RABT Book Tours proudly presents...
The War Queen
By
J M Robison
300 years ago, the people dethroned their king and queen to
prevent another tyranny. Now instead, the people nominate a State
Head every three years and Altarn is the first female to hold the position.
She’s used to tolerating the biases of men but Kaelin, the State Head of his
territory, has declared her incompetent and has even, according to Altarn,
threatened to steal her land – she believes he wants to make himself king.
Believing she must “dethrone” Kaelin, Altarn rides to her last ally to ask for
aid in the war against Kaelin she knows is coming. But in her absence an
army launches an attack… and it’s not Kaelin’s.
Taking advantage of the startling situation, Kaelin kidnaps
Altarn so he can take her land without her in the way. Soon realizing he needs
her help to fight this army instead, he releases her and, since Altarn’s army
is too small to win the war alone, she is forced to accept his help, but
payment for his help will be her land. No one believes Kaelin is secretly
trying to make himself king, so after the battle is won, alone in her knowledge
and lacking allies, Altarn must become the War Queen of legend to dethrone
another king… though she unexpectedly dethrones his heart instead.
Book Excerpts
#1
He exhaled and leaned back, crossing a
boot over one knee. “It’s different for Ruids. We discuss war plans every week
because of our pirate problem. The mood is different, the light in our eyes is
different. It’s life and death we speak of, and that holds a special kind of
ceremony we honor in our speech, in our manners, and our dress.”
“Why would my dress not honor this
ceremony?”
“It might…except you look like a damn
princess. I don’t know about Blindvar, but we killed our princesses long ago.
Your people don’t want a princess. They want a war queen. A princess can’t
handle the emotional responsibility of sending people off to their deaths, but
a war queen can.
“You’d be surprised how willing your
soldiers would be to die for you, so long as you did it without crying as they
march away. They need to be reassured you’ll hold your ground when they
cannot.”
#2
Altarn threw open the door into the
training yard. Dropping her cloak on the ground, she stomped across the yard to
the target constructed out of wooden logs to resemble a person—resemble a man.
A small pail of white paint and a brush next to the target claimed her
attention. She stared at the pail, disbelief somehow wedging room between her
clashing war with anger and hurt.
Do they know me that well? She
couldn’t decide if she should be offended or grateful by the gesture.
She decided gratitude.
She dipped the brush in the paint and
slashed it across the chest of the target to spell the name, Jessom.
Gathering a winged shorn in each hand,
she stepped toward the target and sliced into it with an angry wildness she would
disapprove of in her troops. Every strike became harsher, her angry grunts
louder. She targeted the chest over and over so the still-wet name there became
daggered smears of white paint.
Links
for purchase
About the author
J.M. Robison has been writing the histories of
fantasy worlds for 16 years and authored 7 novels. The War Queen is
her debut book – more books on the way (see her “Books” tab above to read more
about them.) Having joined the U.S. Army at 17 with a
deployment to Afghanistan and Romania, and currently working as a Deputy
Sheriff, she’s seen a lot of people and been to a lot of places; the evidence
of which frequently bleeds into her writing. She loves and uses essential oils.
She makes her own shampoo, lotions, laundry soap, face wash, and toothpaste. She
also loves helping emerging writers grow into their craft.
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