Genre: Fantasy, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Intersex, Lesbian, Sapphic
Reviewer: Rari
Get It At Amazon | Publisher
About The Book
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive pegasus. Thanks to Marani’s mysterious invulnerability, this mostly works out well…until Marani and her quirky band of outlaws plunder the carriage of the very bossy princess Nuria.
The princess’s carriage contains not just gold, but a dragonscale comb that belonged to Marani’s murdered mother. Worse yet, Princess Nuria seems to know exactly who Marani is, maybe more than Marani herself.
Marani hatches a plan to retrieve her mother’s comb, seduce the princess, and make her entire bandit crew rich in the process. But island politics and the island of Yuro itself have other things in mind. Marani and Jacks quickly find themselves caught between warring monarchies, trade disputes, feral pegasi, and a very old, very concerning family lineage—all bound within an old penny, a mouthy princess, and a stolen comb.
The Review
This is yet another book I got as reward for backing the Space Wizard Fantasy’s campaign, and one of the books I was really looking forward to reading.
The main character is Marani, a thief with mysterious abilities that make her invulnerable. She’s a highwayman who has organised others like her into a guild. An orphan, she only has her brother, Jacks, who suffers from mysterious allergic reactions that require a kind of nettle to treat. It’s for Jacks’ treatment that Marani turns to literal highway robbery.
Things start to go awry when Marani attempts to rob a princess’ carriage. The princess seems to know her, but Marani has never seen her before. The princess gives her all the money in the carriage, but she’s also very bossy. More than that, the princess has a comb that used to belong to Marani’s dead mother, a comb she refuses to give to Marani.
To retrieve the comb, Marani plans a heist, but the Princess Nuria again intervenes by hiring them and agreeing to give Marani the comb if she will go to a neighbouring kingdom with her.
From the start, this was such a rollercoaster of a tale. I loved the banter between Marani and Nuria, and between Marani and her outlaws. And the secret behind Marani’s invulnerability had me literally gasping. I did not see that coming. Add in the mix of island politics, ambitious royals, pegasi, strange plants, and romance, and you have a complex plot that’s both enjoyable and gripping.
Queer characters, mythical creatures, and subtle but well-realised world building. You will love this book.
The Reviewer
Rari is an author and editor writing under the name of Niranjan K. She is an avid reader of all things fantasy, and loves to discourse at length about her favourite books as well as shows. This blog is the space where she will be sharing her views and insights of the books, shows and movies that she likes.
