Magic was dormant - never dead
To some, Emri - the adopted heir and daughter of two queens - is a living reminder that her birth father tried to usurp the Edaran throne. But as she grapples with a diplomatic visit from her estranged cousin, Melisande, the two girls are attacked by a magical force and spirited away. They must put their differences aside when Emri comes face to face with a goddess she's always considered a myth: Lady Winter.
Trapped deep within a mountain temple alongside other young royals, they face a race against time to complete Lady Winter's trials ... or die.
The first book in this series, Queen of Coin and Whispers, came out just about four years ago. Four years is a long time in books, but I still remember reading it, piecing together the pieces of the political puzzle and following along on the various more or less desperate missions. This new sequel is set almost twenty years later, and like the first, it is densely political and complex.
Your first spoiler is that the kidnapping mentioned in the blurb above doesn't happen until almost halfway through the book; before that it's all political maneuvering of one kind or another, and references to the twenty years we've missed that are very carefully not quite complete enough for us to know what happened, although we can make inferences and guesses. As with Queen, Helen is not talking down to her audiences, and like that book, you don't half read this with one eye on the TV and Twitter open on your phone. This is a book you pay attention to, and possibly take notes on.
I think you probably could follow this without having read Queen (why would you want to, though? Read Queen!) as we are given the information we need, but you'd be starting blind and things wouldn't make sense for some time. If you do decide to read this one solo, don't give up on it. Push through, and...spoilers... you'll meet wonderful characters (who hate you) and go on a magical (miserable) quest and even meet (completely terrifying and Uncanny Valleyish) gods!
I can't wait to start selling this...apart from anything else, they're going to look so good beside each other on the shelf!
Daughter of Winter and Twilight publishes on the 4th of September, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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