The Queens of Innis Lear
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A KINGDOM AT RISK, A CROWN DIVIDED, A FAMILY DRENCHED IN BLOOD.
Tessa Gratton's debut epic adult fantasy, The Queens of Innis Lear, brings to life a world that hums with ancient magic, and characters as ruthless as the tides.
The erratic decisions of a prophecy-obsessed king have drained Innis Lear of its wild magic, leaving behind a trail of barren crops and despondent subjects. Enemy nations circle the once-bountiful isle, sensing its growing vulnerability, hungry to control the ideal port for all trade routes.
The king’s three daughters – battle-hungry Gaela, master manipulator Reagan, and restrained, starblessed Elia – know the realm’s only chance of resurrection is to crown a new sovereign, proving a strong hand can resurrect magic and defend itself. But their father will not choose an heir until the longest night of the year, when prophecies align and a poison ritual can be enacted.
Refusing to leave their future in the hands of blind faith, the daughters of Innis Lear prepare for war – but regardless of who wins the crown, the shores of Innis will weep the blood of a house divided.
Reviews
‘Tessa Gratton creates a beautiful world, one where there’s magic in the trees and water, and prophecies come from the stars … reminiscent of Angela Carter’s reworkings of classic fairytales’
SFX
‘Powerful, poetic fantasy that will take hold of your heart’
Ed McDonald, author of BLACKWING
‘I adore this – rich, epic, blood-soaked – a glorious and grand sweeping fantasy’
Kate Elliott, author of THE POISONED BLADE
‘A gloriously symphonic, thematically rich variation on the story of the daughters of Lear. The danger of seeking certainty makes this a tale for our time; the power of truth and mercy makes it a tale for all times. Prepare to devour every word, for Innis Lear will consume you’
Karen Lord, author of REDEMPTION IN INDIGO
‘Messy, beautiful, and dark, darker than Shakespeare could have dreamed’
E. K. Johnston, author of STAR WARS: AHSOKA
About the author
Tessa Gratton has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. Alas, she turned out too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for a someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in Gender Studies, then settled down in Kansas with her partner, her cats, and her mutant dog. She now spends her days staring at the sky and telling lots of stories about magic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gratton's enthralling debut fantasy novel reinvents King Lear as the tale of a king's three daughters: Gaela, martial and ambitious; Regan, as desperate for a child as she is devoted to her elder sister; and Elia, a star priest and her father's favorite. When Lear declares that he will divide the island of Innis Lear between Regan and Gaela and strips Elia of her title and dowry, the court is thrown into chaos. Elia must contend with her greedy sisters, consider her suitors a nobleman's bastard son, a nearby king who has his own plans for the island and find a way to unite the island and undo her father's disasters before it's too late. Shakespeare aficionados will recognize the spine of the plot, including Lear's terrible choices and the rivalry between the legitimate and illegitimate sons of nobility. Gratton sets her version of this story in an island kingdom where reverence for earth magic has recently been supplanted by star prophecy, which provides yet another thread of tension among the characters. Also, Lear's wife was a dark-skinned princess from a foreign land, and the three daughters take after her in varying degrees. Gratton's emphasis on the voices of the women (including Elia's maidservant, Aefa) and the depth and dimensionality of their stories is what truly reshapes the familiar elements of the Lear tragedy into something fresh, with a suitably tragic yet satisfying ending.)
