I read The Cursed Queen

This week's novel is The Cursed Queen, the sequel to The Imposter Queen by Sarah Fine.

Ansa was raised in a vicious warrior tribe that values bloody raids and make kill marks on their arms to show their status.  But when they launch a huge invasion fleet, the witch queen who rules where they were about to invade single-highhandedly destroys everybody.  The witch queen also curses Ansa (one of three warriors who survive) to have fire and ice magic that threatens to destroy her tribe when she takes it back to them.  Ansa has to keep her curse a secret or be stoned by her tribe as a witch, but with their warriors dead and their old chieftain replaced by his daughter, who everyone thinks is too soft-hearted, a splinter tribe tries to take over and Ansa is sucked into a political game that tests her loyalties.

This book has a different narrator than the first book, an it's set in a different part of the world.  The two books are also taking place simultaneously, and it's interesting to see how the two stories intersect.  Having read the first one, we know a fair bit more than Ansa--namely that she's not cursed, but rather she's inherited the magic.  But it works well, and I never felt like Ansa was stupid for not figuring out what I knew because I'd already read the first book.

In general, I liked how Ansa was portrayed.  She was born in the country from the first book, but kidnapped by the raiders and made a member of their tribe, and she has spent her life desperately trying to fit in.  So when she tries repeatedly to reject the magic, I understood why she was doing it.  Then her new chieftain is talking about changing their ways to survive (farming?!  not killing old, unarmed people?!) and the chieftain who wants to take over their tribe is talking about tradition and being glorious in victory, and I understand why it's so hard for Ansa to pick a side.  It never felt like she was flip-flopping for the sake of keeping the plot going until she can make a decision and show her loyalty at the climax, but instead it felt like a character flaw rising out of her desire to belong and be accepted and never be weak enough to have her family murdered in front of her again.

And, like the first book, I like how this one is about identity.  Is Ansa part of her adoptive culture or the culture she was born into but doesn't remember?  Can her tribe change their ways without abandoning who they are?  These are questions that so many people wrestle with, just turned up to eleven and with pseudo-Vikings.

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Next week: Wild Beauty, YA Fantasy by Anna-Marie McLemore