After the Crown

Starred review from September 19, 2016
Wagers’s exciting second Indranan War space epic keeps roaring, with plenty of action, tension, and constant interplay among the characters. In Behind the Throne, Hail Bristol, gunrunner and secret heir to the 31st-century galactic Indranan Empire, was dragged back home after her sisters were murdered. She had to assume the throne and the struggle against political intrigue and a looming war. Now a calamity engineered by Hail’s enemies has knocked the empire off balance and has given Hail and her laser-focused personal bodyguards, Emmory and Zin, the biggest challenges of her short reign. In order for her and the empire to survive, she’ll need all the help she can get from both the Indranans she can trust—who are few—and her gunrunning acquaintances, who are less trustworthy. In fact, one of them has put a price on Hail’s head. Wagers pulls readers into Hail’s former haunts in the intergalactic underworld, perfectly showing off her more disreputable but constantly useful talents, which were often hinted at before. Hail is in her element again, as Wagers’s fans will be. Agent: Andrew Zack, Zack Company.

Starred review from November 15, 2016

Hail has only been on the throne of the Indaran Empire for a few weeks, but she has already fought off one coup attempt (detailed in Behind the Throne). The execution of the traitors fails to quiet the unrest and as a result, violence explodes. After dodging yet another assassination attempt, Hail and her bodyguards are on the run. She needs to find allies if she is going to fight the Saxon kingdom and the radicals in her own system who want to tear down the matriarchy. Luckily, Hail's gunrunning days gave her not only sharply honed instincts but some ruthless colleagues she can tap for help. VERDICT Maintaining the high quality that made her debut one of the best sf books of 2016, Wagers explores her protagonist's criminal past in further detail, revealing how Hail's dealings with vicious criminals has prepared her for her current political crisis.--MM

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2016
Wagers keeps up the breathless pace of Behind the Throne (2016) in a sequel that takes new Empress Hail Bristol out of the throne room and into the wider universe, where she spent years as a criminal. War is brewing with the neighboring Saxon Empire, and Hail does everything she can to prevent it from happeninguntil she's betrayed and forced to flee for survival. Collecting a motley group of allies from her gunrunning days and rallying her loyal subjects, Hail faces various threats, including from the man who orchestrated the death of her family. Wagers adds more depth to the portrait of Hail, now a fearless but haunted leader still adjusting to her new role and bound by the weight of responsibility to her people, and secondary characters to an already rich supporting cast. For fans of Star Wars, action, and adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)