Amanda Joy writes young adult fantasy about inheritance, power, prejudice, and the bonds that persist inside political violence. A River of Royal Blood places two sisters within a deadly succession tradition in a North African-inspired world shaped by contested histories and unequal rule.
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Years covered2019
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Two sisters must fight to the death to win the crown in this first installment of a gripping, action-packed duology set in an ancient North African-inspired fantasy world. Now in paperback. Sixteen-year-old Eva is a princess, born with the magick of blood and marrow--a dark and terrible magick that hasn't been seen for generations in the vibrant but fractured country of Myre. Its last known practitioner was Queen Raina, who toppled the native royalty and massacred thousands, including her own sister, eight generations ago, thus beginning the Rival Heir tradition. Living in Raina's long and dark shadow, Eva must now face her older sister, Isa, in a battle to the death if she hopes to ascend to the Ivory Throne--because in the Queendom of Myre only the strongest, most ruthless rulers survive. A River of Royal Blood is an enthralling debut set in a lush ancient North African inspired fantasy world that subtly but powerfully challenges our notions of power, history, and identity.
Print · Penguin · 2021-02-16 · English ISBN 9780525518600
Print · Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag · 2022-02-01 · de ISBN 9783423440479
Print · 2022-02-16 · de ISBN 9783423763653
Print · Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag · 2023-04-20 · de ISBN 9783423441209
More About Amanda Joy
Amanda Joy is a fantasy author and bookstagrammer who studied English and psychology at the University of Missouri and earned an MFA in Writing for Children at the New School. During the MFA program, she began writing about a princess who felt out of place in her family and under siege in her own home. That project became A River of Royal Blood.
A River of Royal Blood places sisters Eva and Isa inside a succession system that requires them to fight for the throne. Joy traced the premise to her fascination with what happens to sibling love when bloodshed becomes political duty. She researched ancient African nations, North African history, landscape, and ecology to build a world whose cultures bear the marks of conquest and changing rulers.
Reviewers noted that the series' magical conflict also carries questions about privilege, species prejudice, imperialism, and the stories a ruling order tells about its past. The sequel, A Queen of Gilded Horns, continues the struggle after the sisters' lives become bound together and the Queendom of Myre approaches revolution.
