Renegade's Magic
Robin Hobb
Voyager
616 pages

The people of Gettys town remember the death of their cemetery soldier vividly. They remember believing him guilty of unspeakable crimes, condemning him, and then watching as the other men of his unit beat him until he no longer drew breath.
But Nevare Burve didn't die that day, though everyone believes they saw it happen. He was cornered by a power far more intractable than an angry mob.
When he was a boy, the magic of the Specks - the dapple-skinned tribes of the frontier forests - claimed Nevare as a saviour; severing his soul, naming the stolen half Soldier's Boy and shaping him into a weapon to halt the Gernian expansion into their lands and save their beloved ancestor trees.
Until now, Nevare has defied the magic, unable to accept his traitorous fate. But the magic has won : it has extinguished his once golden future, devastated his family and turned his own people against him. Faced with endangering the only loved-ones he has left, Nevare has no choice but to surrender to its will and enter the forest.
But surrendering to his Speck destiny is only the beginning of his trials. Before he submits completely, Nevare makes one desperate last attempt to deter the Gernians from the Barrier Mountains without causing them harm. But the magic accepts no compromise. Exhausted, Nevare can no longer suppress his traitorous Speck self, Soldier's Boy, and becomes a prisoner in his own body.
Solder's Boy is determined to stop the Gernian expansion at any cost, and unlike Nevare, he has no love, nor sympathy for his spirit-twin's world...