First Truth by Dawn Cook

"Alissa doesn't believe in magic. Her father's stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Masters, are just that --stories. But her mother insists that Alissa has inherited her father's magical ability, and so she must go to the Hold--the only place her talents can be trained. On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. And though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something Alissa needs--one of her father's old maps. Traveling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don’t know that the Hold is nearly empty. The Keeper Bailic has sent the Masters on a fool's errand and systematically killed the other Keepers in his search for the First Truth, a book of magic that will give him ultimate power. And he believes that Alissa and Strell hold the secret of the book's hiding place."

About 190 pages into this book I gave up and skipped to the last chapter. It started out good, I thought Alissa was a likable enough character, however, along the way the story became a bit boring and uneventful. I stopped and read another book and forced myself to come back to this one. Having skipped most of the book, I still don't feel like I missed too much. Just reading the last chapter caught me up on everything that happened. I was a bit surprised how it ended, I thought by that point more would have happened, but it was clearly written as an introduction to the rest of the series.

Book One: First Truth
Book Two: Hidden Truth
Book Three: Forgotten Truth
Book Four: Lost Truth