burned. I at first assumed that the Master burned him magically with fire (which he can control due to his fire priest status) in order to avoid being killed by the Heir's sword in the duel for the Master role, but that would be against the rules; they were only supposed to fight with swords. What I think, now, is that the bees that covered them gave up their life-source, their heat, to burn the Heir up and kill him. That's why the Heir was reduced to a charred corpse and why half the bees died.
This is a wonderful book, an original fantasy story with imperfect, complex characters and its own world and magic. Very much recommended.
P.S. This is a little thing, but I really like the cover. I feel it captures the tone of the book perfectly, plus it's really pretty.