Song of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce... A female warrior set of three books bound together. Loved it! However, she does sleep around which is a little too abnormal for me. There is magic, nomadic tribes in the desert, "city folk," royalty and theives. Everything your looking for.

Fly by Night, Frances Hardinge... This book took me forever to read! Over one month. I don't know why I had such a hard time getting into it. I decided it was the cover. The cover is really cool with a cut out window. One other book I read had a cut out window on the cover, King in the Window, and I had to force myself to read that book as well. Beware of cut outs in the cover. I really liked it when I was done. Set in a fragmented country with lots of "idol worship." The people looking for a leader. A young girl and her goose are the heroes.