The Seventh Queen
by Greta Kelly
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: November 2, 2021
Reviewed by Nancy
The Empire of Vishir has lost its ruler, and the fight to
save Seravesh from the Roven Empire is looking bleak. Moreover, Askia has been
captured by power-hungry Emperor Radovan, who plans on making her his wife
simply so he can take her magic as his own, killing her in the process. Aware
of his ex-wives’ fates, Askia must find a means of avoiding this doom, not only
for the sake of Seravesh, but now for Vishir as well. She must put both nations
first and remember Ozura’s advice: you must play the game in order to survive.
Askia was born a soldier, but now it’s time to become a spy.
But it’s hard to play a game where the only person who knows
the rules wants to kill her.
And time is a factor. The jewel Radovan has put around her
neck will pull her power from her in thirty days. Worse, Vishir might not even
have that long, as the two heirs to the throne are on the verge of civil war.
Without any hope for help from the south, without any access to her magic,
alone in a hostile land, Askia is no closer to freeing her people than she was
when she fled to Vishir. In the clutches of a madman, the only thing she’s
close to is death.
Yet she’d trade her life for a chance to save
Seravesh. The problem: she may not have that choice.
Nancy says:
Greta Kelly’s The
Seventh Queen is the second of two connected books. The publisher
generously sent along the prior book, The
Frozen Crown, for context. I read The
Seventh Queen first, however, so I could see whether it’s a good jumping-on
point for those who haven’t yet read the first book. I’m happy to report that
it is.
I think one reason the second book stands alone so well is
that it takes place in a different setting, with mostly different supporting
characters, from the first book. As the Askia learns about this place, her
situation, and the people and ghosts around her, the reader learns without
having to deal with an information dump.
Unfortunately, the book description on vendor sites, which
is included above, is not a good introduction to the second book because it
doesn’t explain the phrases it uses until the end. Quickly, before we dive into
the book itself—Askia is the young, new Queen of Seravesh, she has a stake in
the kingdom of Vishir because she was married to the Emperor of Vishir, who was
murdered at the wedding, and the six-times-married-and-widowed Emperor Radovan
of the Roven Empire, who ordered the murder, has been rampaging across the land
with the help of magic he has stolen from his prior wives. He plans to make
Askia the seventh and use the magic he steals from her to crush the other
kingdoms’ resistance.
The Seventh Queen
opens as Askia awakens in Radovan’s castle after being kidnapped. While the
stone on her necklace, which she can’t remove, stifles her use of her magic, it
doesn’t squelch her innate ability. She’s a death witch and so can see the
ghosts of Radovan’s prior queens and two other spirits who followed her to
Roven. Having been where she is, the prior queens sympathize with her. They
offer comfort and then assistance as she tries to plan an escape. If she’s
going to break out, she needs to hurry because the stone on her necklace will
absorb absorb all her magic within thirty days. Once it does, Radovan will kill
her. Amulets, necklaces, and other restraints that stifle magic are nothing new
in fantasy, but the Aellium stone that siphons Askia’s power adds a fresh
twist.
So the story opens with a ticking clock. Part of the thirty
days have elapsed while Askia lay unconscious after her kidnapping. As she
becomes oriented, she must figure out how to deal with Radovan. She despises
him but dares not anger him lest he lock her up and foreclose any chance of
escape. She also can’t lie to him because he absorbed truth-sensing abilities
from one of his prior victims.
Her efforts to learn enough about the castle to find a
weakness, a way out, don’t always go smoothly. The ghosts who are helping her
have their own agendas, and not everyone in Radovan’s court is as they
initially seem to be. Slowly, she learns how and where to apply pressure—all
without Radovan finding out—so she can gather information. Her efforts pay off
in an expected way.
Meanwhile, Askia’s loyal guard are searching for her. We’re
well into The Seventh Queen when we
first meet them, but Kelly provides enough information to orient new readers without
slowing the pace of the story. One of those guardsmen, a fire mage, is particularly
important going forward.
The plot includes believable progress and setbacks as Askia
tries to find a way out of her predicament. Yet nothing is simple, and there
are intriguing twists, especially at the end. Askia is determined and smart but
not infalliable or immune to discouragement. She’s easy to root for.
The ghostly queens of Roven are nicely differentiated. Each
has her own worries about what Radovan will do while some also worry about
those they left behind. They’re not always on the same page as Askia about what
needs to happen. This makes them believable, while their efforts to help make
them sympathetic.
Radovan clearly is a horrible person, but he also has
insecurities and layers. He’s the prime example of a villain who sees himself
as the hero of his story.
There’s also a romantic subplot. This being a fantasy,
however, the romance isn’t a prominent part of the book. The romantic scenes
are done well, but as the relationship comes together, it, too, is not as
simple as it first seemed.
The story moves at a solid pace without rushing. The final
confrontation is tense, action-filled, and, again, twisty. The ending was
satisfying but not entirely what a romance reader might want. There’s clearly
more story to come on all fronts.
As for quibbles, I did get a little tired of Askia reminding
herself she was a queen or making herself be a queen. I got that after the
first time. While I liked the way she contrasted the woman circumstances forced
her to become with the woman she’d been before the kidnapping, I could have
done with a bit less repetition of that. There was one secret that seemed to be
just a bit too convenient for my taste. These are quibbles, though, not big
problems.
Overall, The Seventh
Queen had engaging protagonists, an original, solid, and twisty plot, an
action-packed climax, and an intriguing romance subplot. Highly Recommended.
~~~~~~~~~~
Are you a fan of fantasy fiction? Are there authors or books in this genre that you would recommend?
One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, November 30 will receive a hardback copy of The Frozen Crown.
*U.S. only
*Must be 18
*Void where prohibited
