Books like Pigs Don't Fly

So why am I reading a 20-year-old book when there are so many new ones to read? Re-reading, no less? Because I finally got the sequel and decided I needed to refresh my memory. In this medieval/early Renaissance fantasy, Summer is the daughter of the village whore and a mysterious traveler who died before she was born. Her only gift from her father, aside from a dowry of foreign coins, is a ring from a unicorn's horn that allows her to communicate with animals (something she learns only as she starts on her journey).When her mother dies, Summer sets out on a journey, without much direction, until she starts accreting companions: a scruffy dog, a blind, amnesiac, but gorgeous knight, a broken-down horse who claims to be a princess (not a human in horse form, a princess of horses), a homing pigeon with a broken wing, a tortoise who's a long way from home, and a weird little pig with wings. Thinking herself in love with the knight, Summer tries to help him regain his memory and his home, and in the journey helps the others find what they're looking for as well. But she doesn't discover what she wants until it's too late.The details in this book are incredible. They're occasionally overdone, but you really feel what life was like for someone who had no wealth or powerful protector. Summer is well-educated, thanks to her mother's clients, but ignorant of the world, and makes the kind of mistakes you'd expect someone like her to make. Unfortunately, she also makes unforgivable mistakes, like not trusting her companions or doubting the ring, which make her annoying at times. She's also a naïve narrator, to the point that it was frustrating rather than clever. Fortunately, the animals are all bright in their own way, and kept me interested.This is a quest fantasy, which means the plot is a series of encounters strung together. I felt it would have been stronger if Summer's emotional journey had been more fluid and overt. She doesn't really change until the end, when her beloved knight finally reaches his home and (view spoiler)[regains his sight due to a second blow to the head. When he finally sees Summer, he declares that he loves her more than the fiancée he left behind, who is a bitch. (hide spoiler)]