--- description: Find out why Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender is on TIME's list of the best fantasy books of all time title: 'Queen of the Conquered' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a070d20f25b1a07/698a132fe76ad2286c638331/Queen-of-the-Conquered-Kacen-Callender-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 14, 2020 # Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  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](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/contributor/kacen-callender/ "undefined"), 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](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780316454933 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3dakUHW "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898534/queen-of-the-conquered/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898534/queen-of-the-conquered/"},"headline":"'Queen of the Conquered' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books","datePublished":"2020-10-14T20:03:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:42:56.045Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898534/queen-of-the-conquered/","keywords":["Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a070d20f25b1a07/698a132fe76ad2286c638331/Queen-of-the-Conquered-Kacen-Callender-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6a070d20f25b1a07/698a132fe76ad2286c638331/Queen-of-the-Conquered-Kacen-Callender-100-best-fantasy-books.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-fantasy-books/5898534/queen-of-the-conquered/","name":"'Queen of the Conquered' Is on TIME's List of the 100 Best Fantasy Books"}}]}] ```