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Kingmaker
Vera is a spy for the Barstadt Empire, a powerful country with a rigid class structure and a seedy underbelly. Her mission is to weed out the corruption that holds this society together, but for Vera it’s not political, it’s personal. And her next mission is anything but routine, as long as she’s not blinded by revenge and can see that in the shadows of Barstadt City, things are seldom what they seem.
- GenresFantasyShort StoriesLGBT
28 pages, ebook
First published September 23, 2015
1 person is currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Lindsay Smith
41 books442 followersLindsay is the author of multiple novels for young adults, including Sekret and A Darkly Beating Heart, as well as the comic series Black Swan. She is the showrunner and lead writer for Serial Box's The Witch Who Came In From the Cold, a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of 2017. Her short stories and comics have appeared in the anthologies A Tyranny of Petticoats, Strange Romance Vol. 3, and Toil & Trouble and on Tor.com. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 30, 2022
It was her business to do so. And given recent events, it would be her distinct pleasure to watch the whole corrupt system burn.
Vera is a spy working for the Barstadt Empire's Ministry of Affairs. She is trying to infiltrate a gang called, Stargazers. She is also trying to bring various other gangs down but she has an ulterior motive too. She wants to bring down an aristocrat whose daughter Vera's in love with. Would Vera alone be able to do that?
“If you expected me not to be reckless,” Vera said, “then you don’t know me at all.”
It was Vera’s favorite kind of plan—dangerous, reckless, and liable to attract all the wrong sorts of attention.
It started out nicely but the world-building was poor. So many words are thrown in there without explaining what they represent and without knowing their meaning, the story makes little to no sense. This short story feels like a part of a much bigger story. That ending was abrupt but there were some clever one-liners though that I enjoyed.
2 stars
Vera is a spy working for the Barstadt Empire's Ministry of Affairs. She is trying to infiltrate a gang called, Stargazers. She is also trying to bring various other gangs down but she has an ulterior motive too. She wants to bring down an aristocrat whose daughter Vera's in love with. Would Vera alone be able to do that?
“If you expected me not to be reckless,” Vera said, “then you don’t know me at all.”
It was Vera’s favorite kind of plan—dangerous, reckless, and liable to attract all the wrong sorts of attention.
It started out nicely but the world-building was poor. So many words are thrown in there without explaining what they represent and without knowing their meaning, the story makes little to no sense. This short story feels like a part of a much bigger story. That ending was abrupt but there were some clever one-liners though that I enjoyed.
2 stars
October 1, 2015
A very interesting story, I just hope that there is going to be a sequel. A lot of plot threads are not resolved, and I really would like to see them unravel.
This is the story of Vera, a spy for the Barstadt Empire, a powerful country with a rigid class structure and a seedy underbelly. Her mission is to weed out the corruption that holds this society together, but for Vera it is not political, it is personal. And her next mission is anything but routine, as long as she is not blinded by revenge and can see that in the shadows of Barstadt City, things are seldom what they seem.
This is the story of Vera, a spy for the Barstadt Empire, a powerful country with a rigid class structure and a seedy underbelly. Her mission is to weed out the corruption that holds this society together, but for Vera it is not political, it is personal. And her next mission is anything but routine, as long as she is not blinded by revenge and can see that in the shadows of Barstadt City, things are seldom what they seem.
December 18, 2017
Who would’ve known that this short story got that LGBT related theme. & the cover has nothing to do with the story if I am not wrong (Except for the water that showing in the cover which could be related with the tunnel)...
I don’t want to argue but the fact is I don’t like the story. Well maybe a little. You know like when in politics the government try their best to make sure for the people for whom they served, to wipe out all corruption to make sure everything in under control. For this of course spy from the government side too tried their best to keep everything under control. In here though I didn’t get the flow. I found it distracted from time to time. It seems to me that there needed more information to fill in the gaps. Vera that girl working as spy for her government trying to know who’s the main criminal here. She tried to negotiate it with the help of her Ministry of Affairs. Though it was hard in some point. Vera is tough girl to deal with & in the story it was clear that she knew what was she doing...
& there’s that love feeling between Vera and Edina. Edina who is Lord Alizards daughter. It is believed that after the emperor Lord Alizard is one of the most powerful man in Barstadt. Though her daughter Edina did fight against him. & it was the path that matched for Vera & Edina. I don’t know maybe these is one of the reason they fall in love for each other. Though there’s direct indication about that but you can find it well enough that you don’t needed to search for the answer hardly. Anyway not so impressive from me...
2 out of 5...
August 9, 2016
This didn't feel like a short story - more like the opening to a complete novel. The title especially emphasizes the lack of resolution: like it's just a few chapters cut out and left as-is.
It also didn't feel like YA despite technically having a 17-year old girl as the main character. I suspect the "I hate YA! I want real fantasy!" crowd may be missing out on this as a result.
It has a very traditional fantasy feel with a fantasy detective vs the evil gang.
Read it online here.
...I'd read the rest of that novel, by the way.
It also didn't feel like YA despite technically having a 17-year old girl as the main character. I suspect the "I hate YA! I want real fantasy!" crowd may be missing out on this as a result.
It has a very traditional fantasy feel with a fantasy detective vs the evil gang.
Read it online here.
...I'd read the rest of that novel, by the way.
September 24, 2015
Good story but it cuts off abruptly and not as much world building as there could have been. This would make a great full length novel.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews