This was very engrossing story of the daughter of a priestess, abandoned due to a deformity. She lives an eventful life, though sad at times, becoming a Minoan Bull Dancer. I think YA's and adults will enjoy this story if they have an interest in the Bronze Age of Crete.

This is a beautifully satisfying book set thousands of years ago during the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean.
The gods have carved out a brutal destiny for Aissa. Discarded by her priestess mother upon her birth because of perceived imperfections, she was rescued by Kelya, a wise woman, and adopted into a loving goat herding family. She was orphaned at four when raiders killed her father and kidnapped her mother to sell into slavery. Following this she was dropped in the servant quarters and abandoned to the heartlessness of the other servants and considered a cursed child by them and other villagers. Eventually she was cast out and forced to survive on her own.
When she gets her wish to leave the island and become a bull dancer, she has no inkling of what horrors are in store for her and what she will have to overcome before she finds acceptance.
I liked so much about this novel. Wendy Orr has created a fabulous world to get lost in. I appreciated the map at the beginning of the book that helped understand the island more concretely. She's populated it with feasible characters. It's impossible not to care about Aissa as she struggles and triumphs through all her trials.