12 new SFF books to put on your summer reading list this July
By Lacy Baugher
Queen of Ruin – Tracy Banghart
This sequel to 2018’s Grace and Fury continues the story of Serina and Nomi, two sisters who are forced apart when one is named as a Grace – a sort of companion to the heir to their kingdom’s throne – and the other is shipped off to a dangerous prison where she must fight for her own survival. The two spend most of the first novel trying to simply survive in their new lives and figure out how to get back to one another in a world that doesn’t give women much in the way of personal agency.
As Queen of Ruin begins, Nomi finds herself exiled to Mount Ruin, where her prim, quiet sister Serina has become a revolutionary, leading a ragtag group of women fighting for their lives and freedom. What happens after that? Is truly anyone’s guess.
The official synopsis makes it sound like things might get pretty dark, though.
"Banished by Asa at the end of Grace and Fury, Nomi and Malachi find themselves powerless and headed towards their all-but-certain deaths. Now that Asa sits on the throne, he will stop at nothing to make sure Malachi never sets foot in the palace again. Their only hope is to find Nomi’s sister, Serina, on the prison island of Mount Ruin. But when Nomi and Malachi arrive, it is not the island of conquered, broken women that they expected. It is an island in the grip of revolution, and Serina–polite, submissive Serina–is its leader. Betrayal, grief, and violence have changed both sisters, and the women of Mount Ruin have their sights set on revenge beyond the confines of their island prison. They plan to sweep across the entire kingdom, issuing in a new age of freedom for all. But first they’ll have to get rid of Asa, and only Nomi knows how. Separated once again, this time by choice, Nomi and Serina must forge their own paths as they aim to tear down the world they know, and build something better in its place."
Queen of Ruin is available on July 2.