THE TWO-FACED QUEEN

The meaty sequel to Martell’s debut, The Kingdom of Liars (2020), continues the epic narrative of Michael Kingman, who—falsely accused of killing a king—is tasked with saving the very realm where his life has become forfeit.

A month after King Isaac was presumably murdered, Serena—Princess of Hollow and heir to the throne—is preparing for her coronation. Although she deeply wants to execute Kingman, a close childhood friend who she thinks killed her father, she has more pressing concerns. With a rebellion looming outside the city’s wall, bloody civil war brewing, and an infamous serial killer loose inside Hollow, Serena comes to an uneasy agreement with Kingman—if he can quash the rebellion and locate and defeat the most notorious killer in the kingdom’s history, he’ll convince the future queen of his innocence and restore his family’s tarnished honor. Kingman’s task is complicated by numerous entanglements, first and foremost his mentorship under Dark, an enigmatic mercenary whose reasons for instructing Kingman are questionable at best. Powered by an impressively large cast of well-developed characters, immersive worldbuilding, a multitapestried narrative that adeptly weaves together numerous storylines, and an abundance of jaw-dropping plot twists, this novel also works on a more sublime, symbolic level. The shattered moon Celona, whose pieces regularly fall to Earth and create havoc, is a perfect symbol for the main characters as well as the story’s overall theme: “Everyone is broken in one way or another…the beauty of life—the joy of living—is finding others that are broken in a way that covers your weakness, exposes your strengths, and makes you stronger together. That’s all love is.”

Simply put, this series is a masterclass in grand-scale storytelling. The future of epic fantasy is here—and this saga is it.