Book series in which a girl in a village is taken away by soldiers

Question

I started reading a fantasy book many years ago. I want to finish it now but cannot remember what it was called. This is very vague.

It starts with a girl in a village, possibly a fishing village, and she’s talking with her friend about her life. She’s living in a boat house or barn. I think her father has recently died. She has conflict with someone in the village, then soldiers turn up and take her away. She may be special for some reason. I’m sure it was a series of three books.

If anyone can help, thanks. This is my last chance of trying to work it out.

Answer 1

It could be Red Queen, one of four novels (although the last was published in 2018, so could still have been three when you read it). Not all elements match, but enough that it could be the answer with some fading of memory.

Summary from Goodreads:

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

It was a Goodreads winner (best debut author, nominated for best young adult novel, 2015) so was fairly well known at the time.

I didn't get very far in myself, but it does open in a fishing village. The friend was orphaned, but Mare's father was alive but crippled.

Answer 2

I think the book you may be remembering is Gardens of the Moon, the first of the Malazan Books of the Fallen series written by Steven Erikson.

After a prologue, Gardens of the Moons opens with a scene set near a fishing village, where a girl and old woman are talking, while waiting for a troop of soldiers to pass. The old woman is some sort of witch I believe, while the girl is daughter to a fisherman. The girl is not named (merely referred to as fishergirl). As they talk one of the soldiers hits the old women.

This kills the old woman, but before she passes I think she impresses her conscience somehow onto the fisher girl. The scene then shifts and two hooded strangers come by and it is implied (IIRC) that they cause the death of the troop of soldiers (and the villagers). While doing so, one of the hooded strangers, also impresses his will onto the girl, making her his tool. The girl is later introduced as Sorry when trying to get recruited to the Malazan army.

The scene shifts again to some time later when another troop of soldiers is investigating the aftermath of what appears to be a supernatural animal attack on the village/soldiers.

This all happens in the first chapter of the book, fitting the OP's memory, however the series actually consists of 10 books not 3.

The Gardens of the Moon was originally published in 1999, so could easily have been read before 2018.