Book Recommendation: Silver Queendom, by Dan Kobolt
Silver Queendom is a fun heist saga that reads like three novellas in one, with each successive heist that much more elaborate—and dangerous. The Red Rooster Inn team is led by the con artist Darin, supported by former noblewoman Evie, giant of a man Tom, strange old crone Seraphina, and newcomer Kat and her pack of semi-feral orphan boys.
I was somewhat confused while reading the first half of the novel because the plot from the summary doesn’t actually kick in until about 50%. The summary does a bit of a disservice to the book, because you get so much more as a reader than just the singular heist described there. By the end of the novel, I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to spend any more time with the Red Rooster team, and I loved seeing how they had grown as a team and people over the course of the story.
The world is vaguely medieval, queer-friendly, and generally egalitarian (relevant royalty consist of Queens, Duchesses, and Baronesses, and not so much their male counterparts). One of the Red Rooster team is described as being at least asexual and likely aromantic. There is some romance, but it is a minor subplot and woven through quite well.
Silver Queendom is recommended for anyone who enjoys:
Leverage, the television series
Watching a plan come together
Clever villains and cleverer heroes
Morally gray characters
Metallurgy and soft magic systems
Ensemble casts
Quippy dialogue
Quick Facts:
Author: Dan Kobolt
Publish Date: 2022
Publisher: Angry Robot
Sequels: None currently
Representation: Asexual main character
Black main and side characters, Asian-American side character, non-binary side character, queer side characters
Sexual Content: Fade to black, implied sexual content
Content Warnings: Depictions of spousal abuse, graphic violence and death, references to gambling addition
Official Synopsis:
Some jobs are too good to be true…
Professional con artist Darin Fields rarely passes up the chance to relieve wealthy fools of their coin. When he’s not out rigging horse races or planning jewelry heists, he slings ale in the Red Rooster’s common room and pretends the silver doesn’t call to him. Metallurgy is a curse, no matter what the old witch Seraphina says. Besides, he’s spent most of his life learning how to avoid attention. Not so for Evie, who grew up in the trappings of wealth before her family fell on hard times. She knows how to talk and act around high borns, a useful skill for any grifter. If she or Darin gets in too much trouble, Big Tom can usually make it go away.
The Red Rooster crew only takes a job if they can get away clean. So when a stranger offers them a fortune to boost a shipment of imperial dreamwine, Darin knows they should refuse. But thanks to a string of bad luck, they owe money to dangerous people. The payment for this heist would get them square and then some.
Then again, there’s a reason no one has ever managed to steal imperial dreamwine.