I put out a hand to steady myself as the vision took me. The parquetry floor washed to black...As if sparked by the hard glare, a fire burst and raged through the room, the flames hot enough to crisp bones and raise the smell of marrow burning to cinders. And me in the middle, wrapped in the black shroud of the dead. Matilde of the House of Svanaten is tired of being shadow queen. Her accession to the Turasi throne is long overdue, yet her imperious grandmother, Beata, is reluctant to hand over power. When Matilde's mysterious aunt, Helena, turns up for Turassi's most important festival, suspicions abound. Why has Helena - long married into the despised Ilthean nobility - suddenly appeared? And what of the Ilthean soldiers massed at the southern border? Hard on Helena's arrival, Matilde is struck by a vision that warns of doom. And it isn't long before a powerful enemy strikes at the very heart of power, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake. After narrowly surviving the conflagration that shatters her entire world, Matilde is forced to pit herself against her family's conqueror in a battle not just for the throne, but for her very existence. Assured writing and an unforgettable main character combine to make Shadow Queen a truly unforgettable novel. From the Publisher (Allen & Unwin)

In winning back her throne from her conquerer husband, Dieter, Matilde of the House of Svanaten has swapped one leash for another... Sidonius, the man she has been forced to swear a vow of vassalage to in exchange for his military support, is the famed slave-born general of the Ilthean empire, and has conquered every land he's invaded - including Matilde's. Worse, although Dieter has fled, he is not yet defeated. His forces launch strike after strike, sorely testing Matilde's new and uncertain hold on power. Every day he remains uncaptured drives Matilde deeper into the debt of the Ilthean empire. And the empire does not look kindly on vassals who try to secede. But Matilde does not look kindly on those who would bind her to their will - and Sidonius has under-estimated her... From the Publisher (Allen & Unwin)