"I believe I should have liked that - to have been married to magic"

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4 / 5

I didn't realise that The True Queen was a sequel Sorcerer to the Crown but it was the best kind of sequel - loosely connected to the first book, but exploring something new with new characters. In this case, we move to Janda Baik in Malaysia and two sisters, Muna and Sakti, who woke up on a beach with no memories of their past. ~ A mystery ~

"all that is in her is spirit and magic and love of self"

Muna and Sakti are wonderful main characters. Muna is devoid of magic and she loves her sister with all her heart. She is pure and kind hearted and she puts up with a lot of shit. Sakti is more flighty, perhaps a touch thoughtless and cruel, and overflowing with magical talent that she practices under the tutelage of Mak Genggang, the witch who found them and took them in. They travel to England to attend Prunella's new school for Gentlewitches, via the Unseen Realm, or the Fairy Realm, and Sakti is lost.

Alone in a foreign country and without magic, Muna struggles to fit into a society that finds young brown women bizarre and women sorcerers sinful. Muna meets three beloved characters from the first book - Prunella, the Sorcerer Royal, Henrietta, and Zacharias. Whilst Sorcerer to the Crown was about Prunella and Zacharias, this book is about Muna, Sakti, and Henrietta, and it's delightful!

"I do not know why society should abhor an English magicienne but fall into raptures over a foreign sorceress - but there it is!"

I don't think it is necessary to have read the first book to enjoy The True Queen, but all the little ways the two interweave is great. I loved the new perspective that The True Queen brought to the world that Zen Cho has created. The land and the magic of Janda Baik is totally different to that of England and the beauty of the mythology and the magic and the history seeps into the book.

The True Queen is a delightful book that can be read either as a sequel or a standalone.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of The True Queen

I read the first book early last year and I quite enjoyed it so I was excited when I got to read this through Netgalley.

What I Liked
It opens up the world a little more and I enjoyed the world.
The characters were good and they grew throughout the book. I also liked that we saw a couple of characters from the first book.

What I Disliked
The beginning felt a little slow to me and I put it down a few times but I stuck through it and the story become more engaging.
Some of the secrets revealed were a little obvious but I thought it was okay.
I didn’t really connect with the book like I did with the first one

Overall I enjoyed reading it but felt that it wasn’t as good as the first book. I don’t think I will read this again.

I read Sorcerer to the Crown back in 2015 and I don’t think it’s that much of an exaggeration to say I’ve been waiting an age (3 years and 2 months) for this book. And it was totally worth the wait. I’m going to say it right now: this is probably one of the best books I’ll read all year.

The True Queen introduces two completely new characters to this world, Muna and her sister Sakti. When they wake up on a beach in Janda Baik with no memory of their past and who they are, Mak Genggang takes them in. But it turns out that they’re both cursed by some spell and in trying to discover who put the curse on them, they are forced to travel to England, via the Unseen Realm. Sakti gets lost along the way, and Muna shows up on the Sorceress Royal’s doorstep alone and with only one desire: to rescue her sister from Fairy Land.

One of the things I loved most about this book was how quietly magical it was. You know, like magic slipping into the world more on the fringes than it being an epic fantasy level magic. Yes, there was a magic system and it wasn’t wholly understated but it was still quietly magical if that makes sense. And it fits so well into the historical setting.

The second thing I loved was the characters. Muna and Henrietta are both great characters and I loved them and their relationship so much. I don’t know how to describe how much I adored them, which is always a good sign. And the surrounding side characters are also great. Particularly Zacharias and Prunella, obviously, because they were the initial reason I wanted to continue this series. I kind of wish there had been more of Zacharias because he was my favourite from the last book, but I also didn’t need any more because of all the new characters. Prunella grew on me more in this book too. I’ll admit I wasn’t her biggest fan in book 1 (past me was foolish), but I loved her in this one.

I also really really loved that this book was f/f. Because I’m always craving good f/f historical fiction, and this one satisfied that. (And there’s nowhere near enough of it.)

One thing I will note briefly: it’s fairly easy to predict where the plot is going on the whole, once you learn the right information. But it’s got a great, slowburning unfolding of the plot, so that felt more like an oh moment for the reader rather than actual predictability.

So yeah. In summary: read the book please. (And also Sorcerer to the Crown, because that’s amazing too.)

A great sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown. This time the main characters are two sisters – Muna and Sakti – who have been curse by the great Malaysian witch and sent to England to be helped by the Sorcerer. Cho once again conjures a world that is absurd, opulent and all immersive. I read it in two days and could have happily read as much again. This was sheer delight.