The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham

Bloggers have been praising The Dragon's Path like it's the best thing since sliced bread. I barely managed to get through it. It was so dense, predictable and boring. The characters are quite forgettable and the setting, mundane. There are a dozen sentient races which the bugger doesn't bother to describe properly and you're left imagining a character who you think (perhaps) looks remotely like a warthog. I barely remember the story. Here's the description off the author's site: 

"Summer is the season of war in the Free Cities.

Marcus wants to get out before the fighting starts. His hero days are behind him and simple caravan duty is better than getting pressed into service by the local gentry. Even a small war can get you killed. But a captain needs men to lead — and his have been summarily arrested and recruited for their swords.

Cithrin has a job to do — move the wealth of a nation across a war zone. An orphan raised by the bank, she is their last hope of keeping the bank’s wealth out of the hands of the invaders. But she’s just a girl and knows little of caravans, war, and danger. She knows money and she knows secrets, but will that be enough to save her in the coming months? 

Geder, the only son of a noble house is more interested in philosophy than swordplay. He is a poor excuse for a soldier and little more than a pawn in these games of war. But not even he knows what he will become of the fires of battle. Hero or villain? Small men have achieved greater things and Geder is no small man. 

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. What should have been a small summer spat between gentlemen is spiraling out of control. Dark forces are at work, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon’s Path — the path of war."

Savvy? Celebrated war weary captain guards caravan. Girl dresses as a boy in the caravan illegally smuggling a bank's gold and jewels out of an occupied city. Girl starts her own illegal bank franchise and hires captain to guard her jewels. An inept oaf of a general burns down the occupied city and then goes on a pilgrimage to a temple in a desert and brings back a priest. 

Predictably, this is the first book of what I think is a quartet. Good luck to us all.