I Just Read About That…

[LISTENED TO: February 2023] Kill the Queen

One of the fun things about the Chirp audiobook app is that it is constantly recommending books by authors that i have never heard of.  Since I have learned that I really enjoy listening to genres that I don’t especially enjoy reading, I ‘ve been thrilled with all of the unknown (to me) authors that I’m now exposed to.

I didn’t know anything about Jennifer Estep, but the blurb seemed promising.  And, yes, there was something cool about the cover–a medieval looking story but the protagonist is in leather pants.  I know–don’t judge, etc.  But whatever, I gave it a try.

The one bad thing about audio books is you don’t know how certain words are written.  The narrator (Lauren Fortgang–absolutely excellent with a great diversity of voices at her disposal) kept saying Bolognian.  But I now see that it is written Bellonan,  Oh well, no harm.

As the book opens we meet Evie.  Her parents were once King and Queen.  But they were killed when she was young and she had been orphaned and taken in by the Bellonan people.  She was more or less relegated to the level of hanger-on.  Since then, she has been dismissed and even mocked by her more prominent cousins (Evie is 17th in line for the throne now).

She spends her time as an apprentice to a metalsmith.

As mentioned, there’s some anachronism about this story.  It is fantasy with the whole swords and gladiators thing running through the story.  There is also magic.  I rather like the way the magic is presented in the book.  Certain people have it.  Certain people can accentuate it with magical objects.  But some people have none or, as in the case of Evie, they are mutts and their magic is diluted.

The family likes to mock Evie’s magic because as far as they can tell, her magic is pretty much only the ability to smell things really well.  This actually proves to be really useful because she can smell people’s emotions and feelings, not to mention poison.  But Evie also has a magical ability that no one knows about–she very wisely kept it secret when she was a child.  And it will come to save her life.

There’s a major event keeping everyone occupied at the Bellonan castle.  Evie’s cousin Vasilia is set to get married to Prince Frederich of Andvari.  There is a large party with foreign dignitaries from all of the local castles.

But Vasilia has other plans.  She has been plotting to take over the throne from her mother for years.  And this event gives her just the opportunity to usurp the throne.

There is much violence and some of Evie’s beloved friends are killed.  But Evie is able to escape–although she is presumed dead.

Yep, there’s not a lot of originality to the premise.  Evie vows revenge and will certainly get it.  The question is how.

She winds up at a Black Swan Gladiator camp.

The Black Swan Gladiators are run by Serilda Swanson [I loved that so many of the warriors were female and that there was no concern about gender when battle was at hand].  Serilda was once a guard at the Bellonan castle, but she was disgraced and forced to leave.  She took some of her  most prized guards with her and formed this gladiator troupe.  The Black Swan Gladiators are the wrestling of their day, battling against each other for spectators.  Evie cannot fight at all, and indeed, she is about to get booted from the camp until she proves herself capable of making some good desserts (this was a delightful detail and her friendship with Cho is pretty great).

All along Evie is afraid that is she reveals who she is–Lady Everleigh Winter Blair, not just Evie–that Serilda will turn on her.  Even though the character around her make it seem pretty clear that Serilda would be on her side.  Whatever the case, through some cunning and baking, Evie becomes a part of the troupe.  Obviously there are factions and troubles in camp–in fact there is someone who is looking to poison the most prominent gladiator.  But Evie is able to use her magic to stop the assassination.

She is eventually able to win over both Lucas Sullivan (a bastard child of the Andvarian king) and Poloma, a warrior who can transform into an ogre.  There’s another cool aspect of the story in that a certain race has a tattoo on their neck which shows what they can transform into. The tattoo is living and moving and sometimes gives way what the person might actually be thinking.

I enjoyed that the story didn’t simply have Evie become a great gladiator and then get revenge.  There’s some other goings on, including a trip with the Black Swan troupe where they are ambushed by a magical blizzard.  And of course there are lots of other pieces of infighting that flesh out the story more.

There was plenty that I enjoyed, a few things I didn’t (Evie’s insecurity is laid on really really thick and gets to be a little annoying).  And of course, the story is not terribly original.  But who cares.  It was enjoyable and fun.  And I’m looking forward to the other two books in the trilogy.