One thing we love to do is recommend sci-fi and fantasy titles that scratch an itch our readers may not even know they have. One of those titles is Alex Marshall’s A Crown for Cold Silver.
Twenty years ago, feared general Cobalt Zosia led her five villainous captains and mercenary army into battle, wrestling monsters and toppling an empire. When there were no more titles to win and no more worlds to conquer, she retired and gave up her legend to history.
Now the peace she carved for herself has been shattered by the unprovoked slaughter of her village. Seeking bloody vengeance, Zosia heads for battle once more, but to find justice she must confront grudge-bearing enemies, once-loyal allies, and an unknown army that marches under a familiar banner.
Aside from the obvious awesome of Colbalt Zosia, who’s in her 50s by the time the book begins and still manages to beat the living tar out of anyone in her path, we love the way the book brings together characters from all sorts of backgrounds and mixes them together for an adventure to appeal across the board. A missing princess, a former villain addicted to insect venom, an elephant-riding commander who nursed her children on her way into battle, and a protagonist who flirts with men and women, is astounded by chain-mail bikinis, and has solo training montages inside frozen caves.
Trust us: this isn’t your average fantasy novel.
A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER is just one of the books in The Call to Adventure, a new website from Orbit Books that features seven different recommendations based on your reading preferences. The Call to Adventure rates A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER 5 out of 5 for body count (probably why I liked it so much) and 3 out of 5 for magic level.
Maybe badass canonically bisexual 50-something retired villains aren’t your thing? That’s unfortunate, but if it’s not your bag of bodies, check out the quiz on the site. With 7 different books, all part of ongoing series, there’s bound to be something for you.
We’re also excited to share the cover for the next book in Marshall’s series: A Blade of Black Steel.
Map by Tim Paul, Design by Lauren Panepinto.
A Blade of Black Steel will be released May 24, 2016. While you wait, you can enter to win a copy of A Crown for Cold Silver in the raffle below! Open to the US and Canada. Giveaway ends December 18, 2015. For your first entry, leave a comment answering this question: If you were a villain, what would you conquer?*
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Meet Alex Marshall in our interview with the author. You can also check out our review of A CROWN FOR COLD SILVER before you enter to win. Spoiler alert: We loved it.
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I feel like, if I was a villain, I’d be more the mad scientist-type–not concerned with global domination so much as making weird stuff. It would probably be my creations that’d rise up and conquer the world or the Moon or something.
I would conquer Trumpville