The True Queen

By: Zen Cho

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin

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. They have been cursed by an unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti starts to fade away. 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.

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. 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.

©2019 Zen Cho (P)2019 Recorded Books

A Solid Sequel

I wouldn’t call this a follow-up to the first novel in the duology as this centers around completely new characters sometime after the events of the first. However, the book does heavily feature a number of returning characters - most notably Henrietta Stapleton, Mai Genggang, Rollo, and Damerrel. That old Regency era style of writing also returns! So many reader-listeners hated it in the first book, but I quite liked it. If that’s something you couldn’t stand in the first installment, you may not fare any better this time around.

It was a pleasant, easy listen, and while there weren’t many twists and turns it was fun to figure it out and wait to see my theories confirmed. It was sweet. I think some of the action would have been better served with more build-up throughout the novel and a few of the relationships could have also read better if they’d also been given more attention along the way. Still, I can’t say I was disappointed with anything.

If you enjoyed the first book and aren’t looking for a serious and deep novel to read but something lighter and a bit silly this is great!

Perfect!

This is a must read for fantasy lovers of color. You will see yourself and laugh, be entertained, and fall in love with each character. 👍🏽👍🏽

Part Sorcerer to the Crown, part Diana Wynne Jones

The first book in this series, Sorcerer to the Crown, was very much a fantasy of manners. It had humor, action and magic, but all was anchored in a portrait of the strictures of 19th-century British society. Race, class, gender and politics were as central to the story as sorcery.

The second book focuses on a different set of characters. While listening to it, I kept being struck by how much it felt like a Diana Wynne Jones novel--Castles in the Air, one of the books in the Wizard Howl series, came particularly to mind. It was much less grounded in real human society, much more free-wheeling and fantastical (and some of the characters a little more arch and ridiculous).

Finally it dawned on me that the narrator, Jenny Sterlin, also read the Wizard Howl books! That doubtless accounts for part of the remblance, but the fact remains that I never considered it with book 1. If you miss the late, great DWJ, this would be a great choice. But if you're yearning to dive back into politics and propriety, you might be a little disappointed.

More Please

As with every story you create, I am left wanting the characters lives to continue to the next adventure

A Delightful Return to Cho's fantasy Regency

When Muna washes up on a beach after a terrible storm, she can only remember two things: Sakti is her twin sister, and they have both been cursed. In order to break the curse, save her sister and discover who she really is, Muna will have to travel to the distant and strange island of Britain and pass herself off as a great sorceress. But with war brewing between Britain and Faerie within, will she be able to save her sister, or will she be drawn into the intrigues of the Faerie Court, or worse, English high society?
The follow up to the delightful novel Sorcerer To The Crown, Zen Cho returns to her Regency-era fantasy filled with dour magicians, witty witches, and blithely cannibalistic faeries. The author has carried over all of the charm of the first book, telling a new tale with just enough of her beloved cast of characters while introducing new main characters and shifting the spotlight. Muna is a fantastic main character, and I loved spending more time with Henrietta, Rollo, and of course, Ma Geng Gang.
Cho’s fantasy England is centered on the sort of very real people who were pushed to the margins by 19th Century British society: women, people of color, gays and lesbians. Cho deftly presents high society through Muna’s point of view, making it as strange and inaccessible to her as the Faerie Court. It is a welcome and fascinating shift, carried over from the first book that continues to astonish.
Jenny Sterlin returns to narrate, and does an excellent job. Her acting and narration flow well together and her voice is perfectly suited to the story.