After The Crown
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Former gunrunner-turned-Empress Hail Bristol was dragged back to her home planet to fill her rightful position in the palace. With her sisters and parents murdered, the Indranan empire is on the brink of war. Hail must quickly make alliances with nearby worlds if she has any hope of surviving her rule.
When peace talks turn violent and Hail realizes she's been betrayed, she must rely on her old gunrunning ways to get out of trouble. With help from an old boss and some surprising new allies, she must risk everything to save her world.
I really don't know how to review this book properly, there's so much I want to say and squeal about but spoilers and I don't think I have the words to convey how damn good this series is! I'm more of a fantasy person, than a Sci-Fi person. I'm very picky with my Sci-Fi and so I don't read all that much of it. But I completely loved Beyond The Throne. I got sent it as surprise book mail to check out, and I was actually surprised at how much I loved it, I remember devouring it in one go and then reading the book two sneak peek and then the wait for this book....it's been painful! And then this book ends and leaves me wanting book three so badly, it's not even funny! That ending though!
In After The Crown, it's been a week since the events of Beyond The Throne and as we join the story, some unsavoury characters that we didn't like are about to get their comeuppance. Ominous words are spoken but everything's fine....until the betrayal and backstabbing hits an all new high as a plot is put in to motion and Hail becomes the badass gunrunner again that we all know and love.
I loved how we had Hail and the others trying to untangle the web of conspiracy from the last book, and I loved how it all went much deeper than I imagined. Seriously. I didn't like a certain character, and I thought said character was dodgy but even I didn't suspect anything of the magnitude of what happens in this book. Seriously. I was right there with Hail, kicking myself and unable to believe I'd missed it! And then it turns out this character isn't even the puppet master. I can't even. We just keep going deeper and deeper in to this plot and I am loving it!
I love the political commentary that we get, and the way the narrative smoothly continues on from each book. The ongoing narrative is just A+. I think the thing a lot of you guys might be interested in is that the Indranan society is gender swapped. Women are in charge, and the men are basically us in real life. It's fascinating to read about, and the author explores many equality issues that we struggle with today and I love how it's done! Especially as it's woven in so well with all the action, betrayal, backstabbing and space fights.
I continue to love Hail. I continue to love Emmy and Zin and everyone else from our book one group. But in this book we get a tonne of new characters. Some I hate. I mean...I really, really hate them. There are so many shady characters. But some I also really, really love! Gita, Dailun, Hao who we finally get to meet, Rai and Johar and there are so many more but these are the four that really stuck out to me. I freaking love Hao and Johar in particular and I'm going to be sad if we don't get any Johar in book three, she's kickass. Rai...I really want to like him, but I'm not entirely sure about him. I guess we'll see!
My favourite thing ever about this book though, was getting to see more of Hails gunrunner past. We didn't get to see or learn much about it in book one, but in this book Hail has to go back to her old ways and I loved it. I love gunrunner Hail. I need a spin off series all about her and Portis and their past! I need it now! But in this book, we get to learn plenty about her past and see her in action. I was loving it. So much. All the tidbits, all the old acquaintances....so good. The crew trying to help Hail take back her Empire? They're a ragtag crew of mercenaries, smugglers, gunrunners, pirates, pit fighters and well...Rai is kind of like a mob boss type person. I was in heaven.
After The Crown is a fantastic sequel, it keeps the narrative going, it doesn't slow down. It's fast paced, there's lots going on, there's more betrayal, more political intrigue and manoeuvring, more character development, more epic fight and battle scenes, more huge plot twists that you don't see coming. The writing is brilliant, the dialogue is fantastic, and Wagers really paints a vivid picture...like this stuff is cinematic you guys! Where's my movie? Where's my TV show!? The world building is fantastic and the plot is strong and complex and just...freaking....amazing. I was hooked within no time at all, much like with the first book, by everything I've mentioned, and in this book there's more characters for you to love and get invested in, and more for you to hate and hope Hail gets vengeance on. Once again, I have been left wanting more, and I am so, genuinely excited to see what's going to happen next, because I know Wagers won't let me down!
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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.
