Akmaral
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected May 7, 2024
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- $9.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Before the Silk Road had a name, nomads roamed the Asian steppes and women fought side by side as equals with men. Like all women of the Sauromatae, Akmaral is bound for battle from birth, training as a girl in horsemanship, archery, spear, and blade. Her prowess ignites the jealousy of Erzhan, a gifted warrior who hates her as much as he desires her. When Scythian renegades attack, the two must unite to defeat them. Among their captives is Timor, the rebels' enigmatic leader who refuses to be broken, even as he is enslaved. He fascinates Akmaral. But as attraction grows to passion, she is blinded to the dangerous alliance forming between the men who bristle against the clan' s matriarchal rule. Faced with brutal betrayal, Akmaral must find the strength to defend her people and fulfill her destiny. Drawn from legends of Amazon women warriors from ancient Greece and recent archaeological discoveries in Central Asia, AKMARAL is a sweeping tale about a powerful woman who must make peace with making war.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lindbergh (The Thrall's Tale) draws on Herodotus's Histories for a crackling novel focused on the lives of ancient Central Asian women warriors known as the Sauromatae, descendants of escaped Amazon captives. The story centers on its eponymous lead as she reflects on her crowning achievement: turning her people from "a disparate multitude of wandering herders" into a nation. Flashbacks to the future queen's childhood reveal that when she was five years old, a shaman prophesied she would become someone important. Though Akmaral grows up in a society of women fighters who serve Targitai, their warrior god, even her mother's combat prowess is no match for a group of depraved raiders whom Akmaral eludes by hiding under a yurt. As a young woman, she becomes romantically involved with two men: Erzhan, a fellow fighter and hunter who approves of her for having "sipped the enemy's blood"; and Timor, a peaceful Scythian prisoner whose story she gradually picks up as they learn each other's languages. Lindbergh brings her protagonist's ancient world to life with compassionate depictions of Akmaral's love interests and frank portrayals of the savagery around her—especially in Erzhan's brutal treatment of a young foe. Admirers of Laura Shepperson's Phaedra will be riveted.
