The main storyline follows a new character, Muna, and her story is introduced and resolved here. In particular I appreciate seeing a lot more of Henrietta, and some updates on Zacharias and Prunella. It doesn't really wrap up anything left hanging from the first book, but it does involve characters from there in ways that advance their personal storylines. THE TRUE QUEEN is unmistakably part of the same world as SORCERER TO THE CROWN due to the tone, characters, and magic system, but as a story it didn't need the first book at all to be understood. It's the same way that the worldbuilding was handled the first time around, but seeing the effect centered around a different character made it more noticeable.Īs a sequel this was very self-contained. It didn't retread much ground from the first book in terms of worldbuilding, only re-explaining as much as was immediately necessary, preferring instead to focus on Muna's perspective and the parts of the setting which affected her directly. Even though it was several chapters in before I came across characters I recognized from the first book, this upbeat style was recognizable and immediately make it clear that the books were connected.

Which one is happening shifts throughout the story and from narrator to narrator as characters other than Muna briefly lend their points of view. I love the book's overall tone, it has relentlessly upbeat feeling, a kind of optimism borne out of either not understanding how grave the danger might be or from understanding the risks and persevering anyway. Where SORCERER TO THE CROWN dealt specifically with racism and misogyny, THE TRUE QUEEN is more about misogyny and the particular combination of racism and xenophobia that is exoticism. THE TRUE QUEEN by Zen Cho introduces Muna, a young woman venturing to foreign Britain to obtain magical help in rescuing her vanished sister. Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Gay/Achillean Secondary Character(s). As she's drawn into their intrigues, she must uncover the secrets of her past, and journey into a world with more magic than she had ever dreamed. If Muna is to save her sister, she must learn to navigate high society, and trick the English magicians into believing she is a magical prodigy.

The only hope of saving her is to go to distant Britain, where the Sorceress Royal has established an academy to train women in magic.

They have been cursed by an unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti starts to fade away. When sisters Muna and Sakti wake up on the peaceful beach of the island of Janda Baik, they can't remember anything, except that they are bound as only sisters can be.

The true queen by zen cho