Review: Behind The Throne

Behind The Throne
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Meet Hail: Captain. Gunrunner. Fugitive.

Quick, sarcastic, and lethal, Hailimi Bristol doesn't suffer fools gladly. She has made a name for herself in the galaxy for everything except what she was born to do: rule the Indranan Empire. That is, until two Trackers drag her back to her home planet to take her rightful place as the only remaining heir.

But trading her ship for a palace has more dangers than Hail could have anticipated. Caught in a web of plots and assassination attempts, Hail can't do the one thing she did twenty years ago: run away. She'll have to figure out who murdered her sisters if she wants to survive.

So mention Star Wars to me, or any SW character and you'll have immediately sold me on a book, mention Han Solo in particular and I will be going GIMME GIMME! What made me excited to read this? Being told the main character was like a female Han Solo. I read this book in one sitting and I was completely and utterly hooked. It did not disappoint. Hail is indeed a female Han Solo and I completely loved her and was rooting for her every step of the way, right from the opening chapter. She doesn't want to go home, but she gets dragged back and she has to do her duty, she was never supposed to be Empress or Heir...but now she is. Her inner struggle about it all over the course of the book was interesting to read, and very believable, you could relate to her and what she was feeling. 

The opening of the book is tense and thrilling, and it doesn't really let up from there. You've got lots of action, plot twists, a fantastic main character in Hail, and a funny, and intriguing supporting cast who all work well together on the page and help to bring the world of the book to life. Speaking of the world, the world building is fantastic. The ruler is always female, the females basically run things, the kingdom broke away from Earth and is having some trouble with the Saxons and I'm sensing more is going on, which I'm intrigued to see play out! So the world is incredibly rich as it's politics and religion and so on. It's all so intricate and described so you understand without being bogged down in information. Behind The Throne is pacey, and there's never a dull moment. 

This book draws you in, you get deeper and deeper in to the story and then you realise it's been hours, your hungry and you kinda need to pee, but it's so good it's hard to put down. I loved the characters as much as the world they inhabit. Hail is my favourite. I loved her from page one. She made me laugh so many times with her comments both aloud and in her inner monologue. She was a badass, she was struggling with her duty and everything going on around her. I felt for her and I was rooting for her and she was a character that just felt very real. 

Our supporting cast are intriguing and have just as much depth as Hail. Zin and Emmory where definitely my favourites. They where both amusing, together and separately! Zin is all proper and polite, and Emmory...not so much! So you'd have Zin nudging him to make sure he apologies for any impropriety or anything else and I loved seeing Zin loosen up over the course of the book, it was hilarious! I liked how Emmory kind of had this entire career change but he rolled with it and you see him and Hail become a team, Emmory and Zin really get her and understand her and how she thinks and the three of them are the perfect team. 

There's a few other characters I loved and can't wait to see more of, Cas for one! Bless him. That's all I can say really, poor guy! Alba and Stasia, Hails Chamberlain and maid. I loved the two of them, much like Zin and Emmory once they got to know Hail, they really knew her and cared for her and where looking out for her. Which was rare in this book with everything going on, Stasia was quite fierce for a maid with her knife and her orders! There's also all of the rest of the guards for Hail, they're a great bunch and you get a feel for them, even if you don't see them much, of course there where new ones added in at the end, and I'm waiting to see what they're like! The characters are just totally brilliant though. They all fit so well with Hail and figure her out pretty early on and just roll with it. 

Our bad guys. There are many. Some of them are very obvious like Ganda and Laabh. They screamed shady, as did Nal who I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw. But there's more going on to them and what they're up to. Laabh though. He really takes the cake. I was reading and I was like....I can't believe he did that to his own mother and sister? I knew it was him as soon as he was mentioned as a suspect, I just knew and he wasn't even sly. He has a sucky poker face. Bial is more intricate. I was never sure whether to trust him or not, I'm probably pronouncing his name wrong, but the way I'm saying it I'm like...you're clearly up to no good....but is he?! He gave me pause many times, I just could never make up my mind about him! 

Behind The Throne is a fantastic Sci-Fi read that hooks you in and keeps you reading with it's fast pace, action packed plot, brilliant characters and rich world. It's funny, laugh out loud funny, it's tense thanks to all the political intrigue and the Game of Thrones style royal treachery, and it's very intricate, there's a lot more going on than what's on the surface! I'm so intrigued to read the next book and meet certain characters that have been mentioned a lot, and see more of my favourites from this book and find out who the hell Wilson is! I'm not going to lie to you, my brain is picturing that damn vollyball from that Tom Hanks film! ANYWAY! I'm not much of a Sci-Fi reader because I'm quite picky, but I legitimately sat down and read this in one sitting because it was SO GOOD.