Traitors' Nest
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Sep 8, 2026
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- $9.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Lovely War meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this new YA fantasy from acclaimed author Frances Hardinge, about the people caught in a game played by the gods where castles are moved around the world like chess pieces
★★★★★ 5 starred reviews! “Fast-paced and original fantasy . . . refreshing and entertaining.” (School Library Journal starred review)
Far above the valleys and villages of the Kingdom of Thaletal, a Great Game is played. Players move castles around the realm like chess pieces—and the ordinary villagers are mere pawns at the whim of their tactics.
When fifteen-year-old Burr’s peaceful village is disrupted by the arrival of an ominous new castle, he decides he’s had enough. But what starts as a plucky coup soon escalates—and then the castle is wrenched away to a far-flung corner of the kingdom, where whispers mount of a mysterious ancient maiden whose magpies collect her debts at dangerous prices.
Here, the stakes are higher than the tallest turrets, and every move counts. Burr must work with his sisters and friends—and rely on the unexpected help of an intriguing heiress—to unravel the secrets of the Magpie Maiden and the origins of the Great Game before he becomes just another casualty of the Players’ deadly contest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a rousing, medieval-inspired historical fantasy from Hardinge (The Forest of a Thousand Eyes), castles throughout the kingdom of Thaletal occasionally swap places thanks to a Great Game involving godlike Players. Though 15-year-old Burr understands this conceit, his village's location is of little strategic value, so no Player has ever displaced their brown castle and its benevolent resident noble—until now. When a red castle appears and its mercenary inhabitants start plundering residents' livestock and food stores, Burr's father joins several neighbors in a failed rebellion and is subsequently executed. A slate-colored castle next replaces the red one, but while its soldiers are out pillaging, Burr, his younger sisters, and some friends infiltrate the fortress and seize control with help from Lady Berenice, reluctant fiancée of the slate castle's tyrannical lord. When that castle, too, jumps away with Burr and company inside, they become desperate to either influence or opt out of the game. Witty third-person narration follows Burr as he grieves the death of his father and fights for agency, fairness, and his community's well-being. Wildly inventive worldbuilding, gentle humor, and indomitable, kindhearted characters, who read as white, distinguish this spirited tale of derring-do that's a triumph and a joy from start to finish. Ages 13–up.
