The Thorn (wlw)

Crown Princess Leonore, heir to the queendom of Dranath, likes women, obviously. The Queen Mother Carmilla marries her off to Sir Gabriel, obviously.

So when she finds out Sir Gabriel is a woman...

Dranath; queendom of mystique, bordered by jealous allies. To the southwest, the states of Aurune. East is the coast and the maritime poleis of Raham. To the north, the Hierstag clans.

Rich in land and crop and poor in everything else, the queendom is closed in from all fronts. And when the sword of years-long grudges is brought to bear, who will play it to the hilt?

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i wanted to say that this book is my love letter to imperialism, but that makes it sound like i support it. so take this book as lovingly crafted hatemail non-anonymously submitted to imperialism's tumblr asks.

the narrative does get darker as it goes on. this is an exploration of how much suffering one can propagate in order to achieve one's goal, and the degree in which your decisions can be justified (even only to yourself!) before you become, essentially, irredeemable; an exercise in Is It Worth It Though

yeah there's magic(k) in this one. and a lot of geopolitics! might have gotten carried away with the geopolitics.

come for the gay, stay for the political machinations. or come for the political machinations and stay for the gay, i dont mind.

3rd person pov, leonore-centric, no homophobia (at least, not the kind we usually see), i want to say butch/femme but honestly it's butch gabriel/whatever the hell leonore is. folk anti-hero narrative or villain origin story, you decide