Reviews

     King debuts with a page-turning fantasy of political intrigue, secret societies, sumptuous academic settings, and enough mystery to keep readers guessing. Seere is the assassin queen, always on guard, framed for a crime she didn’t commit, hiding from her past, until the day a seething, oddly familiar stranger, Orias Roderick, threatens to reveal her true royal identity as the long-lost princess of a **neighboring** kingdom. Her mission: protect Prince Felix of Noctivagus, the first person she ever kissed, from assassins. As the shadowy Order of the Chimera, a fanatical religious cult, grows in power, Seere makes the long journey to Malphas University, training ground for new nobles, where she must keep her identity and her heart guarded, even as Prince Felix and others suspect she has something to hide.

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     King’s setting is as lush as Seere—who has a reputation for deploring “lace,” “ruffles,” and “anything that sparkled”—is engagingly headstrong, resisting the young lords’ habit of treating her as a “pawn to be used and discarded.” (She also makes relatable, self-justifying declarations like “If she felt provoked, that’s her problem, not mine.”) With a love of speaking hard truths and stirring controversy, Seere clashes with her wealth-and-status-obsessed academic environment, even as she must keep a “tangled web of truths” from Felix. Among her secrets is a burgeoning romance with Orias that thrums with fierce energy and possibly threatens her mission.

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     Punchy dialogue, sharp confrontations, and moments of humor and magic—including cool shapeshifting—buoy the tale, as Seere and company go from classes to pubs to Seere’s first-ever ball, “a great place for things to go utterly haywire.” Along with a compelling hero, King has crafted an original mythology, including a calendar system, for this world, and some of the freshest scenes find Seere challenging legends and lore. Readers of academic fantasy who enjoy social politics, hard romantic choices, and explorations of magical power (and powerlessness) will relish this first entry in a projected series.

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     Takeaway: Compelling, subtly seductive fantasy of an assassin queen at a noble school.

     Comparable Titles: M. A. Carrick’s Rook & Rose series, Jennifer Fallon’s Second Sons trilogy.

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Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-