NORTH QUEEN by Nicola Tyche – Epic Fantasy, Romance, Action Adventure

Norah Andell, Princess of Mercia and future North Queen, has been missing for three years.

Her father secreted her away to protect her from a prophesied attack in a ten-year war, but he dies shortly after their departure and takes her location to the grave. Alexander Rhemus, Lord Justice to Queen Regent Catherine, Norah’s grandmother, was told by a seer that Norah would be found in the deep forests of the Northern Kingdom, and has searched the woods ceaselessly. Having loved her since they were children, Alexander’s desperation leads him to the Wilds, a legendary and feared area where men often do not return. So opens The North Queen.

To Alexander’s shock, he finds Norah, who has no memories of her former life or even of her own name. At first, she refuses to believe she’s the missing princess, now Queen, and bristles against her newfound world and the restraints it casts upon her.

Norah struggles with a position she doesn’t want, governing a people on the verge of starvation and facing an arranged marriage to protect her people from the Shadow King, a ruthless man hell-bent on taking her kingdom.

With few choices left to save the land she feels responsible for protecting, Norah agrees to marry King Phillip of Aleon, hoping to unite against the advancing Shadowland army and fulfill a prophecy that will bring defeat to her fabled enemy. However, Norah’s life takes another drastic turn when the Shadow King kidnaps her. The longer she spends in the company of Mikael Ratha Shal, Salar of Kharav, the less sure she is of her path, and his reputation. Norah will have to make a life-defining, fate-altering decision. Will she choose herself or her kingdom?

This story centers on Norah’s search for identity.

From the first page, she is desperate to learn who she is. But the search goes beyond that. Norah must discover more than her name and her favorite food. She must find who she is as a person and the values that life experience should have given her. From her mostly well-meaning but pushy grandmother to her one-time love, she is bombarded with roles to play, which she doubts she would want in any variation of herself.

Not only must she literally relearn everything about herself, but she must also purge the world of the Shadow King.

She bears her own kingdom’s problems alongside the expectation of overthrowing another. Her old self tugs at her, a rebellious girl who wants only to run away with the handsome Alexander. However, she more keenly feels the heavy weight of duty, which cares little for her heart. She will do anything to keep her people safe, even if it means marrying a stranger. For fear of disappointing those who depend on her, Norah pushes herself to her physical and emotional limits.

Norah’s love interests foil one another, Salar Mikael and Lord Justice Alexander creating an interesting dichotomy.

Alexander is literally the “golden boy,” with his blonde hair and light eyes. He is the subject of Norah’s dreams while she is in Mercia, and they spend moments lost within a past that she can only recall in fragmented scenes. He is everything a woman could want, honorable and valiant, even though she must give him up for her contracted marriage. The past they share gives Norah an enthralling sense of home.

Mikael, the Shadow King, seems at first glance to be everything he is rumored to be, cruel, cold, and bloodthirsty. However, Norah soon begins to see the man behind the myth, a man who wants what she does – to protect his kingdom and end the war started by his father. Though he thinks her death is necessary, Mikael is surprised to see her bravery and fortitude, the spirit of a queen. Just as she struggles with this new reality, he battles to keep her at a distance.

Norah has been told to hate this man, this killer, but along with the rest of her memories, she has lost those twenty-five years of indoctrination.

Though Mikael holds her hostage, she begins to see another perspective. Their fiery battles start to feel like something more, but when Alexander reappears in her life, she falls back into confusion. This love triangle adds engaging romance to an action-packed plot and will make the reader long for the sequel.