A Tyranny of Queens

A Tyranny of Queens is a brilliant and moving work of high fantasy from the marvelous author Foz Meadows. A sequel to An Accident of Stars, this novel picks up directly where the previous novel stopped, with Saffron back in our world and Kena left in disarray after the coup. A Tyranny of Queens is an excellent sequel that manages to surpass even the promising first installment of the Manifold Worlds and is well worth the read.

The quality of characters is what makes this book so excellent, and I want to draw specific attention to the variety of ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender expressions represented in the book. It is rare to find any books that exhibit such a broad range of humanity, let alone books of a speculative fiction nature. Meadows accomplishes that and more in a roller coaster ride of high fantasy while jumping between worlds and countries. Every character is solid and defined, unique entities and not cardboard cutouts. Even the villains have fully manifested backgrounds and motivations, which makes for a much more realistic and engaging read than a lot of speculative fiction on the market today. I highly recommend picking up the books from the Manifold Worlds series and giving them a read; you won’t be disappointed.