The Hidden Girl was nominated for a Locus award last year and is part of The Book of Swords anthology, edited by Gardner Dozios. The protagonist is a daughter of a high ranking noble in China, one just under the warlords that run the country in lieu of the emperor. A wandering Buddhist monk, who is really a head of a supernatural girls' combat academy, steals her away against her will for training.
The story is pretty much set in a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon universe, with young women fighting while swinging on vines. Their special power comes from being able to go into a "space that is not a space", and access our three dimensions as though through a fourth spatial one. At heart, it's a superhero birth story. Decently fun to read, with a self contained plot but it still doesn't stand alone all that well. 3 stars from me.
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