The Riddle Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip

[King Bob]

I read a couple of her other books, and decided to read this since it's her most famous work and it was a one-volume edition. Unfortunately I didn't think it was as good as the others I've read. Perhaps it was because it was early work? She also seemed in the first book to omit important details, or sometimes slip them into the middle of descriptive passages, so that I had to flip back and find them. Also sometimes she'd say something like (my approximation) "suddenly his thoughts fit together into a new idea and he understood" but then she'd never say what the idea was! On the other hand, the world-building was certainly good, and the story moved along well. Also several of the main characters were female, which I imagine was unusual then (the late 70s).

Note that it was a story about a young man marked on the forehead (here with three stars) who didn't know he had a destiny and had to learn magic to fight evil forces trying to destroy him. Sound familiar?

I think if I'd read it in high school I would have loved it. (Wondering why I didn't - I think the lackluster titles were one factor, and another was the really bad covers on the old mass market editions. I guess I am that shallow.) On the whole I'd recommend Od Magic as the one of her books to read instead of this. And it's stand alone so not so much of a time investment.