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The Gilded Crown

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The Witch's Heart meets The Foxglove King in this spellbinding dark fantasy debut about a young woman with the extraordinary power of necromancy, and the ill-fated princess whose life she is determined to save, no matter the cost.

The first time Hellevir visited Death, she was ten years old...

Since she was a little girl, Hellevir has been able to raise the dead. Every creature can be saved for a price, a price demanded by the shrouded figure who rules the afterlife, who takes a little more from Hellevir with each soul she resurrects.

Such a gift can rarely remain a secret. When Princess Sullivain, sole heir to the kingdom's throne, is assassinated, the Queen summons Hellevir to demand she bring her granddaughter back to life. But once is not enough; the killers might strike again. The Princess's death would cause a civil war, so the Queen commands that Hellevir remain by her side.

But Sullivain is no easy woman to be bound to, even as Hellevir begins to fall in love with her. With the threat of war looming, Hellevir must trade more and more of herself to keep the Princess alive.

But Death will always take what he is owed.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 1, 2024
      Gordon debuts with a slow building but fascinating dark fantasy set in the vaguely Nordic fictional country of Chron, where a girl discovers the power to bring back the dead. Hellevir is born and raised in a cottage in the snowy woods and spends her childhood among trees and animals, using her gift to bring first a fox and then her own mother back from the land of death. Her life changes, however, when she’s summoned to the capital to resurrect the late Princess Sullivain, who, once alive again, appoints Hellevir as her personal reviver from death in case of future assassination attempts. The city is controlled by the Onaistian faith, which preaches kindness and hope, but persecutes “heathens” like Hellevir, opening up a thematic exploration of religious hypocrisy. The tale is also a study of kindness and humanity, as Hellevir is molded and perhaps corrupted by the ways of the city, while conversely, Sullivain is persuaded to act against her tyrannical grandmother, the Queen, by Hellevir’s influence. Though it takes a while for things to get moving, once the plot picks up, readers will find plenty to hold their attention. This series is off to a promising start. Agent: Meg Davis, Ki Agency.

    • Booklist

      June 1, 2024
      Gordon's debut introduces the young witch Hellevir by sharing her first two encounters with Death: first, she revives a frozen fox and then revives her mother, who died in childbirth. Her mother, appalled by both the old magic and Hellevir's decision to revive her instead of the baby, moves the family to the capital, leaving Hellevir to train with Milandre as a hedge witch. A decade later, when the queen appears demanding that Milandre resurrect her granddaughter, Sullivain, Hellevir volunteers; she is soon summoned to the capital to protect Sullivain from additional assassination attempts. Hellevir is completely unprepared for the palace politics, the extremism of the Onaistian Temple where her mother worships, and her own growing attraction to Sullivain. She is only slightly more prepared to search for riddles given to her by Death, finding special objects that will pay for the lives she resurrects. Hellevir is dealt some harsh lessons in her dealings with Death and the palace, leading readers through a mix of surprising twists, setting the world up nicely for a sequel.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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