Behind the Throne by K. B. Wagers

4.5 Stars

The Indranan War - Book 1

Thank you, Blair MacGregor (One of my favourite authors), thank you!  Thank you for recommending this terrific book.  I enjoyed it SO SO much.  I never binge read series - I find I overdose too easily and lose pleasure in the reading - but when I finished this book, I was ready to get the next two and read them right NOW!  But... they're a wee bit pricey and I can't be an adult and justify the expenditure.  This month.

So we have Hail, the gunrunner, who is in reality one of the Indranan Empire's royal family, and has been away from 'home' for twenty years.  The story opens when she is brought home, unwillingly, into a midst of politics and intrigue and family drama.

We have action, we have intimate emotional scenes, we have danger and spying, we have humour, we have heart-warming moments... oh, it's all there in this book.  And while the heroine, Hail, seems at times a bit too smart, a bit too clever and capable, you then remember that she's one of the most notorious gunrunners in the galaxy and has come by all those smarts and abilities quite honestly - so to speak.  *LOL*

I loved her.  I also fell for the whole darned cast of secondary characters (the book is written from Hail's POV, 1st person) and wanted to see more of them.  Especially Emmory and Zin, the Trackers who come to find Hail and bring her home and who are so much more than political bounty hunters and bodyguards.  :)

Oh, and another BTW, this society is matriarchal.  I enjoyed the way the author flipped the traditional gender roles and how that plays into the political shenanigans going on in the Empire.  The Indranan Empire is descended from space colonists from India and it's fascinating to see how the author has created a world 2500 years in the future.  I don't know a lot about Indian society, history etc... but it felt well done to me.  :)

Oh, I enjoyed this book so much.  :)  I can't wait to read the next two!!  And it looks like the author is starting a second trilogy with the same main character.  Makes me a happy camper.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Blair!  It rocked!!