A YA feminist fantasy, full of romance, danger and courtly intrigue, from a dazzling debut writer.
For fans of Twin Crowns, and TikTok sensations The Woven Kingdom and To Kill a Kingdom.
Kalothia has grown up in the shadows of her kingdom, hidden away in the East after her parents were outed as enemies of the king. When assassins attack her home on her sixteenth birthday, she must flee to the king’s court – a beautiful but lethal nest of poison, plots and danger, overseen by an entrenched patriarchy. Can Kalothia navigate this most worldly of places to find her own role? What if she must choose between her country and her heart?
Kolothia has lived a sheltered life, deep in the forest in the kingdom of Galla. She has, however, learned how to read and write, and is very capable of protecting herself - all things that will come in very handy when her world is turned upside down …
Kolothia believed that her three protectors were keeping her away from the Royal Court because her parents supported the Queen, who the King had killed because he was convinced that she was unfaithful. This all happened 16 years ago, but now her home has been attacked, leaving her protectors dead, and violent people chasing her.
She doesn’t know who to turn to. If only Nahir - her nearest thing to an actual friend, who has been charged with her safety by his father Lord Godmayne - was around and not away protecting their borders from constant attack.
Kolothia finds her way to the capital, only to discover that the King is dead and there appears to be no heir to the throne. This has left the four Lords who run the four regions of Galla vying for the top job. When Kolothia and her shock of red hair - the same hair that only runs directly through the Royal bloodline - are discovered, and suddenly a real claim to the throne exists.
But the Lords could not even conceive that a Queen could rule their kingdom and so trickery, deception and outright murder takes place to try to stop her coronation. Can she take the throne, and exact the change that she feels is so long overdue tso that girls and women are truly accepted throughout the kingdom?
This is a terrific read depicting a wonderfully lush Royal kingdom, the kingdom’s abhorrent treatment of women, and a remarkably strong girl who just may change all that. Full of deception, romance and exciting drama, this book will be most loved by readers aged 13 and older.
Reviewed by Rob