Title: Queen and Commander
Author: Janine Southard
Summary:
On a world where high school test scores determine your future career, six students rebel.
A pair of star-crossed lovers plot to stay together, rather than be separated by the system’s college plans. A former off-worlder instigates: there’s a ship in orbit, he says. We could take it and run away.
But to take the ship, the three conspirators need more friends. Enter Rhiannon, the girl who set herself up for the ultimate success on this planet. She made sure her test would give the desired result: Queen. But her best friend begs her to take control of this plan to run away. So she drafts a would-be doctor who believes in following his Queen with all his heart. She finds a genius who can’t seem to make the system work for him.
And then she gets them qualified for the ship in orbit. The ship to freedom. Now what will they do with it? And was freedom what they really wanted?
Excerpt
Winning a ship means surpassing the competition.
The three competing Queens swiveled their heads, hare-quick, to home in on new prey. They’d ignored her until she’d made that noise. Now they had the scent of fresh insecurity and would peck away until they laid her meager confidence bare for the massacre.
“What a sweet little girl,” gushed the one in red. “Where’s your mother?”
Dead, actually. Well, if this Queen planned to come after her for her age, she’d show her appreciation in the way only a younger person could. She raised her eyebrows and furrowed them down the middle, then pulled her head back onto her neck as though repulsed or doing a proper sit-up.
From the way the older woman cringed back, Rhiannon knew she’d succeeded in making the derisive Did you seriously just say that to me? face that she’d seen on her more critical peers.
A teenager can out bitch-face you any time, Queenie. Don’t try that tactic with me.
The eldest cocked her head, more curious than cruel. Perhaps she found it as difficult to gauge Rhiannon’s age as the other way around. As far as Rhiannon knew, this woman had been one of Dyfed’s first Queens, self-made and just as untrained as herself. “Why do you think you deserve Ceridwen’s Cauldron?”
Review:
In a world where Queens rule and their Devoted men follow their orders – Rhiannon manages to beat the system. She gets the results from the test that she wants and is now Queen and Commander. So when her best friend comes to her in need help there’s nothing Rhiannon wouldn’t do to assist. Even if it means forming a mismatched group (a Hive) to run a spaceship. Sounds a little kooky? It may be but somehow it just works.
I loved the antics of Rhiannon and her Hive. There’s the forbidden lovers, Victor and Gwyn, who are willing to leave everything they’ve ever known for a chance to be together. Gavin is an off-worlder who grew up in the theatre and is prone to start sprouting play lines at the drop of a hat. Alan is brilliant but can’t make it in proper society. Luciano has risen above his standings and is now set to become a doctor but instead of formally continuing his studies he follows his devotion for Rhiannon and becomes a member of their band of misfits. And then there’s Rhiannon. She’s always dreamed of becoming a Queen and Commander – and she got there. But sometimes dreams never turn out quite as you imagined. But Rhiannon is there for her Hive and determined to be the best she can be.
The Dyfed way of life is somewhat based on Welsh Society and I thought that was a fascinating concept. There are words used that I’d never heard before but thankfully they were translated for me or I’d have spent half this novel googling them and been taken out of the world that the story creates. I thought the Hive idea to be interesting and whilst I loved how much attention was paid to Rhiannon and her Hive – I didn’t quite understand how this society worked. I would have liked to have seen a little more detail regarding how their society actually functions – especially for those without ships.
Queen & Commander has a lot going for it. The characters are ones I wanted to read more about and find out just what was going to happen next. The plot progresses at a great speed with plenty going on both relationship wise and with regards to action and drama. I can only imagine how the characters and plot are going to evolve in the second instalment of the Hive Queen Saga.
About the Author
Janine A. Southard writes speculative fiction and videogame dialogue from her home in Seattle, WA. She sings with a Celtic band and is working on the next book in the Hive Queen universe. She’s also been known to read aloud to her cat.
The cat appreciates all of these things. Maybe.
Where to buy Queen & Commander: