The Vanished Queen

A stunning blend of vivid fantasy and political drama, The Vanished Queen is the timely story of a young resistance fighter working to overthrow a totalitarian ruler’s regime of terror and lies. [G]ripping…this is the novel the world needs now (Kate Heartfield, Nebula Award finalist and author of Aurora Award-winning novel Armed in Her Fashion).

Long ago, Queen Mirantha vanished. King Karolje claimed she was assassinated by a neighboring ruler, but her people knew the truth: the king had Disappeared her himself.

Now the queen’s disappearance is hardly a memory-merely one among many horrors the king’s reign has wrought. But when Anza, a young student impassioned by her father’s unjust execution, finds the missing queen’s diary, she is inspired by Mirantha’s words-joins the resistance group to overthrow the king.

Prince Esvar is the second son to an evil king. Trapped under his thumb and desperate for a way out, a chance meeting with Anza gives him the opportunity to join the resistance. Together, they might have the leverage to move against the king-but if they fail, their deaths could mean a total loss of freedom for generations to follow. In this dangerous game of court politics, one misstep could lead to a fate worse than death.

Set in a world where resistance is as dangerous as it is important, The Vanished Queen is a big, dark, intricate novel (Lousia Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches) about the courage and sacrifice it requires to take on a tyrant.