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The Queen of Blood: Book One of The Queens of Renthia Kindle Edition
Ignite your imagination with this immersive fantasy read!
Set in the magical world of Renthia, The Queen of Blood is Sarah Beth Durst’s ambitious entry into adult epic fantasy. With the danger of Peter Brett’s The Warded Man, heart of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, and lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, this is the first chapter in a series destined to be a classic.
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.
With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . . before it’s bathed in blood.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Voyager
- Publication dateSeptember 20, 2016
- File size1334 KB
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Wow, girl! What a great story! A truly wonderful fantasy novel which doubles as an allegory for our own earthly struggle between Man and Nature. Filled with fresh ideas and excitement, told with verve and heart. This book deserves a wide readership, and I think it will find one.” — Terry Brooks, NYT Bestselling author of the Shannara series
“Thrilling--heartrending--enchanting--absolutely un-put-down-able!” — Tamora Pierce, author of New York Times bestseller Bloodhound
“Durst, an award-winning YA author (Vessel) and three-time Andre Norton Award finalist, presents a thrilling beginning to a sweeping series about searching for sovereignty and truth in order to save one’s land.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Mythopoeic Award-winner Durst (Chasing Power) launches her Queens of Renthia series with a stellar and imaginative tale...In addition to a solid cast of characters and great political intrigue, Durst delivers some fascinating worldbuilding, and the spirits are malevolent, cunning, wild, and mysterious antagonists.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The Queen of Blood is full of rich tension from the opening scene to the nail-biting finale.” — Jeff Wheeler, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Kingfountain and Muirwood series
“Durst dives into adult fantasy with thrilling results.” — Shelf Awareness -- Starred Review
From the Back Cover
An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first volume of a mesmerizing new epic fantasy series filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still only human, and no matter how strong or good they are, the threat of danger always looms.
Because the queen’s position is so precarious, young women are specially chosen to train as her heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Meanwhile, the disgraced champion Ven has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. When Daleina and Ven join forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . .before it’s bathed in blood.
About the Author
Sarah Beth Durst is the author of fantasy novels for children, teens, and adults. Winner of the Mythopoeic Award and an ALA Alex Award and thrice nominated for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, she lives in New York. Visit her at sarahbethdurst.com or on Twitter: @sarahbethdurst.
Product details
- ASIN : B01ARKV3T4
- Publisher : Harper Voyager; Reissue edition (September 20, 2016)
- Publication date : September 20, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 1334 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 361 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #45,993 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #184 in Read & Listen for Less
- #253 in Teen & Young Adult Coming of Age Fantasy eBooks
- #417 in Women's Adventure Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Sarah Beth Durst is the award-winning author of over twenty books for adults, teens, and kids, including THE BONE MAKER, DRINK SLAY LOVE, and SPARK. She won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for SFWA's Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her children, and her ill-mannered cat. For more information, visit her at sarahbethdurst.com.
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The world that was built in this novel is GORGEOUS. Everything from the characters to the queendom to the magic system to the world itself was just gorgeous and completely jumped off the page. I was sold immediately into this world because I truly could picture it all. The spirits and the magic was so interesting and so unique from anything I’ve really read before – it was an interesting take on almost elemental magic. I liked that Sarah built everything so well but I didn’t feel like I normally feel when I read adult fantasy – get to the point. Everything in her world made sense without her having to go on for pages and pages about how everything worked and I seriously appreciated that.
I also really enjoyed the characters. I loved that we got two very different characters, different generations but it really gave a window into what the world was. A world-weary champion and a bright, if not totally talented, young student – its an interesting pair and I liked the way they worked together, I thought it was a brilliant partnership and I can’t wait to see how that unfolds in the next book.
I also just love where this book headed. I honestly am trying really really hard to keep it spoiler free. Honestly, it felt sort of…like it would have not made sense if Daleina was queen easily because she struggles with the magic and control over the spirits the entire novel and she definitely gets better but I don’t know, I needed more. And I got it. The end BLEW my mind, totally threw me for a loop and was absolutely devastating. I honestly did NOT see that coming at all and I was in shock. Then I saw the title for the second book and it made a lot more sense but still. It threw me and I really appreciated that as well. That doesn’t happen often anymore.
Honestly, this book was one of the BEST books I read in 2019. Its beautiful and rich, the magic system is incredibly interesting, I liked the two main characters…a LOT, and I’m incredibly interested in seeing where on earth this goes next because that ending…that ending was just so unexpected. Sarah has really opened my eyes to the possibilities in adult fantasy and I think I’m a little more open to trying again!
Eventually, I decided I was going to picture the spirits as some kind of humanoid flying fairy formed by their respective element (I know that’s probably completely wrong, but there wasn’t a whole lot to go off off). But then that image completely fell apart when one of the spirits gets cut and starts to bleed... like, blood. Now I don’t want to criticize the authors world building (especially since I didn’t fully understand it), but an elemental spirit bleeding normal blood seemed a little weird to me.