After beginning their career writing young adult fiction, Kacen Callender published a debut adult novel, 2019’s Queen of the Conquered, that thrust the genre into a place seldom explored in fantasy: a Carribean-inspired world, where slavery is the main economic driver. Queen of the Conquered follows a Black woman named Sigourney Rose, a former noble who has been gifted with a peculiar “kraft” to read minds and potentially bend them to her will. After colonizing marauders massacre her family, Sigourney strikes out on a quest for revenge in a rapidly shifting political environment where distinguishing between allies and enemies grows ever more difficult. Callender, who was born in the aftermath of a hurricane in the U.S. Virgin Islands, delivers an intensely compelling story in a world that is both familiar and yet jarringly distorted, with laser focus on often-overlooked experiences and injustices. —Peter Allen Clark
Buy Now: Queen of the Conquered on Bookshop | Amazon
- Welcome to the Noah Lyles Olympics
- Melinda French Gates Is Going It Alone
- What to Do if You Can’t Afford Your Medications
- How to Buy Groceries Without Breaking the Bank
- Sienna Miller Is the Reason to Watch Horizon
- Why So Many Bitcoin Mining Companies Are Pivoting to AI
- The 15 Best Movies to Watch on a Plane
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time