The Usurper's Crown: Book Two of the Isavalta Trilogy Book

Ingeniously, in The Usurper's Crown, Sarah Zettel shows us the tragic past events which led up to the plot of her first fantasy novel A Sorcerer's Treason, leaving her heroine Bridget a child of two worlds and an orphan in both. On the shores of late nineteenth- century Lake Michigan, Bridget's mother Ingrid becomes the lover of the exiled magician Avanasy and in the magical realm of Istavalta the partner in his enterprises. The young empress Medeoan, not yet the pathetic dangerous villainess of the earlier book, is in danger from her treacherous husband, and Avanasy, her teacher in magic, has to save her from the consequences of her actions. Part of the dark strength of this second book is that we already know how badly things will work out, and come to understand how they might have been even worse. Zettel has a sense of the nightmare side of magic and the irresponsible games of magical beings; these books draw eclectically on the legends of Russia, China and India and cherry-pick some of the darkest themes of all three. The Usurper's Crown has a sense of the price of everything and the moments of joy and victory that redeem tragedy; it is one of the most adult fantasies of the year. --Roz KaveneyRead More