Fantasy; Young Adult Literature; Coming of Age
The Ropemaker has all the trappings of traditional epic fantasy—a heroine living in a made-up world (with magic and unicorns, no less), and a quest to find something really important and save said world. In this case, the something that needs to be found is Faheel—the magician who can keep the Valley safe—and the heroine doing the finding is Tilja, who's got plenty of magical power in her own right.
The thing about Tilja's power, though, is that she doesn't start the book knowing she has it. In fact, she starts the book pretty stinking jealous of the power possessed by other ladies in her family, particularly her little sister. And this component of Tilja's journey—the thread that follows her as she moves from envious of the power of others to discovering and learning to harness her own power—is what firmly plants this book in the coming of age genre. Our girl Tilja does some serious growing up.
As for young adult lit, our main character is a teenager and the language and ideas of this book are definitely teen-friendly. While older folks can totally get caught up in the story, this book is definitely focused on pleasing a young adult audience. Lucky young adults.