The Empire of Dreams
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3.3 • 4 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Action, adventure, betrayal, and poison add up to a winner." —Booklist
New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson makes a triumphant return to the world of her award-winning Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy in this extraordinary stand-alone novel. Fans of Leigh Bardugo, Kendare Blake, and Tomi Adeyemi won’t want to put this book down.
Red Sparkle Stone is a foundling orphan with an odd name, a veiled past, and a mark of magic in her hair. But finally—after years and years of running, of fighting—she is about to be adopted into the royal family by Empress Elisa herself. She’ll have a home, a family. Sixteen-year-old Red can hardly believe her luck. Then, in a stunning political masterstroke, the empress’s greatest rival blocks the adoption, and everything Red has worked for crumbles before her eyes.
But Red is not about to let herself or the empress become a target again. Determined to prove her worth and protect her chosen family, she joins the Royal Guard, the world’s most elite fighting force. It’s no coincidence that someone wanted her to fail as a princess, though. Someone whose shadowy agenda puts everything—and everyone—she loves at risk. As danger closes in, it will be up to Red to save the empire. If she can survive recruitment year—something no woman has ever done before.
New York Times–bestselling author Rae Carson returns to the world of The Girl of Fire and Thorns in this action-packed fantasy-adventure starring an iconic heroine who fights for her family and her friends, and for a place where she will belong.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Picking up nearly eight years after the events of Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, this standalone companion follows 17-year-old imperial ward Lady Red Sparkle Stone, a foundling rescued from enslavement in the original trilogy by Elisa, now reigning Empress of Joya. Empress Elisa and Prince Consort Hector have petitioned the imperial court to adopt Red; when the request is denied, to the royal family's shock, it soon becomes clear that mutinous forces are at play. While the rest of the family retreats, Red and the royal heir stay to root out those who seek to move against the royal family. To protect and redeem herself after damaging rumors spread, Red joins the Royal Guard as the first successful female recruit, where she forges tenuous friendships with fellow first-year trainees as unidentified players seek to oust the progressive Empress Elisa from power. Alternating chapters ground readers in the years leading up to Red's liberation, contextualizing previously established relationships and Red's traumatic past. Exhibiting clear signs of PTSD and carefully honed survival skills, Red is a realistically complex heroine, and her journey to belonging and healing feels genuinely depicted. Positive platonic relationships with secondary characters, most notably the men in Red's family and her fellow recruits, are rendered with nuance and care. Ages 13 up.
