#Review - The Warrior by Sarah Fine (#Urban #Fantasy)

Series: The Immortal Dealers #3
Format: Paperback, 300 pages
Release Date: March 26, 2019
Publisher: 47North
Source: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy

For those who deal in the fate of the world, salvation and destruction are not games of chance.

Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger never intended to live among the Immortal Dealers, much less to be party to an ongoing battle where the fate of humanity is in the draw of a card. And the stakes have gotten only higher now that a shady new Forger has been crowned.

Virginia may be in charge of creating the chaos that makes the universe tick, but her assignments have been noble—each one in the aid of strangers. But when Ernie discovers Virginia’s true purpose, she realizes it’s going to take an entirely new kind of play to stop her.

The game changer lies within a mysterious artifact dredged from the ocean. To unlock its powers, Ernie and her partner, Gabe, must traverse dangerous new realms and uncover the history of Forgers past. Joined in a tenuous alliance with a former enemy and stalked by old friends turned lethal foes, Ernie had better play her cards right—because this time, the whole universe could be destroyed in the shuffle.

 

The Warrior is the third and final installment in author Sarah Fine's The Immortal Dealers trilogy. It has been six weeks since the events of The Guardian. There is a new Forger, Virginia, who Ernestine "Ernie" Terwillger doesn't trust as far as she can throw her. There have been no attacks, no ambushes, but also no assignments for her. Ernie has been one of the Immortal Dealers for four months now, and to say it's has been anything but boring, would be greatly understated. 

But, things quickly gain momentum. Gabe gets an assignment, then Ernie is given one where she has to travel to Munich, Germany and stop a bank robbery which leads to a bunch of questions. Ernie controls what's being called the Diamondback card and her companion is a snake that she calls Legs. Ernie has an abundance of issues to deal with this story along with keeping her alliance with other immortal dealers like Gabe, Minh, Kot, Nuria, and even Tarlae even though she blames Ernie for events that happene in the previous story. (NO SPOILERS!)

As the dealers form a plan to take down Virginia, they quickly find they need help, but at what cost? Who can they trust to teach them their new powers? Can they take Virginia down and stop the chaos? If they do take down Virginia, who can they trust to take her place? Ernie forms an unlikely alliance with Rupert in order to find the one artifact (Sunrise) that might be able to stop Virginia and her diabolical plans for domination. 

Readers will also get a huge storyline whereas new dealers on both sides of the confrontation are introduced. Readers also get a hint about how utterly awful Andy and other forgers were to the dealers. A fact that leads to yet another possible villain to walk through the door and up end the apple cart. This is a world where there are unlimited number of splinter dimensions, and here is the place where one can maybe fine allies in their fight against Virginia.

I would like to thank the publisher for allowing the author to continue this trilogy from start to finish. That is a sign of true loyalty. I really liked the idea behind the Immortal Dealers, and the kinds of decks they each carry, and the ideas behind the use of each card that allows the holder to do near impossible feats. I am glad that the whole Ernie/Gabe situation was resolved to a satisfaction, and I am glad that there was yet another story which managed a happy ending as well. I think I am absolutely satisfied with the way the story ended. It made absolute sense to me that this is the choice that was made, especially considering who Ernie is and the fact that she never once wanted more power than anyone else.  

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#Review - The Guardian by Sarah Fine #Urban #Fantasy

Series: The Immortal Dealers# 2
Format: E-Galley, 284 pages
Release Date: October 23, 2018
Publisher: 47North
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Life and death are a gamble for a girl fighting to save humanity in a world she’s only beginning to understand.

One minute, Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger was a fairly normal young woman with an almost normal life. Absent father. Peculiar mother. Family secrets. The next, she was hurled into a land where the Immortal Dealers are waging a battle between good and evil—and where the fate of the world is in the cards.

Having only started to master her own deck, the inexperienced Ernie places the wrong bet on the right guy at the worst time. That’s when she’s bounced into another realm and trapped there by a formidable and power-hungry rogue Dealer who knows more about Ernie’s fractured family than Ernie herself does.

Now, Ernie’s fight to free herself is only the beginning. As the secrets of Ernie’s father and his own relics of power start to surface, Ernie will need to tell friend from foe—a feat not as easy as it seems.

At least now she has a full deck…because to survive secrets, betrayals, and dangerous dimensions, she’ll need to deal the best hand.

 

The Guardian is the second installment in author Sara Fine's Immortal Dealers series. The story continues the adventures of Ernestine "Ernie" Terwilliger who has become one of the Immortal Dealers after the events of the first installment. She has been given her first solo mission by Andy, the Forger, which takes her to the chaos ridden area of Russia and Ukraine. In all reality, Ernie has only had her full deck of cards for amount 8 weeks now and she is getting used to the power behind them and what she is able to do with her cards.

Ernie, by the way, is the Diamondback dealer having won that honor in the first installment. Ernie has some other issues as well. The first is the desire to find out what happened to her father who disappeared 20 years ago thanks to Virginia. The second is to find out why Gabe has been incognito for almost 2 months. The third is to prepare for anything when it comes to another Virginia aka the Chicken Dealer who betrayed Ernie and her friends in the previous story, and is pretty much the most dangerous character in this series.

Ernie's confrontation with Virginia ends up with her being sent to an alternative pocket dimension. The story takes some interesting turns in this world which I won't spoil. I will say that there is a giant Grasshopper and a rogue dealer and some moments where you have to wonder if Ernie is going to be stuck in this dimension just like her father apparently was thanks to Virginia. One could say that both the rogue dealer, and the key secrets she learns leads to an action packed second half of the story.

Other than Virginia, the other main villain of this story is Andy, the Forger, who loves to use his Immortal Dealers to stir up chaos. Ernie's connection to Legs, the Diamondback snake, has grown into an interesting relationship where the snake is very protective of Ernie. One of the main reasons I like this series is that Ernie isn't all over the place with where she stands. She's really not all in when it comes to creating chaos. She rather stop the chaos and those who are responsible for it.

My one major disappointment with this story is th angst and ongoing conflict between Ernie and Gave, another Immortal Dealer called Kestrel. They don't spend all that much time together in the beginning, but they end up together more so in the second half, and the final gut wrenching chapters. There is a pretty big shake up that happens in this story which leads to my curiosity as to what the author will come up next, and how it will further affect Ernie and Gabe's future together.  

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#Review - The Serpent (The Immortal Dealers #1) by Sarah Fine (Urban Fantasy)

Series: The Immortal Dealers # 1
Format: E-Galley, 316 pages
Release Date: July 24, 2018
Publisher: 47North
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: Urban Fantasy

One woman is in a world of otherworldly trouble—and she’s going to have to bet her life to save humankind.

Ernestine “Ernie” Terwilliger has put her dreams aside to look after her eccentric mother. Case in point: saving her from a mysterious stranger who’s just stormed the terrified woman’s antique store wearing a rattlesnake tattoo, leveling threats, and brandishing the weirdest deck of cards Ernie’s ever seen.

When Ernie grabs some of the cards and runs, she’s launched into a world she never knew existed—one her mother may know more about than she’s revealing. With a handful of stolen cards, Ernie has just been made an unwilling player in a game of good versus evil. But she’s not even playing with a full deck, and its original owner is more than happy to kill to get his cards back.

Suddenly Ernie’s matching wits and plays with the supernatural Immortal Dealers, who can raise empires, damn souls, and shape the world’s destiny. It’s up to Ernie to defeat the most brutal member of their order. And if her roguish new ally isn’t bluffing, he can help. The mystery is all in the cards, and to save her life—and humanity—Ernie had better learn how to deal.

 

The Serpent is the first installment in a brand new series by author Sarah Fine called The Immortal Dealers. The series is set in a contemporary world where protagonist Ernestine "Ernie" Terwilliger is just a woman trying to get by while working as a Hospital Clerk for a local hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. She also takes care of her eccentric, harebrained, pagan, hippie mother who operates Terwilliger Antiquities. Ernie has been taking care of her mother since her father disappeared 20 years ago.

During a night out with her best friends, Dia and Jules, Ernie meets a strange man who gives Jules a dire warning with what appears to be tarot cards. The next day, a man named Gabe Carrig, who she met at the same bar, shows up at her mother's shop asking about anything unusual that Mara Terwilliger may have received recently. It appears that Mara knows more than she is saying, but remains steadfast in her determination to protect her daughter, even going as far as telling her to travel and get away from town for awhile.

Trouble reappears its ugly head once again in the form of Duncan, the guy with the cards who gave Jules a dire warning, who threatens Ernie's mother demanding a certain object he desperately wants. Duncan is the worst kind of trouble, and has brought along what appears to be a diamondback snake with him! In order to help her mother, Ernie decides to steal part of his deck of tarot cards and run for it. She doesn't get very far before she is transported to Ireland where she once again meets Gabe. 

Gabe, like Duncan, also appears to be holding Tarot Cards that are able to do the most wondrous things imaginable. Without meaning to, Ernie has found herself in a world where she is now and forever part of a group known as Immortal Dealers. In this world, you become a Dealer by taking a full deck of 54 cards from someone else, or being made one by an immortal called the Forger. Ernie's issue is that unless she gets the whole deck soon, there will be dire consequences. Ernie has to work with Gabe and other Dealers in order to take away Duncan's deck of cards, and the diamondback snake that appears to be connected to the deck. 

Alright, so I was impressed by this story. I am always looking for something new and different and I found it! I loved the idea of Tarot Cards that have different uses like transport, escape, translate, capture, shield, deceive and others. While other authors have used Tarot Cards before, this is a new and very cool way to make them even better than ordinary cards. Dealers have the ability to change the course of human history, and there are many examples given by the author and secondary characters who ally with Gabe and Ernie to defeat their nemesis.

Gabe is the brooding, handsome Irishmen who seems to be carrying the world on his shoulders, but manages to keep his cool when it comes to helping a rookie Dealer learn about her new calling. There is a hint of romance between Gabe and Ernie, but nothing so overt that it takes over the story or the action, or the suspense, or the mystery, or the betrayal that happens in this story. I have been hearing how Urban Fantasy is a dying breed. Well, I disagree. With authors like Sarah Fine around and creating well thought out stories like The Serpent, the future still looks pretty good to me. 

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Thursday #Review - The True Queen by Sarah Fine #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Impostor Queen # 3
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / Epic

Using fire and ice magic, Elli and Ansa must bring their people together to fight a common enemy in this epic conclusion to the Impostor Queen trilogy, which is a perfect fit for “fans of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen” (School Library Journal).

Now that Ansa knows she is the destined queen of Kupari, she is desperate to find a permanent home for her people, the Kriegere, in the Kupari lands. But as the small band of warriors crosses into the foreign territory, Ansa loses her fragile grip on her newly-acquired—and violent—fire and ice magic and puts everyone, including her love Thyra, in danger.

Inside the walls of Kupari, Elli maintains the facade that she is the magical queen, with her secret—that she has no magic at all—on the brink of exposure every day. But as she tries to prepare the citizens to protect themselves from another invasion, unrest spreads as wielders like her beloved Oskar begin to lose control of their powers.

As Kupari grows increasingly unstable, with the land literally crumbling beneath their feet, and a common enemy once again threatening everything, these two young women on a collision course with destiny must find a way to save the realm and their people from total destruction.

In this epic conclusion to the Impostor Queen series, Sarah Fine’s sweeping tale of two fierce leaders imbued with unimaginable power and called to unthinkable sacrifice finally answers the question: who has the strength to be the True Queen?

The True Queen is the third and final installment in author Sarah Fine's The Imposter Queen trilogy. The True Queen tells the story of both Elli and Ansa simultaneously, unlike the first two books, switching point of views seamlessly and alternating from one to the other in current time. If you haven't read the first two books, then I will be careful not to spoil anything that happened previously. However, in order to give readers an idea of what is happening, there might be a bit of a spoiler here and there because I need to truly discuss the two main characters that each had their own novels before this finale. 

Let's start first with Ansa. As the story picks up, Ansa, her chieftain lover Thyra, and her fellow Krigare warriors are heading for a confrontation with the so called Imposter Queen and a place to call their own. But, things are anything but stable in the land of Kupari and Ansa's fire and ice magical abilities grows deadly to others. Readers should know that there's no way to not spoil the fact that Ansa is the fated Queen and not Elli. Ansa has the backing of characters we've met in previous installments. The first being Jaspar, while the second is Elder Kauko who I had to hold my nose in order to get past all the terrible and horrible things he has done in the past, and for what he does to both lead characters in this particular story.

Elli by fate and the unlucky draw of being the next Saadella, is now the Queen of Kupari. If you are looking for a girl who has gone through literal hell and somehow managed to survive even though she should not have, that would be Elli. 

Meanwhile, things in Kupari are anything but peaceful. Elli is still searching for the real Queen of Kupari who was taken away all those years ago. The real issue is that Elli would be absolutely fantastic not being the so called imposter Queen who doesn't have any abilities of her own, unlike Ansa's fire and ice magic. She does, however, have the ability to magnify others abilities. 

Things in Kupari are growing dangerous by the day. Earthquakes are almost a daily occurrence, and the people are getting close to discovering the truth about their Queen and her lack of any magic. Ellie believes that there is a way to cease the quakes, but it will take a choice that will have dire consequences. What happens in this book is a struggle to survive and an understanding that sometimes two heads are better than one. For the sake of a people, two characters must come together in order to save a people and a little girl named Lahja who will become the next Queen if anything happens to Ansa or Elli.

The conclusion and the story itself is filled with uncertainty. Can anyone actually survive, or will the villainous Elders and their traitorous priests have the final say when all is said and done. Overall, I am satisfied with the ending. We have battles. We have two characters who don't trust each other. We have two characters who are immensely powerful together with one having all the powers and the other having the balance necessary to keep their people safe. We do have some very emotional scenes as well. I won't gloss over the loss of some very important secondary characters who we've learned about in the previous installments. Hold on to your hat folks. You are in for a bumpy ride. 

CHAPTER ONE

Ansa

On the first day of new spring, we march out through the gate of Vasterut and turn to the west, toward Kupari. My new wool cloak hangs in thick folds down to my calves, and I have a shining set of daggers strapped to my forearms and sheathed at my side. I think that I look fearsome and sure, the type of person who can sit on a throne without inspiring laughter.

Then I think the same thought again, because I didn’t quite believe myself the first time, and when that doesn’t carry me all the way, I remind myself that I have time to practice being queenly before we get there.

With that in mind, I keep my head high as I wave to the Vasterutians who have come out to cheer our departure. They seem elated, and why wouldn’t they be? We were the barbarian invaders, the fearsome marauders, and now we leave their city as a tribe without a homeland. Through their patient scheming and alliances with the Korkeans and Ylpesians, they brought us low, but together we defeated the evil of Nisse and drove his son and heir, Jaspar, away—along with hundreds of rogue warriors. The Vasterutians treated Thyra and those of us who were loyal to her with respect after that, but it was always clear what they really wanted.

Our absence.

Thyra catches my eye and gives me a wry smile as the Vasterutians’ shouts of joy rise to the heavens. “It’s clear they are missing us already.”

The humor in her voice, the morning sunbeams glinting gold in her hair, the easy affection on her face—all of it melts my tension. “Yes, I expect they’ll enter a period of mourning now.”

I look over my shoulder, up the hill to the walled tower fortress where I spent the last several months. Halina might be watching us from one of those windows. Like all the rest of her people, she is relieved and triumphant to see the Krigere finally clear out of her city, but I like to think she will also miss me and Thyra, just a little. She certainly enjoyed laughing at me, both before and after she knew I was a destined queen.

Behind me and Thyra, our warriors stride forward, their steps certain and strong. Thanks to our hosts, who in their eagerness to be rid of us were generous with the food and supplies we would need for our journey, Preben and Bertel and all those who traveled with us from the north have lost the hollowness in their cheeks. As we prepared for this march, they trained and rested in equal measure to regain their vigor.

Just outside the wall, our andeners have camped. The nights remain cold but the days are warmer now, and we agreed to move them out of Vasterutian homes so that the rightful owners could return, in exchange for help building this temporary city outside the city. Now there are tents sprawled across the grassy hills and spreading all the way to the dunes by the shore of the Torden. Our andeners have many skills and know how to fend for themselves as long as they are not being raided or attacked, and for now, we must leave them behind. It is safer this way.

Their cheers are of a different tone and tenor than those of the Vasterutians. In their shouts, I hear desperate pleas, searing hope, and delicate but growing faith. Not in me—in Thyra. She’s their chieftain. I’m just her war counselor. We haven’t explained the other things I am just yet—only our small band of senior warriors knows that—for fear it would be more confusing than reassuring. But as I pass close to Gry, Cyrill’s widow, whose belly is swollen with the baby of one of Jaspar’s traitorous warriors, her hands go white-knuckled over her children’s upper arms, and she yanks them back. Thyra gives her a sharp look, but the widow’s chin rises in defiance. A few others withdraw from the side of the road to avoid me, too, including Aksel’s mother—and she stares hard at me and spits on the grass at her feet as our procession reaches her.

Something tells me she has long since realized that I am the one who killed her son. If I thought it would help, I would explain that he tried to kill me first in a warped effort to avenge his father, who died after challenging Thyra’s chieftainship, but I already know it won’t change a thing. To her I am a monster. An enemy.

I don’t call Thyra’s attention to Aksel’s mother because I don’t want to raise the memory for her. My murder of Aksel nearly tore us apart, and I will do anything to keep us from being separated again. When I glance at her, though, it is clear that Aksel’s death is not on her mind. She’s looking toward the boundaries of the camp and biting her lip. “Did you go over the plan to guard the camp with the watch group?” she calls over her shoulder.

“Twice, Chieftain,” Bertel replies, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looks toward his own andener, a stout woman with skin as pale as his is dark. He jokes that together they are time itself, night and day made one. I believe that is his way of saying he loves her, and I can see it in his face when he catches sight of her. “Alfrida told me to assure you they have a plan. If there is a raid, the Vasterutians will offer them safe haven.”

“Good,” Thyra says. “And the signal?”

“Lantern flashes by night, red flags by day. The Vasterutian sentries will watch over both the camp and the road that leads to the forest.”

Thyra’s smile returns, but this time it’s grim. “And they’ll protect our families, because if they don’t, they know we’ll exact a price in blood.”

Bertel tears his gaze from his mate and nods at Thyra. “For that we’re thankful, Chieftain. It makes it possible to leave them.”

“We’ll send for them as soon as we can,” I say, wishing my heart weren’t skipping at the thought of what we’ll have to do to ensure that future. “You’ll be reunited before you know it.”

“When that happens, a group of us would like to ride as escort and guard,” Preben says, clapping a scarred and calloused hand over Bertel’s thickly muscled shoulder. “We don’t want the andeners and children to travel without protection.”

“I will grant that request,” Thyra replies, her eyes on the horizon now, where the distant black line of the Loputon stretches from the lakeshore as far south as can be seen.

Somewhere in that forest, our enemies hide. Jaspar and his seven hundred warriors, well-armed with stolen weapons and well-nourished from months of thieving food from the mouths of the Vasterutians. He has Elder Kauko at his side or in his possession, and the old man is full of magic and cunning. He also has over a hundred horses and a few hundred andeners who, with the right materials, can forge weapons, craft armor, and heal wounds. With so many people and animals, one would think that it is impossible to be secretive about one’s whereabouts, but Kauko’s magic made it possible. Vasterutian scouts lost the trail at the edge of the Loputon, when they encountered a blizzard so massive that it nearly took their lives.

Sig told me it was a sign that Kauko has only grown in power, most likely the effect of drinking a bowlful of my blood. The scarred fire wielder lurks on my other side, wearing a light cloak with the hood pulled up to shield the back of his neck from the morning sun, which is already making him sweat. He, too, has grown stronger over the past weeks. Now that the elder is gone, Sig seems calmer and slightly less unhinged. His Krigere has improved as well, so he has been able to tell us more about what we might face when we arrive in Kupari. But as the time of our departure neared, he became quieter and more withdrawn, disappearing for hours at a time without telling anyone where he was going. His furtiveness explains Thyra’s frown whenever her blue-eyed gaze finds him.

We need him, though, and she knows it. Swords alone will not be enough in Kupari, and only Sig truly understands the place—and the magic that seems to ooze from the land, finding its way into the veins of its people. Sig is an expert wielder, though he suffers because he only has fire and no ice to balance it. As for me . . . I have both ice and fire, so much that I am supposedly infinitely powerful. Except instead of balancing each other, these two elements inside me seem to be at war, with my body as the contested territory, my skin as the battlefield. My fingers stroke the bloodred runes of the cuff of Astia, which is wrapped heavy and snug around my right wrist. It somehow acts as a peacemaker. I have not taken it off since the moment Sig put it on me.

I’m scared of what will happen if I do.

Our steps are rapid and certain as we snake our way along the road to the west, leaving our cheering andeners behind. After an hour of hiking, the laughter and jovial conversation fueled by the joy of being in the crisp open air fades to quiet murmurs and low rumbles of uneasiness. And by the time the black of the forest turns emerald green in the afternoon light, all I hear are footfalls on packed dirt, the occasional clink of iron bits and weapon blades, and the cries of the seagulls that dive and swirl above our heads. We tread a path wide enough for five or six warriors to stand shoulder to shoulder or three horses to pace, and in all that means we have perhaps fifty rows.

We are not an overwhelming force, but we’re hoping we won’t have to fight anyway. We’re hoping my claim to the Valtia’s throne will be enough. If the pretender who currently occupies the temple is willing to give it up, we’ll have a new home for the four thousand andeners we had to leave outside the protection of the Vasterutian walls. But if that impostor queen tries to cling to her power, then we will have a battle on our hands.

It’s not about me having my throne. Honestly, I’m not so sure I want it. It’s about the Krigere having a homeland—something we lost in waves, first when the Kupari Valtia decimated our warriors and ships, then when Jaspar forced the rest of us to march south in an attempt to merge our tribe with Nisse’s traitorous band. Now we are small in number, more vulnerable than we’ve ever been, but Thyra thinks we have an opportunity. She wants us to remake ourselves as an independent people, to live and thrive without raiding, without killing. I have come to believe in her vision of our future. I’m determined to make it reality and lay it as a gift at her feet. I glance over at her and barely resist the urge to kiss a drop of sweat from her temple. It is hard, sometimes, to be this close to her and not touch her. Even now, as we lead a procession of our only surviving warriors toward an uncertain fate, my fingers twitch for the feel of her body and my eyes stray to her.

As two warriors, we should not be paired. But I know what I want, what I’ve always wanted when it comes to her. I want my chieftain safe, happy, and victorious.

And I want to spend every single night of the rest of my life in her arms.

“The boundary of Kupari,” Sig says, his accent thick. It curls around the words, softening their edges. “Just within the tree line.”

Thyra squints. “I didn’t think it extended so far south.”

Sig nods. “Do you want to rest your head on Kupari soil tonight, Valtia?”

Every time I hear that word these days, my stomach drops. “That’s up to the chieftain.”

Thyra laughs quietly. “Once we cross into Kupari, we’ll be in your domain.” Then she leans toward me and whispers, “My queen.”

Her breath sends a cascade of shivers across my chest and down my spine, drawing me taut as a bowstring. I let out a nervous laugh just to dispel some of my sudden unsteadiness. “How I wish I had a few subjects to hunt down some fresh meat and cook it over a roaring fire tonight. But I think I’ll have to fend for myself.”

“We’ll have plenty of time before sunset, and it’ll give us a chance to explore the edge of the forest.” Her throat moves as she swallows. “I’m not sure I want to lead everyone in there before we’ve scouted.”

“Jaspar and Kauko,” Sig says. He is sweating in earnest as his eyes rake the boundary between meadow and forest.

Thyra grunts in agreement as he names the threat. “There are so many places to hide, and they have weeks of practice now.”

The sun hangs at midsky over the trees by the time we reach the edge of the wood. Our warriors begin to make camp, breaking into groups of ten or twelve and straying along the edge of the forest to gather kindling and branches. We have rations that don’t require cooking, but the warmth will be welcome when the chill hour of midnight comes. We are not moving with stealth—there is little point. And we are much more powerful than we look; Sig and I can burn the entire forest to the ground if we need to.

Once again, I rub my palm over the cuff. The hum of its ancient power, one only I can hear, seems to be growing louder as we near the land where we were both created. Up to this point, it is my ally, my shield. With it, I have been much steadier.

I want to believe that the cuff is strengthening me, but the closer we get to the edge of the Loputon, the shakier I feel.

“Are you all right?” Thyra asks quietly as I shed the rolled bundle of weapons, rations, and blanket that I’ve been carrying on my back. We’re only fifty yards or so from the forest now, and setting up our own little camp with Sig, Preben, and Bertel. The latter two are helping the others manage our horses and Sig has wandered off, and so we are as alone as we’ve yet been today. Perhaps that’s why she reaches over and touches the backs of my hands.

They’re trembling. So much so that I cannot unbuckle the strap around my blanket. I drop the bundle and wipe my palms on my breeches. “It’s nothing.”

She gives me a look. “After all we’ve been through, you don’t get to say that to me.”

I run my hands through my short hair, and they come away damp with sweat. “I think perhaps I’m just nervous. We don’t know what we’re facing.”

“That is almost always true these days.”

“But there is so much at stake!”

“Also very true, at all times.”

“I’m not sure of myself,” I snap, turning away. “I’m so tired of not being sure.”

“But you said the cuff—”

“It helps.” For some reason, though, my whole body is thrumming with an energy I haven’t felt before. “Maybe I’m just hungry and tired and nervous. Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix.”

Thyra has gone still, and her blue eyes are locked with mine. “It’s me, Ansa,” she murmurs, and then she strokes my cheek. “I can tell something is happening to you.”

I wince and hug myself as a burst of frigid wind ruffles our hair. I don’t know if that was me or just the weather. It feels like it could have been either. I give her a pleading look.

“I knew this wouldn’t be easy for you,” she says. “This is the land of your birth. Our people ripped you away from all of this. Returning is not as simple as putting one foot in front of the other.”

“You understand very well.” I put a hand on my stomach. “Maybe that explains why I feel like the ground beneath me is about to shift right out from under my feet.”

She chuckles. “Maybe we should keep your feet moving, then. Shall we gather wood?”

I raise my eyebrows. “I could keep you warm tonight, if you like.”

She moves a little closer. “I’d like that very much. But I don’t feel like sharing you with Preben and Bertel.”

I laugh as we start to walk, and heaven, it feels so good. “Then I suppose we should scrape up some kindling.”

When we reach the shade of the trees, she takes my hand, lacing her fingers with mine. “As we enter Kupari, I want you to remember what I said to you a few weeks ago.”

We are weaving our way through dense brush, brambles scraping against the leather of our boots. “We’ve said many things to each other over the last few weeks.” My tone is light, but my voice wavers.

“You know very well what I’m talking about. Maybe the Kupari impostor will back down quickly, but maybe she won’t. People in power tend to want to stay that way.”

“But to the Kupari, we are the stuff of nightmares. It could work in our favor.”

“Not if we want to make our home here.” She pulls an errant twig from her hair. “We must try to keep the peace. What we do not want is what we faced in Vasterut.”

Nisse and his rogue tribe may have conquered the Vasterutians on the surface, but beneath their skin, in the thick silence in the streets, there was mutiny brewing, seasoned with incredible determination. They never really surrendered and were only biding their time. “Agreed. But once they recognize me as the—the V-Valtia—”

Thyra smiles as I falter. “I look forward to the day you truly understand what you are. Then you will rule us all.”

I shiver. That strange unsteadiness has set my heart galloping. “I d-don’t want to. You will always be my chieftain.”

“I will not always be anything, Ansa. Nothing lasts forever. And we don’t know how things will change in this new land.”

I stop, leaning against a tree because it feels solid and safe. “I don’t deny that. But I will always be your wolf.”

She puts her hand over mine and moves near enough to nudge my nose with hers. “I think I am the luckiest chieftain in the history of the world, then. Although”—she looks around—“we might be in Kupari now. Sig said the border was just inside the tree line. Maybe you are the ruler here.”

When her lips touch mine, the smoldering heat inside me jumps to full flame in an instant. I can feel her smiling against my mouth, and the taste of it is sweet on my tongue. Somewhere in the branches above us, a bird trills, and in this moment I cannot think of a more joyful sound. As if they can feel my soaring mood, an entire flock of winged creatures suddenly explodes into flight, screeching to the heavens. Thyra chuckles and cups my cheek. “We’re unsettling the entire wild wood.”

I laugh, but it seems to be true—I can hear the sudden rustling all around us, claws scrabbling in the underbrush, which waves and bounces as creatures flee. “Perhaps Kupari forest creatures are simply polite and want to offer us priv—”

A deafening crack silences that happy thought, and the ground beneath us drops. We land in a hard sprawl, Thyra’s head colliding with my breastbone and knocking the breath out of me. Nausea and panic churn in my gut as the entire forest pitches, branches lashing and snapping and raining down like sharpened pikes. One slams down on Thyra’s leg, and she cries out, a sound that echoes inside the chambers of my racing heart. I throw my arms around her and roll, shielding her with my body as the world falls apart.

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#Tuesday Review - The Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Imposter Queen # 2
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: January 3, 2017
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Ansa has always been a fighter.

As a child, she fought the invaders who murdered her parents and snatched her as a raid prize. She fought for her place next to Thyra, the daughter of the Krigere Chieftain. She fought for her status as a warrior in her tribe: blood and victory are her way of life. But the day the Krigere cross the great lake and threaten the witch queen of the Kupari, everything changes.

Cursed by the queen with fire and ice, Ansa is forced to fight against an invisible enemy—the dark magic that has embedded itself deep in her bones. The more she tries to hide it, the more dangerous it becomes. And with the Krigere numbers decimated and the tribe under threat from the traitorous brother of the dead Chieftain, Ansa is torn between her loyalty to the Krigere, her love for Thyra, and her own survival instincts.

With her world in chaos and each side wanting to claim her for their own, only one thing is certain: unless Ansa can control the terrible magic inside her, everything she’s fought for will be destroyed. 

The Cursed Queen is the second installment in author Sarah Fine's The Imposter Queen series. The book is being called a companion novel to the first installment in the series, and that's because it takes place at the same time as The Imposter Queen. This book is about 17-year Ansa, a girl who was taken from her murdered family by the Krigere's. She is a red-haired warrior who has a red flame mark on her right calf. If you paid attention while reading The Imposter Queen, you know that this is very significant.

Ansa, who lives by the motto Blood and Victory, has had to prove herself since being taken to the Krigere's. She fought hard, and has earned the right to be on the invasion force headed to Kupari. But, what Ansa and the rest of her fellow warriors don't know, is that they are no match for the witch queen of Kupari. Valtia has the dual abilities of fire and ice. She can destroy an entire invading forced without anyone else around. After the tribe is decimated, Ansa, who is loyal to the new Chieftain Thyra, has little or no choice but to pack up and move it to Vasterlit where one of their former tribesman is now in charge of the castle.

After the loss of her tribe, Ansa learns that she may have been cursed by the witch queen. She can now wield fire and ice, and if she isn't careful, she will be put down for the Krigere's have no use for witches. Ansa's emotions control her abilities. Her feelings for Thyra are tested over and over again while Thyra herself is being challenged by Chieftain Nisse's tribe mates. Ansa is fierce, and you could see that from the first chapter when she tried to fight back when only a little girl. 

Let's get a few things straight. First, Ansa is not Elli, the previous protagonist from The Imposter Queen. Ansa is who Elli was supposed to be. Second, Ansa is very powerful, and has the ability to kill without hesitation, or reservation if someone hurts someone she loves. Ansa is also obsessed with Thyra to the point where I wanted to slap her head. Girl, get over yourself, there are much more important things going on in this world that can kill you easily if you keep ignoring them while falling all over yourself with Thyra. 

I was asked if any of the previous cast of characters showed up in this book. I would have said no, until I realized that yes, Sig does show up in this book, as well as a priest who loves to drink the blood of magic users which we saw in the first book. Sig is a very dangerous fire wielder who attempts to teach Ansa about her abilities. Sig, I dare hope, returns for the third installment along with Halina, a Vasterutrian who becomes part of Ansa plan to save her tribe, and take down Nisse. I had no real issues with Thyra. I think she genuinely cared for Ansa even when she was ignoring her. By ignoring her, I think she was trying to take the spotlight away. Thyra also isn't as bloodthirsty as Ansa, but she is a helluva fighter which shows after she is challenged over and over again.

I do realize that this book is leading into the third and presumed final book called The True Queen. I would guess that all of the previous cast members would be making an appearance as well. I do hope that Ansa and Elli will find a way to work things out so that both survive against what is to come next.

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