The Exiled Queen: A Roman Era Historical Fantasy
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Book Overview
Her father raised her to be his heir. When she failed the King's Challenge, he traded her away for the son she would bear him. What will it cost her to take it all back?
In Kerta, no woman may hold the throne. Andrada's mother made the king promise on her deathbed that their daughter would be like a son to him. On the child's tenth birthday, he has her hair cut short and sends her to school, where only highborn boys go. Years of blades, horses, and a high priest's rod-then he names her his heir.
His chieftains answer with the King's Challenge. Andrada must win the throne or drink the cup of deadly water. In a forbidden temple above the city, she finds her mother's hoarded portraits and a crystal bell with a single word engraved on it. By the time she comes back down, she has already lost.
Rather than watch her die, her father marries her to a foreign king who wants an heir from her and nothing else. His older brother is a high priest who wants her dead. His younger brother is fourteen and already in love with her. And the Roman legions need only an excuse to cross the border.
Andrada has spent her whole life waiting for a father who was never going to come. So she turns to a god instead. And in the worst hour of her life, she will remember the word on that bell and be sure he answered.
The Exiled Queen is a gritty and grounded historical fantasy set on the Danubian frontier of the Roman Empire. It is the earliest book in Delight of Humans and Gods, a series of standalone novels spanning the Lucretian Era. Read them in any order.
A note for readers: There are no dragons or magic wands in this book. And Andrada falls in love with a medicine woman, but it is longing, not romance.
"Rich and rousing... memorable historical fantasy." - Publishers Weekly
"Intricate worldbuilding... elegant prose... rousing finish... Our Verdict: GET IT." - Kirkus Reviews
Finalist in the 2024 Foreword INDIES (Fantasy), the Chaucer Book Awards, the Ozma Book Awards, and the American Book Fest Best Book Awards (Fantasy).
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