Review: Queen of Coin and Whispers, by Helen Corcoran

When teenage queen Lia inherits her corrupt uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings a new spymaster into the fold ... Xania, who takes the job to avenge her murdered father. Faced with dangerous plots and hidden enemies, can Lia and Xania learn to rely on each another, as they discover that all is not fair in love and treason?
In a world where the throne means both power and duty, they must decide what to sacrifice for their country – and for each other.

"Fierce as a bloodied blade". Helen Corcoran's Queen of Coin and Whispers is a sapphic YA fantasy with an intriguing premise; the dual narration allows us to follow both the idealistic monarch and her spymaster as they navigate threats, ruling, and their feelings for each other. Lia and Xania are young and untested and ultimately, their youth is too off-putting in the context of what they manage to do. We are supposed to believe that a mostly untrained seventeen-years-old is able to create her own web of spies, even in foreign countries, over the course of a few months.

The court intrigue is handled better, with believable threats and interesting characters and twists in the development that inject life into the narration; but some scenes seem disconnected, and one finds oneself confused as to the reasoning of the characters in some cases. In some instances, the development is left to throwaway paragraphs that aim to bring readers up to speed, but they're wholly confusing.

The relationship between the main characters is the highlight of the book, with its delicate new state and the problems that come when you put love and duty together, when you put an idealistic person through the realities of ruling. The conflict feels believable, and it's handled maturely.

The final third, while fascinating with its sudden change of pace, scope, and general atmosphere, was terribly rushed and, most importantly, left a pretty big development to the other main character's POV; perhaps it would have benefitted from being handled more respectfully, instead of just being fuel for angst that is handled mostly offscreen.

Queen of Coin and Whispers is a solid adventure for readers on the younger side.

✨ 3.5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon

for: fealty, difficult decisions