Just plane confusing

The magic of the main characters is synonymous with their human natures and requires them to adapt how they live and interact. Living in a land where everyone has magic except him, our young hero sets out to find some or find out why not. Soon after starting his journey he meets the beautiful but extremely dumb heroine whose magic is a monthly cycle of inverse beauty and intelligence - at one extreme she is beautiful but dumb, two weeks later she is mentally brilliant (and contemptuous of hero) as well as ugly. What a great metaphor for a menstrual cycle! And it really puts it in terms that a young man (i.e. those of an age to be affected by the inconsistencies inherent in the teenage girl's mind. ) can understand. It's not always his fault and he needs to to roll with the punches like our hero. Science has evidence that women actually are prettier during the ovulation stage of their cycle and from personal experience i know how supercilious and contemptuous I can be with PMS / PMDD. If only my husband had this hero's magic maybe he would relax a bit.

This is one of the best fantasy authors of all time.