Crimson Crown's First Chapter Now Available!

In case you pay no attention to me whatsoever, I'm a HUGE SEVEN REALMS fan.  Major.  I love this series so much I can barely articulate it into words beyond a third grade level.  Huge.  So of course I'm a fan of the SEVEN REALMS series on Facebook and over the past few days Cinda has been posting snippets from the coming title.

Sneak peek one -

Sneak peek two -

And sneak peek three -

Such little teasers!  I tell you I just love Cinda's writing.  I don't think I've ever read such lengthy books so quickly.

And now that it's the glorious July 1st you can read the first chapter for free over on Cinda's site!  You bet your sweet ass I've read it already.  And let me tell you October 23rd is far too far away for my liking.  It's not fair.  I want it now!

The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

Published April 1, 2007.

Before he knew about the Roses, 16-year-old Jack lived an unremarkable life in the small Ohio town of Trinity. Only the medicine he has to take daily and the thick scar above his heart set him apart from the other high-schoolers. Then one day Jack skips his medicine. Suddenly, he is stronger, fiercer, and more confident than ever before. And it feels great until he loses control of his own strength and nearly kills another player during soccer team tryouts.

Soon, Jack learns the startling truth about himself: He is Weirlind; part of an underground society of magical people who live among us. At the head of this magical society sit the feuding houses of the Red Rose and the White Rose, whose power is determined by playing The Game. A magical tournament in which each house sponsors a warrior to fight to the death, the winning house ruling the Weir. As if his bizarre magical heritage isn't enough, Jack finds out that he's not just another member of Weirlind, he's one of the last of the warriors at a time when both houses are scouting for a player. Jack's performance on the soccer field has alerted the entire magical community to the fact that he's in Trinity. And until one of the houses is declared Jack's official sponsor, they'll stop at nothing to get Jack to fight for them. (goodreads.com)

You know, with how big of a fan of THE SEVEN REALMS series I am, it really pains me to say that I wasn't too big of a fan of THE WARRIOR HEIR. I mean it really does. I tried. I really did. But I didn't love it like I do THE SEVEN REALMS. Considering THE SEVEN REALMS was written later, giving Chima time to hone her craft, and considering how effing awesome it is, maybe my expectations were too high. It's not often I start out with books that came out later in an author's career. But in this case I'm glad I did because I honestly don't know if I'd keep reading this series, let alone more of Chima's work, if I had started with THE WARRIOR HEIR.

It's not the writing. Not really. I found the same type of prose in THE WARRIOR HEIR as I did in THE SEVEN REALMS but the former was missing something. Heart, maybe? The story was decent enough but it felt like it was skimming the surface of what Chima is truly capable of. Again, something else that could be chalked up to higher expectations. It just felt kind of done before. There were some good original elements in there, like the sleeping dragon stone and the portrayal of the underground magical society and the whole battle between the Roses and the lengths they go to in order to sabotage each other. But I wasn't really into it. I found it kind of difficult to pick up the book again once I put it down. It was hard for me to get into.

Maybe it had to do with Jack. I think I felt him more like a pawn than an actual character. I felt the plot move him more than he moved the plot, like he was just coasting along and going with the flow. He wasn't a stand-out character to me. I found him blending into the background too easily, getting pushed out of the way for the big kids to handle it, getting a somewhat easy way out. I wasn't too big of a fan.

I was far more interested in Ellen, for all her standoffishness. And I was hoping there would be more going on with Will and Fitch. I will avoid spoilers but I think shifting into their POVs, in some cases more often, would have benefited the story, given it a little more depth. I did like Longbranch. She played her role well and came off as quite a likable villain. A bit cookie-cutter but I liked her attitude. And Linda was pretty cool too but I felt she was shunted to the side a little too easily. I would have liked to have seen her be more prominent in the story than what she was. She would have provided a good balance for female strength in the story.

Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad story. There's an excerpt of THE WIZARD HEIR at the end and that looked pretty interesting. Just the excerpt made me feel like I'd connect with it just a little more than I did with THE WARRIOR HEIR. But it's not THE SEVEN REALMS. I don't want to say skip the first series and go to the second because this one definitely has its merits. As opposed to what it's not, what it is is a really good fantasy story. If Chima does nothing else, she builds her worlds marvelously and even though I think we're cheated out of some of that world here, what bits and pieces you do get are exceptionally vibrant and stand out on their own. Plus I don't want what happened to me to happen to you: you read one of the most awesome series ever and then go backwards to the author's debut work which, while still good, still provides a pretty big gap.

I think it'd be neat to see Chima's writing improve through the series. I still don't think I'd continue with this particular series because I wasn't thrilled with it but it's not lacking in writing. That's for sure. THE WARRIOR HEIR is very well written and deserves applause for that. So if you, like me, weren't thrilled with THE WARRIOR HEIR, hang in there. I can't vouch for the rest of this series, although I do want to read it at some point, but I can vouch for THE SEVEN REALMS, which is amazing and so totally worth it.

But, you might like this one just as much. They're two different types of fantasy, this one being more urban while THE SEVEN REALMS is more high so you need to take those genre differences into account when reading them because if you lean to one or the other, it's obviously going to color which one you'll like more. But give THE WARRIOR HEIR a try. It definitely deserves it. Not my favorite but it could be yours.

Ban Factor: High - A fantasy world with no Christian godly influence. Big banner fail.

Ban This! Author Bites - Cinda Williams Chima

Cinda Williams Chima says let her parent her own children and you stick to parenting yours. I agree. Thanks for contributing, Cinda!

Books changed my life.

Through childhood and adolescence, my mother would take me to the library and I would check out armloads of books. At home, her shelves were open to me—a combination of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, murder mysteries, James Bond thrillers and historical novels, in addition to what she borrowed from the library.

My older brother, too, had books—mostly science fiction and fantasy—that he’d let me borrow. When we visited my aunt and grandmother, I would read stacks of True Story and True Confession magazines, with the occasional romance thrown in. Not all of it was good, but all of it made me a better reader.

We didn’t have much money. Our vacations were fishing trips to Canada. Books were a doorway into new worlds for a girl who wanted to cross other borders. Books were also a refuge for me when I needed it—when we moved out of state, leaving all my friends behind, and when my mother was seriously ill.

My mother never restricted what I read. She never saw danger between the covers of a book—only opportunities to learn about the world in a safe way. That was her view, though other parents might think differently.

As my reading level improved, I encountered content I didn’t understand. For instance I couldn’t figure out why people were always going to bed together. I never wanted to go to bed—I preferred to stay up and read.

If I asked my mother, sometimes she would offer a brief explanation, and sometimes she would suggest another book I might enjoy. Or I would put it aside myself. Readers and writers are partners in story—and books can be read on many different levels.

There was very little literature targeted at young adults in those days, so by junior high and high school, I was reading adult books mostly—Michener and Mary Stewart and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Tolkien and John Jacques and hundreds of authors whose names I can’t remember. Most of it was fairly tame—but not all.

In high school, my teacher caught me reading Valley of the Dolls in Problems of Democracy class—a book that was highly controversial back in the day. I had to go beg for it back, because it belonged to a friend of my mother’s.

Somehow, I survived Valley of the Dolls, True Confessions, and the rest. I got into my share of trouble as a teenager. Like generations of adolescents before me, I was influenced by peers, by hormones, and by the adolescent belief that I was indestructible.

I can’t think of one time that I made a bad decision based on something I read in a book.
I had friends who had complicated lives—alcoholic fathers, divorced parents, abuse situations. They felt so alone—as if they were the only teens in the world that weren’t living a sitcom life. It would have helped tremendously if they could have found themselves in story.

I went on to become a first generation college graduate, a health professional, a college professor, an author.

I’m a parent myself, though my boys are grown now. When they were teenagers, I envied their access to a huge range of books written just for them. Books about diverse topics and diverse people. We loved talking about books together. My older son, especially, read far above his grade level. There were times I had to lobby for him so he could gain access to richer, more challenging books.

Nobody considers the adult audience for books to be homogeneous. The teen reading audience is just as diverse in terms of what individuals can handle. It is disrespectful and condescending to limit all teens to literature that offends nobody.

As a parent, I honor the right of parents to monitor and participate in the book choices their children make. And I ask them to honor my choices as well. I don’t want other parents and gatekeepers making that decision for me—or my children.

Cinda Williams Chima has authored two best-selling fantasy series: The Heir Chronicles (The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, The Dragon Heir) with two books forthcoming; and the Seven Realms series (The Demon King, The Exiled Queen, and the newly-released The Gray Wolf Throne) with more forthcoming. You can find information about her tour for The Gray Wolf Throne and other upcoming events here http://cindachima.com/Events/events.htm.
More information and excerpts from each book are available on her website, www.cindachima.com. Help for writers can be found under Resources/Tips for Writers, including a document called, “Getting Started in Writing for Teens.”

Chima blogs at http://cindachima.blogspot.com/, where you’ll find rants, posts on the craft of writing, and news. Visit her Seven Realms http://www.facebook.com/Seven.Realms and Heir Chronicles http://www.facebook.com/Heir.Chronicles pages on Facebook.

Seven Realms Week!

Since I was first introduced to the series I've been shouting about how awesome Cinda Williams Chima's SEVEN REALMS series is (titles including THE DEMON KING, THE EXILED QUEEN and THE GRAY WOLF THRONE). So when Emily asked me if I wanted to be part of her Seven Realms Week that she was hosting, of course I jumped on that bandwagon. But it's more than just a celebration of an awesome series. It's giving you chances to win a set of signed books! How awesome is that? You know what's awesomer? Two sets of signed books to be given away!

You have two way to enter into the contests.

The first way is to go Twitter-happy. Take one of the images below and change your Twitter picture to it (the ring for Clans, the crown for the Queen's Guard and the amulet for the Wizards). Then every time you post throw in the hashtag #sevenrealms and be entered to win! The more you enter, the more entries you get. And you can comment on the Provo City Library's Facebook page for an entry as well. They are sponsors of this event, you know. Show them some love. So here are the images for your Twitter avatar -

So get Twitting!

Or if you life puzzles, you can take a blog hop to the list of blogs below all this week and collect puzzle pieces to create a word. When you have a guess as to what that word is, email it to emilysreadingroom@gmail.com with the subject SEVEN REALMS WEEK. If your guess is correct, you get an entry!

The lovely list of Seven Realms lovers -

Tuesday, September 13: Donna at Bites
Wednesday, September 14: Reading Teen, Emily's Reading Room
Thursday, September 15: One Librarian's Book Reviews
Friday, September 16: Candace's Book Blog

And here's your puzzle piece! Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to holler at me or you can contact Emily directly.

Two Awesome Books Go Live Today!

One of which I just reviewed yesterday. The other I reviewed last week but both merit yet even more mentions as they hit stores today. Both are progressive series books so if you haven't started either, you really need to. You're missing out on two amazing series of books! So without further ado, I present to you -

THE GRAY WOLF THRONE by Cinda Williams Chima

Amazon + Barnes & Noble + The Book Depository

DUST & DECAY by Jonathan Maberry

Amazon + Barnes & Noble + The Book Depository

What are you waiting for? Go buy them!

The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima

Pub date: August 30th, 2011.

Han Alister thought he had already lost everyone he loved. But when he finds his friend Rebecca Morley near death in the Spirit Mountains, Han knows that nothing matters more than saving her. The costs of his efforts are steep, but nothing can prepare him for what he soon discovers: the beautiful, mysterious girl he knew as Rebecca is none other than Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells. Han is hurt and betrayed. He knows he has no future with a blueblood. And, as far as he’s concerned, the princess’s family killed his own mother and sister. But if Han is to fulfill his end of an old bargain, he must do everything in his power to see Raisa crowned queen.

Meanwhile, some people will stop at nothing to prevent Raisa from ascending. With each attempt on her life, she wonders how long it will be before her enemies succeed. Her heart tells her that the thief-turned-wizard Han Alister can be trusted. She wants to believe it—he’s saved her life more than once. But with danger coming at her from every direction, Raisa can only rely on her wits and her iron-hard will to survive—and even that might not be enough. (goodreads.com)

Holy crap. Absolutely fantastic. Crap, crap, crap. Why crap? Because after THE DEMON KING and THE EXILED QUEEN, what do I have left to say?

The world is still as utterly fantastic as it's always been. Richly colored and full of life, Chima hasn't let it slip by as a sacrifice to the greater plot. It still plays its role magnificently, hanging out just on the edge of the background and foreground, being its own character but knowing when not to be overwhelming.

I'm all for Han and Raisa but there was a piece of me that rooted for Raisa and Amon too, despite how implausible (even more so than her and Han) the relationship was. It did end up going down the route it was destined to go down (as intoned in the second book, the Byrnes are not about to break the line any time soon, 1,000 years of history supports that). Even though it went where it was supposed to go, I couldn't help but feel a little bit sad. For as long as it was pushed off, the harsh reality could be ignored. No more and it was a bit of a hard pill to swallow. But they both swallowed it because they had to.

The mounting tension between Raisa and Han is just phenomenal. When he finds out just who Raisa is, it's heartbreaking. You want to tear through the pages and slap some sense into him but it's Han. He's far too steadfast for something like that. But they're forced together anyway (in a more professional manner) so any ill will Han does have towards Raisa he's forced to swallow it back for the greater good.

But Han's resilient. He knows full well he's being used but he flips the situation to his advantage. He finds all of the holes that would end up benefiting him while performing his duties and he takes them. He makes sure that he plugs those holes with his desires first and foremost. You can't help but be impressed by someone like that. He holds his own against the bluebloods and he deserves some respect for that.

Raisa is still infinitely awesome. After multiple attempts on her life she continues to land on her feet. Like Han, she's fully aware that she's being used by everyone around her, not to mention being underestimated constantly (bad on those doing it) but she's had enough political upbringing to view things from all sides. She doesn't make hasty decisions and knows strategy like no seventeen-year-old does. I don't feel like I'm reading about someone so young but about someone even older than me for how she holds herself. I love her more and more with every book.

And the ending? Cruel to the point of barbarism. If I'm not mistaken there's one more book in the series yet to come out. How long do I have to wait for that one???

If you haven't started reading this series yet, you really need to get on it. It's such a relatable, engaging high fantasy novel that I think even someone that isn't the biggest fan of fantasy will get pulled right into it. Sure there's magic and wizards and a whole new world but it's about the people, first and foremost. And the people are just so dynamic and intriguing that you won't want to take your eyes off of them. THE GRAY WOLF THRONE is a fantastic piece of the SEVEN REALMS puzzle. This series just keeps getting better and better. I'm going to have to create a sixth bite rating for the next one.

The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

Pub date - September 2010.

Haunted by the loss of his mother and sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden's Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn't mean danger isn't far behind. Han is hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk House has dangers of its own. There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts of sorcery - but the bargain they make is one Han may regret.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana'Marianna runs from a forced marriage in the Fells, accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of cadets. Now the safest place for Raisa is Wien House, the military academy at Oden's Ford. If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wien House will offer both sanctuary and the education Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf queen.

Everything changes when Han's and Raisa's paths cross, in this epic tale of uncertain friendships, cutthroat politics, and the irresistible power of attraction. (book back blurb)

Like The Demon King, The Exiled Queen is chock full of fantastical awesomeness. Chima has a way of writing that makes the Seven Realms both sit in the background yet be full and lush, enveloping you into its world. Like Sab (YA Bliss) said in her review, I want to live in this world. It just feels so real, like something that could exist on an alternate plane that if you could just tilt your head the right way, you'd see it.

The relationships between Amon, Raisa, Han, Dancer, Cat, Micah and Fiona are flourishing, some for the good and some for the bad. They're multidimensional in this book compared to the last. I feel like what I got in TDK was just a scratch in what these characters really are. And I'm so rooting for Han and Raisa. I can't wait to see just what happens between them in the next book. And Raisa and Amon for that matter.

Speaking of, I think one of my favorite parts of these books is the way Raisa views courtship and romance. She really is a helpless romantic but the facetious way she talks about kissing this boy and that boy and this other one, and then this one in dark corners, it's just a relief. There's no guilt. No one chastises her for how she acts. It's just normal. I guess it's refreshing seeing how normal Raisa is in her dating life considering everything going on around her.

The issues between Han and Micah are coming to a head and man, I'm just waiting for it to burst. But I truly pity Han. He's stuck in a difficult spot and is basically nothing more than a tool for people to use. It's hard not to think that they're using him not only for his talents but because of the very fact that he rightly has nothing left. No one will miss him should he get gone. But really, that's not true.

I just can't help but absolutely love the world that Chima created. The more I read her books, the more the world just fits into my normal. It's both intricate yet understanding. You can feel the dangers that the cadets face traveling to Oden's Ford. The way she wrote about the mist reminded me of some horror story where the mist was alive. And it might as well been here. I feel the pain and anguish and joy and love and hate that every single character feels; from Raisa herself right down to Cat, who, right now, is little more than a blip on the greater radar. You can feel the grime that covers them, feel how tired they are, the pain they feel after training. It's such an exceptionally written book that it's hard not to get sucked in completely.

It's funny because the book is a little long. I'm sure it could have been chopped down, that some parts were overdrawn. But if you ask me what could be cut, I couldn't name a single thing. I loved it all and every sentence in the book now makes it all the richer. I really can't say much more about The Exiled Queen without completely fangirling it and I really don't have any complaints so I'm going to end this here. Just read it and join me in my pain of waiting for the next book.

Author Bites - Cinda Williams Chima on Keeping a Map of Those Murdered Darlings

I am absolutely in love with Cinda Williams Chima's The Seven Realms novels. If you haven't read The Demon King, then you need to go out right now and get it. And then pre-order The Exiled Queen. I think Cinda is an amazing writer and I asked if she would divulge some of her processes behind this series and her writing in general. She graciously handed over some words and what is quite possibly my favorite author quote ever. See if you can spot it. Thank you for stopping by, Cinda!

Publishing is a fickle and frustrating business—and nobody knows it better than writers. We always feel like we are at the bottom of the food chain. Many of us write for years and years, hundreds of thousands of words that will never see a wider audience than our friends, lovers, and long-suffering critique groups.

Even though I always say you shouldn’t be a writer unless you love the process, it seems like such a waste of our creative youth!

And yet—my first writing teacher always said, “Nothing is wasted. Everything you write makes you a better writer.”

More and more, I believe that’s true. Not only that, some of that “practice” writing can be improved, recycled and repurposed. Some of those ideas are keepers, even if the craft wasn’t there to begin with.

Be ruthless in your editing, be savage in revision. By all means, kill your darlings--but know where the bodies are buried. Recycle and reuse—that’s environmentally responsible, right?

The first novel I managed to finish as an adult was The Warrior Heir, a contemporary YA fantasy novel set in Ohio. I was so enthralled with the magical system and the characters, I wrote a second novel, The Wizard Heir. While I shopped the two Heir books, I launched into a very ambitious project—a high fantasy trilogy for adults.

It was called The Star-Marked Warder, and by the time I finished two of the three books, I had more than 500,000 words. These were giant books, even by fantasy standards.

It reminds me of a topic tag on the Editorial Anonymous blog http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/search/label/how%20to%20tell%20you%27re%20never%20going%20to%20get%20published
—“How To Tell You’ll Never Be Published.” Here’s one possibility—write a 750,000-word high fantasy trilogy for your fiction debut.

But I loved those books I wrote. I loved those characters—flawed and star-crossed as they were. I loved the ruthless politics of the warring peoples of the queendom of the Fells. I loved the magical systems—the powerful green magic of the upland Clans and the dangerous high magic of the Northern Island wizards.

I loved the world I’d created—the world of the Seven Realms. I even had a map—a lame rendering that I laboriously copied over and over as I added cities and landmarks and details to my burgeoning world. More importantly, even my endlessly-patient critique group loved my world and my characters. Years later, they still remember scenes in amazing detail. Some keep hinting that maybe I should just go ahead and finish it. What’s 250,000 more words, after all?

The Star Marked Warder got me an agent, who undertook the impossible task of selling it. After a year of trying, she said, “Um. Didn’t you have a young adult project, too?”

And so I dusted off The Warrior Heir, and revised it yet again, using everything I’d learned from writing SMW. And it sold. I revised The Wizard Heir, removing a flashback scene I knew my editor wouldn’t like. And it sold. So, I wrote a third, The Dragon Heir, that made the series a best-seller.

When I considered what to write next, I knew I wanted to write more fantasy for teens. But what? My thoughts returned to the series I’d abandoned.

I knew the Seven Realms were full of stories. So I chose two of my favorite characters from SMW—the streetwise thief Han Alister and Princess Raisa ana’Marianna—the strong-willed heir to the throne. I went back to when they were sixteen years old, to when their stories really began--to when they transformed themselves. And that was the birth of the Seven Realms series. I aimed to make these books leaner and more accessible—as all good fiction should be. The series will total four books of—ahem—more manageable size.

And if there’s ever a need for a sequel, well…I’m ready to revise.

Oh! Remember that chapter I cut from The Wizard Heir? Revised, repurposed, and retitled “The Trader,” it’s being published this fall in The Way of the Wizard, a fantasy anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. It will be my first short fiction publication.

Revise, recycle, repurpose—we call that “evergreen” writing.

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

Published October 2009.

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister, Mari. Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can't sell. For as long as Han can remember, he's worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes. They're clearly magicked - as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.

While out hunting one day, Han and his clan friend Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea. After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them. Too soon, Han learns that the amulet has an evil history - it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago. With a magical piece so powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, princess heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight. She's just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her family at Demonai camp - riding, hunting, and working the famous clan markets. Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea - the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems that her mother has other plans for her - plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the queendom stands for. (book back blurb)

I've always been a little hesitant about reading high fantasy because of the detachment I tend to feel while reading. The books that I've read seemed to be more concerned about dumping every little piece of the world the author created onto the reader instead of focusing on the plot. Things that functioned like normal pieces of our world were renamed and lacked context so I spent more of the book trying to figure out what was what instead of what was going on.

Not so with The Demon King. At first the entrance into this new world was a little jarring. New terminology and things can do that to a person. But after about a chapter and a half, I zoomed right into the plot and I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to stop so bad that I plowed into the next book in the series, The Exiled Queen, because I just had to know what happened next. Which only means I'm going to have to wait extra long for the next book. At least I have The Warrior Heir in my TBR pile to tide me over.

The realms that Chima created is both wholly fantastic in its new self and at the same time grounded enough in our reality that I could stay connected to the story while reading it. The bits and pieces of the world that made it unique to itself blended seamlessly with the story. There wasn't any lingering on a single piece of anything to infodump. Anything that needed to be known about anything was woven into the story itself. Everything was a part of everything else and no single piece stood out any more than the rest. There was just enough newness to the world that I felt immersed in a whole different place as I was reading but the characters, their actions, their circumstances and their surroundings held me in place for how real they were. I felt that despite the fantasy land, it could have existed.

Raisa is probably one of my favorite YA heroines I've read yet. She's so strong-willed and opinionated but not obnoxiously so. She knows her place and yet at the same time somewhat (and not-so-somewhat) works quietly to fight against that. She strives to better herself. As much as she loves her mother, she doesn't want to be an ignorant or weak queen. She pushes people to push her because it'll make her that much stronger.

And I love just how blatant her sexuality is. Usually when you end up with any kind of king/queendom type of setting, there's an air of propriety attached. While she's not allowed to have boys in her room or anything, she speaks of kissing a multitude of boys as if it were nothing. She's not a slut but she's certainly not prudish, either. She has her limits, she knows them and she sticks to them. I love it.

And one can't help but love Han. Man, did he get the shit end of the stick in life. And while his and Raisa's paths cross pretty briefly in the overall length of the story, they remain with each other. Except Han doesn't know who's crossed his path. He's not matching the girl he's thinking about to the girl he loathes in the high tower. I'm anxiously awaiting the point when he finds out the two are one and the same.

I loved the history of this world that skimmed just under the surface of the plot and subplots. It made me want to know more. There's a political divide there; treason, treachery, hatred. I'd love to grab one of Speaker Jemson's history books and just sit and read for a while. Or even listen to old Lucius since he knows the real history of the Breaking. I also love how the revolt from on high is taking place so underhandedly. Sneaky bastards, those wizards!

I just can't say enough good about The Demon King. I really can't. The world is so vivid that I could dive right into it. The characters are so real I could almost touch them. The story pulled at me so strongly that at points I wanted to yell out to help the characters and I even got misty-eyed at a few other moments. Most importantly, The Demon King has me so excited for high fantasy that I'm totally jazzed to keep working on my own manuscript and dear god, I hope it can be at least a tenth as good as this is. Even if high fantasy isn't your thing, you need to read this one. The plot alone will suck you in. The world is just a gorgeous added bonus.