SHE SURVIVED THE CURSE. NOW SHE MUST SURVIVE THE THRONE.
All Ekata wants is to stay alive-and the chance to prove herself as a scholar. Once Ekata's brother is finally named heir to the dukedom of Kylma Above, there will be nothing to keep her at home with her murderous family. Not her books or her experiments, not her family's icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness, and no one can find a cure.
In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother's captivating warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without-and within-her ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love . . . or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family's magic and power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield them both.
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THE NIGHT could be worse, considering. ONE
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(@TitanBooks, 13 October 2020, 400 pages, ebook, #ARC from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I've become quite a fan of Fantasy fiction over the last few years. I loved the cover of this book and the blurb made it sound like something a bit different, YA fantasy with political overtones. I really enjoyed the book. I found the concept quite original and different from other titles out there. I loved the setting, an icy castle on a frozen lake. The author does a great job of bringing the world and characters that inhabit it to life. Ekata is a fantastic main character, feisty, string willed, reluctant to be named Duke when her family fall ill to a strange illness but she just gets on with it and tries to find a cure. Inkar, her warrior wife is also a great character. I also loved the underwater kingdom known as the Below and how important it is to the survival of Ekata's kingdom. This is different than other fantasy novels I've read as I've not read much court politic fantasy but I enjoyed it a lot.
