Queen of the Conquered

By: Kacen Callender

Narrated by: Krystel Roche

An ambitious and unflinching tale of colonialism, conquest, and revenge, Queen of the Conquered starts a fantasy series perfect for readers of S. A. Chakraborty, Ken Liu, and Tasha Suri.

*Named one of TIME's Top 100 Fantasy Book Of All Time
* World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, winner

On the islands of Hans Lollik, Sigourney Rose was the only survivor when her family was massacred by the colonizers. When the childless king of the islands declares he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge.

But someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. And as the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers... lest she become the next victim.

Praise for Queen of the Conquered:

"A storm of a novel as epic as Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo." —Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Beasts Made Wild

"The book's absorbing setting, captivating lead, and relevant themes of race and class complement each other with alternating delicacy and savagery."—NPR Books

"Callender's first adult novel draws race relations, conquest, magic, and politics into an imaginative, layered story that will keep readers twisting until the end." —Library Journal

Critic reviews

"A brilliant analysis of power and privilege set against an alternately beautiful and brutal background, you will root for Sigourney even as you question both her actions and motives. Searing and painful, Kacen Callender has managed to create a book that will stick with you long after the last page."—Justina Ireland, New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation

"Callender's heart-wrenching work is a story that refuses easy answers, trope saviors, or all-is-well endings. Lofty as it seems, if you imagine Hamlet and Agatha Christie's Ten Little Soldiers fused in a narrative that finds its soul from the pain of our cruelest histories, you'll have captured a piece of the powerful fantasy Callender has wrought in Queen of the Conquered."—Evan Winter, author of The Rage of Dragons

"Queen is not a pretty story, but it's told in gorgeous strokes of color and emotion, rendering even the most disturbing scenes of horror and loss with haunting insight....It's a fine balancing act, and the book's absorbing setting, captivating lead, and relevant themes of race and class complement each other with alternating delicacy and savagery. At turns philosophical and feral, Queen of the Conquered represents the scope and spectacle of the fantasy genre with a vengeance.—NPR Books

"Kacen Callender depicts colonialism, rage and the terrible price of power with haunting, unflinching eloquence. Queen of the Conquered is a heart-stopping masterpiece."—Tasha Suri, author of Empire of Sand

"A fascinating exploration of how power corrupts and drives a person toward self-betrayal."—Kirkus (starred review)

"Dynamic characters and rich, spellbinding action come to life in this epic story... It's a thrilling supernatural adventure."—Woman's World

"An ambitious, courageous, and unflinching novel that uncovers the rotten core of our colonial heritage and yet also celebrates the fierce resistance and heroic endurance of the most abused and exploited."—Kate Elliott, author of Black Wolves

"Callender's first adult novel draws race relations, conquest, magic, and politics into an imaginative, layered story that will keep readers twisting until the end. The author's personal experience growing up in St. Thomas lends to the rich setting and postcolonial themes."—Library Journal (starred review)

"An utterly compelling look at slavery, power, and complicity. Uncomfortable, heart rending, and utterly necessary."—Aliette de Bodard, Nebula Award-winning author

"From the very first paragraph, Callender's adult debut stuns. A complex and furious examination of colonialism, Queen of the Conquered is a storm of a novel as epic as Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo. I've been looking for this book half my life."—Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Beasts Made Wild

I really really wanted to love it... but I didn't.

I wanted so badly to love this book and there are so many great things about it. I love the idea of a story told from the perspective of a black slave owner and her struggles with class and race. But I felt like I couldn't connect with her or with the other characters.

The narrator was an interesting choice, her accent was great but her delivery was bland and at times inconsistent enough to distract from the story.

Intense

I didn't expect it to be so intense but I loved it. the narrator's voice took some getting used to, but the story was captivating, violent, and honest.

the accent of the reader made this hard to follow.

I have ADHD and it made the audiobook extremely difficult for me to follow. I want to start by saying the woman who read the story did an amazing job. For me this particular audiobook was extremely hard to follow because I have adhd. The way that she had pronounced the words had me distracted on either the way she said it or literally translating it to the way that I would say it. I can't tell if the story felt fractioned and slightly hard to follow place and time or if it was because I was too busy paying attention to what the reader was actually conveying.

Good Story, but.....

You know how you really want to hear the story of when Grandpa met Grandma; but Grandpa just keeps repeating how pretty she looked at a school dance over and over and over........ and over, well that's how the story went.

It was unnecessarily repetitive.

A Slave Master is No Queen to Her People

In Queen of the Conquered, the author works hard to get the reader to sympathize and empathize with a rapist, a collaborator, a race-traitor, and a slave owner. Sigourney is no queen, she is a slave master. Her people don't serve a beloved monarch, they fear a harsh and oppressive master. Within the first few pages of the book, Sigourney murders her own people, forces an old woman who'd been tortured all her life to kiss her feet, and rapes a man she owns. It is also indicated that he is not the first man forced into her bed. If the protagonist had been male and the victims female, everyone would be up in arms. But, because it is a woman committing the atrocity of rape, it seems as though her crimes are dismissed by readers at large. Throughout the book, she commits, orders, and condones the mistreatment of Black people like herself in the name of achieving a goal she ultimately fails at. That said, the writing style is concise although at times repeatative, and the plot, once made clear, is easy to follow.This book is unapologetically problematic and is NOT RECCOMENDED.