The Impostor Queen Review

This week's novel is The Impostor Queen, by Sarah Fine.

The Valtia, the queen, has a massive amount of magic that she uses to protect her country from invaders and give them a never ending summer, which burns bright and fades fast.  Upon her death, her power transfers to the the next girl in line, who is marked with a flame symbol on her body.  Elli has been raised since she was a little girl to be the next Valtia, but when it's her turn, the magic doesn't come.  The priests are furious, blaming her, and she escapes to the outlands to live a rough life in a cave system with other outcasts.  There she finds answers about what she is, learns to take care of herself, and finds herself a family, all while the country starts to disintegrate without a Valtia.

So up front: This ended up on my to read list because it sounds a whole lot like the dragon book I wrote, and I put off reading it for that same reason.  And there are a boat load of thematic similarities.  There was a lot of "oh you handled it that way," or "yeah, I did that too."  But, surprisingly, the similarities only bother me a little, because I loved this book.  It was great.


I liked Elli.  She wrestled with doubt in a believable, heartbreaking way.  She was sheltered from answers, but her curiosity kept asserting itself, and although answers were kept from her, it never felt contrived by the author as a way to artificially keep the reader in suspense.  My favorite part was how when she came to the cave system, she wanted to feel useful even though she had no skills at all.  She had never ground corn or used a loom or gathered kindling, but she'd also never clothed herself before, and she'd never walked anywhere outside, because she was always carried everywhere.  So there was fun culture shock and seeing the world for the first time, which is a theme I enjoy.  And the way she didn't let her failures keep her down, but how she learned and took pride in her successes made for a gratifying read.

***

Next week: I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a YA rom-com by Maurene Goo.