Image: Hachette Book Group
Happy Tuesday TMS Readers! Teen Tuesday features The Stolen Heir by Holly Black. Ms. Black returns to the kingdom of Elfhame in book one of a planned duology. She really is the undisputed queen of stories of the faerie folk. Make no mistake, this world is not full of benign little Tinker Bells. This world is savage.
The story takes place eight years after the Battle of the Serpent. Queen Nore has imprisoned Madoc in the Ice Needle Citadel and Queen Jude has sent her half-brother, Prince Oak, now eighteen, on a quest to free him. Queen Nore's ransom is a missing relic. Suren, Wren, has been living rough in the human world when she is hunted by the hag Bogdana. Oak rescues her and she joins him on his quest. Once upon a time, the two were betrothed.
This dark and twisty tale enchants from the beginning. I read this with my ears and enjoyed new-to-me narrator, Saskia Maarleveld's well-paced performance. The ending was so riveting that I missed my exit on my drive home from Massachusetts on Sunday and got stuck in traffic on 95 all the way to the George Washington Bridge in the rain! Now, I breathlessly await the next book, The Prisoner's Throne, due out in February, 2023. Mature readers who enjoy dark fantasy will enjoy this. Highly recommended! Happy reading.
PS: isn't that cover amazing?
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