Read about the other books on the list.The Queen of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen
Johansen juxtaposes medieval high fantasy with dystopian future in this debut. After a childhood spent in hiding, 19-year-old Kelsea makes the perilous journey to assume the throne of the Tear that has been vacant (aside from her scheming, laughably dastardly uncle, The Regent) since her mother’s death. The Tear, a downtrodden kingdom whose capital is New London, is not, as you’d expect, set in the past. Instead, this civilization—along with the adjacent, antagonistic Mortmesne and a handful of other city-states—is the result of a great migration following an environmental catastrophe in our own time. (Just as we read the texts of Plutarch to understand the ancients, Kelsea looks to J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien.) As Kelsea attempts to clean up a dominion in disarray, it quickly becomes apparent to both readers and every man she comes across that this queen is no pushover. In fact, she could be a savior.
--Marshal Zeringue
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