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A Queen Among Crows: Book One of Empire's End
In 1908, the world is on the brink of a war unlike any other. Immortal Princess Catherine of Imperial Russia, absolute ruler of two continents, prepares her mighty air navy to crush her last worthy foe, the British Empire.
In the Colonial Americas, torn and bloody from forty years of rebellion, freedom fighters stagger out for one last rebellion…
All it will take to destroy fragile peace is one rough shove.
The Finger of the Gods has been seen.
Whoever finds its secrets first may well win the war.
Good thing Colonial Master Spy Eryma Soteira has her boots on.
Contains Alternate History, Zeppelins, Super Villains, Insane Plots, Mad Science, LGBT Themes, and Dinosaurs.
In the Colonial Americas, torn and bloody from forty years of rebellion, freedom fighters stagger out for one last rebellion…
All it will take to destroy fragile peace is one rough shove.
The Finger of the Gods has been seen.
Whoever finds its secrets first may well win the war.
Good thing Colonial Master Spy Eryma Soteira has her boots on.
Contains Alternate History, Zeppelins, Super Villains, Insane Plots, Mad Science, LGBT Themes, and Dinosaurs.
231 pages, ebook
Published November 16, 2017
29 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
M.S. Linsenmayer
9 books9 followersHi, I'm a Duck.
Oo
oO
Really, I escaped from a secret research base under Annapolis forty-odd years ago, hid among the ignorant hominids by pretending to be a business person/ accountant- seriously, the Clark Kent disguise works perfectly, especially if you throw on cheap shoes to complement the Walmart special glasses- and generally plotted to take over the world.
So far I've conquered 16 square inches in Florida, at hideous cost, but it's a start. Those dang fire ants keep staging revolutions.
I am now trying to start a second career as a twisted trader of terrible tall tales, here on Amazon.
Come say hi over at:
https://www.facebook.com/queenofcrow/
Oo
oO
Really, I escaped from a secret research base under Annapolis forty-odd years ago, hid among the ignorant hominids by pretending to be a business person/ accountant- seriously, the Clark Kent disguise works perfectly, especially if you throw on cheap shoes to complement the Walmart special glasses- and generally plotted to take over the world.
So far I've conquered 16 square inches in Florida, at hideous cost, but it's a start. Those dang fire ants keep staging revolutions.
I am now trying to start a second career as a twisted trader of terrible tall tales, here on Amazon.
Come say hi over at:
https://www.facebook.com/queenofcrow/
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 21, 2021
A really unique alternate history/historical read with steampunk elements, magic elements, immortals, Queens, Kings, Bishops and Rooks in the likes of gifted humans with titles of Chess pieces. Political intrigue and strange interplanetary creatures and weapons, and so much more *Breathes* Kindle Unlimited.
TBH I'm still not entirely sure what I read here and if I even understood half the plot! lol. But I DID enjoy it and the MC's immensely, and the constant action! I was certainly never bored, and it's one of those books where anything can happen, so even trying to guess your way through is an exercise in futility. But it's also quite funny too. Many lines had me snorting along with glee.
Our eponymous Queen Among Crows is Eryma, who is a political consort sent to Europe, from a colonial America that is war-torn and looking for allies, while thwarting political plots along the way. She has special skills with Crows, who she can talk to, and they with her, and an ability to utilize them in scouting missions and information gathering, as well as smuggling etc. She meets a gentlemanly dressed Dame who has quite the reputation for fighting skill and is a most trusted advisor to the crown, and is in essence Eryma's keeper during their travels, but something more sparks between their stubborn wits.
There are duels, spies, assassination attempts, strange magics and even stranger people and plots. Combining to make a perplexing yet exciting read. I do wish I could have had more information to understand the plot and background of this fascinating world and structure the author has created. But the mystery seems part of the intrigue, and you're never fully sure of even our main protagonists motives and origins - I do plan to read the sequels, and hope it become clearer!
TBH I'm still not entirely sure what I read here and if I even understood half the plot! lol. But I DID enjoy it and the MC's immensely, and the constant action! I was certainly never bored, and it's one of those books where anything can happen, so even trying to guess your way through is an exercise in futility. But it's also quite funny too. Many lines had me snorting along with glee.
Our eponymous Queen Among Crows is Eryma, who is a political consort sent to Europe, from a colonial America that is war-torn and looking for allies, while thwarting political plots along the way. She has special skills with Crows, who she can talk to, and they with her, and an ability to utilize them in scouting missions and information gathering, as well as smuggling etc. She meets a gentlemanly dressed Dame who has quite the reputation for fighting skill and is a most trusted advisor to the crown, and is in essence Eryma's keeper during their travels, but something more sparks between their stubborn wits.
There are duels, spies, assassination attempts, strange magics and even stranger people and plots. Combining to make a perplexing yet exciting read. I do wish I could have had more information to understand the plot and background of this fascinating world and structure the author has created. But the mystery seems part of the intrigue, and you're never fully sure of even our main protagonists motives and origins - I do plan to read the sequels, and hope it become clearer!
December 25, 2020
This book made my virgo eyes, it's conduit to my virgo brain scream in grammatical terror. Written like a penny dreadful, throw in some steampunk (ish), some mystery and intrigue, and an MC that just can't keep herself from getting blown up... You really have to just throw out modern grammatics out the window and just sit back and enjoy the story. It can be challenging at times. Personally I couldn't have written anything like it in a million years, my brain just refuses to construct prose this way. So my hat's off to the author. I'm stuck in the story well enough to continue the series. (Not a fan of cliff hangers for what it's worth BTW.)
May 19, 2020
It was okay. I didn't finish it because it's not really my cup of tea, but I'll get into some details.
The elephant in the room is the grammar. I'm not sure if the author just isn't a native English speaker because she capitalized some things that didn't need to be capitalized according to the English language. The semi-colon use was slightly excessive and not always correct. Linsenmayer did not use commas consistently; they were often misplaced or not even used, especially when interrupting dialogue. Sometimes she would, but not always, and there seemed to be no pattern. In the prologue, there were numerous run-on sentences, often meaning that a whole paragraph was only one sentence instead of a minimum of three.
My final thought on the grammar is more about vocabulary. On the first page, I could not determine what was going on. There was the main character talking about historians, then Amora, and suddenly everyone was running. "Amora was living breathing proof that their theory was unsound, being by far the worst example of love or elegance one could possibly find on this side of an incontinent hippopotamus. . ." What is an incontinent hippopotamus? I could scarcely tell you.
Sometimes Linsenmayer came up with her own vernacular. On page 19, a crossword answer is "Quaezcoutoulous." Now, the crow that had been doing the crossword said she purposefully misspelled the word, but when saying that she misspelled it, the word itself should be correctly written. She is saying which word she wrote improperly, not giving the incorrect spelling. So I'm not sure if she was writing the error or wanted an impressive word and was banking on nobody actually looking for a definition. If the latter is the case, there are a number of notable words that are real.
All this is small potatoes because it can be remedied by the expertise of an editor. It's just a shame because the author had some good descriptions of scenes and events that were really brought down by spelling errors or a lack of punctuation.
I'm not quite sure what world this takes place in. I know it's fantasy, and anything can happen in fantasy, but I understood this to be based off history, but a Dame (a woman) strolls around in clothing for men, there was a woman in military service, and everyone is quite open about their sexuality. I would have understood this to be taboo in a time when people were wearing top hats. I'm just not sure what time period this book is set in. We were thrust into everything without a lot of explanation, and while you do want things to be revealed throughout the story, it has to be explained at some point. How did the main character even meet the Dame? The Dame held the door open for Eryma (the protagonist), and then they were hanging out and bantering like old friends?
There was one part where the main character is taking a bath and the water is described as "chilling," but on the next page is noted to be "almost boiling." Again, this could be fixed by consulting an editor.
All in all, I think the story has potential, at least what I read of it, but it truly needs to be proofread and revised before I would recommend it to anyone.
The elephant in the room is the grammar. I'm not sure if the author just isn't a native English speaker because she capitalized some things that didn't need to be capitalized according to the English language. The semi-colon use was slightly excessive and not always correct. Linsenmayer did not use commas consistently; they were often misplaced or not even used, especially when interrupting dialogue. Sometimes she would, but not always, and there seemed to be no pattern. In the prologue, there were numerous run-on sentences, often meaning that a whole paragraph was only one sentence instead of a minimum of three.
My final thought on the grammar is more about vocabulary. On the first page, I could not determine what was going on. There was the main character talking about historians, then Amora, and suddenly everyone was running. "Amora was living breathing proof that their theory was unsound, being by far the worst example of love or elegance one could possibly find on this side of an incontinent hippopotamus. . ." What is an incontinent hippopotamus? I could scarcely tell you.
Sometimes Linsenmayer came up with her own vernacular. On page 19, a crossword answer is "Quaezcoutoulous." Now, the crow that had been doing the crossword said she purposefully misspelled the word, but when saying that she misspelled it, the word itself should be correctly written. She is saying which word she wrote improperly, not giving the incorrect spelling. So I'm not sure if she was writing the error or wanted an impressive word and was banking on nobody actually looking for a definition. If the latter is the case, there are a number of notable words that are real.
All this is small potatoes because it can be remedied by the expertise of an editor. It's just a shame because the author had some good descriptions of scenes and events that were really brought down by spelling errors or a lack of punctuation.
I'm not quite sure what world this takes place in. I know it's fantasy, and anything can happen in fantasy, but I understood this to be based off history, but a Dame (a woman) strolls around in clothing for men, there was a woman in military service, and everyone is quite open about their sexuality. I would have understood this to be taboo in a time when people were wearing top hats. I'm just not sure what time period this book is set in. We were thrust into everything without a lot of explanation, and while you do want things to be revealed throughout the story, it has to be explained at some point. How did the main character even meet the Dame? The Dame held the door open for Eryma (the protagonist), and then they were hanging out and bantering like old friends?
There was one part where the main character is taking a bath and the water is described as "chilling," but on the next page is noted to be "almost boiling." Again, this could be fixed by consulting an editor.
All in all, I think the story has potential, at least what I read of it, but it truly needs to be proofread and revised before I would recommend it to anyone.
November 29, 2021
Steampunk-Alternate History-Magical Fantasy and Talking Crows!
1908-Russia: A scrappy intelligence officer from war torn North America hires herself out as a mercenary in the service of Catherine the Great. Both women are "Queens," descendants of the Gods possessing certain powers. Eryma communes with crows, and her birds provide reconnaissance and protection. Though tired and covered in tread marks, She plans to help recover a crash-landed asteroid in exchange for eternal youth. But both Catherine's court and Eryma's plans are suffused with intrigue.
A complex series of events ensues laced with historical distortions, magic, monsters, blood, gore, and a steam punk feel. The plot unfolds gradually, and Eryma's plans and history are delivered in bits and pieces, leaving room for reveals and plot twists. And the novel excels in characterization, including Eryma who's battered but tough and resolute with a goofy sense of humor.
Grim, hard-living, violent, and lusty Dame July provides a frenemy-romance, and several acts of savagery. And Eryma's crow community includes both a corvid genius and a comedian.
If you're after diversity, banter, wordplay, action, and strong female characters, this is your book. However, please observe the CLIFF HANGER WARNING sign and don't tumble off at the end of the novel. Stand alone readers may be disappointed. On the bright side, several additional volumes of this series are already out and available.
(Some earlier reviews mention typographical and grammatical errors, but the version I read was pretty clean. Not perfect, but good enough for me.)
Genres: LGBTQ+ Science Fiction, Steampunk Fiction, Alternate History, Fantasy.
Humor: Interlaced
Violence: High
Diversity: High
Sex: Closed Door
Warnings: CLIFF HANGER (but series completed)
1908-Russia: A scrappy intelligence officer from war torn North America hires herself out as a mercenary in the service of Catherine the Great. Both women are "Queens," descendants of the Gods possessing certain powers. Eryma communes with crows, and her birds provide reconnaissance and protection. Though tired and covered in tread marks, She plans to help recover a crash-landed asteroid in exchange for eternal youth. But both Catherine's court and Eryma's plans are suffused with intrigue.
A complex series of events ensues laced with historical distortions, magic, monsters, blood, gore, and a steam punk feel. The plot unfolds gradually, and Eryma's plans and history are delivered in bits and pieces, leaving room for reveals and plot twists. And the novel excels in characterization, including Eryma who's battered but tough and resolute with a goofy sense of humor.
Grim, hard-living, violent, and lusty Dame July provides a frenemy-romance, and several acts of savagery. And Eryma's crow community includes both a corvid genius and a comedian.
If you're after diversity, banter, wordplay, action, and strong female characters, this is your book. However, please observe the CLIFF HANGER WARNING sign and don't tumble off at the end of the novel. Stand alone readers may be disappointed. On the bright side, several additional volumes of this series are already out and available.
(Some earlier reviews mention typographical and grammatical errors, but the version I read was pretty clean. Not perfect, but good enough for me.)
Genres: LGBTQ+ Science Fiction, Steampunk Fiction, Alternate History, Fantasy.
Humor: Interlaced
Violence: High
Diversity: High
Sex: Closed Door
Warnings: CLIFF HANGER (but series completed)
March 3, 2021
My Very Favourite Series!
I am a voracious reader. At this point it is unusual to find a series that has a truly unique concept, something that stands out from the multitude of others and grabs and holds my attention. The Empire's End series has it all: Intriguing characters, interesting action, and a wonderfully original alternate history storyline that keeps me guessing. It is a delight to have no idea what is going to happen next! A Queen Among Crows is written in a witty humorous style that is a pleasure to read, I quickly became invested in the characters and the action, and was left wanting more. If you want to enjoy a really good read, this is a book you should give a try!
I am a voracious reader. At this point it is unusual to find a series that has a truly unique concept, something that stands out from the multitude of others and grabs and holds my attention. The Empire's End series has it all: Intriguing characters, interesting action, and a wonderfully original alternate history storyline that keeps me guessing. It is a delight to have no idea what is going to happen next! A Queen Among Crows is written in a witty humorous style that is a pleasure to read, I quickly became invested in the characters and the action, and was left wanting more. If you want to enjoy a really good read, this is a book you should give a try!
March 20, 2020
I truly hope the version I received was an ARC. There were so many errors in the first five chapters I almost stopped reading the book. Incorrect word choice, phrases that need revising, as the made very little sense. Thankfully it got better. The story kinda reminded me of Kresley Cole’s poison princess with a steam punk twist. Unfortunately due to the poor start I was then hyper aware of every spelling mistake, incorrect word used and incorrect turn of phrase. There was even a bit later in the book that I think was ment to be a pun and a play on words. but at first hit me as just another spelling error. The story overall was good and would have received a better review if edited better.
June 21, 2020
This was a great book that combined Sci-Fi, historical fiction, and fantasy in a world with tons of sass and smarts. A very unique world as well, and one that draws you in. I also really enjoyed the new type of magic, and it was magic in a way I have never seen before. I am excited to start the next book, since it leaves off on a cliff hanger.
June 28, 2020
I couldn't get past the first chapter. Grammar, punctuation and use of English so poor I couldn't make sense of it without reading each sentence more than once. I actually had no idea what was going on because I was struggling so much to make sense of it
I got a free copy from Voracious Readers in exchange for an honest review
I got a free copy from Voracious Readers in exchange for an honest review
March 20, 2020
This book was great with many surprises, twists and turns. I really enjoyed the banter between the main characters. Witty and sassy! Sci-fi, fantasy and adventure with a pinch of horror. A fun, spicy read! I can't wait to read the next one! Thank you
August 1, 2020
Fantasy Steampunk Superpowers and it all comes together
A fun read, I enjoyed the world, the humor and the puns, how even background characters were given some definition, the romance and flirting.
But dear God does it need some basic editing for typos.
A fun read, I enjoyed the world, the humor and the puns, how even background characters were given some definition, the romance and flirting.
But dear God does it need some basic editing for typos.
September 25, 2020
Given a free copy in exchange for an honest review through VoraciousReadersOnly.com!
This is definitely the sort of book that needed to get going to grow on you, but by the end of it, I was completely invested in what was happening, and the twists were absolutely fantastic. I found the world to be incredibly interesting and a really new, exciting take on fantasy in general, though the worldbuilding at the beginning was a little heavy-handed and could have been held back and eased into a little more.
The characters I thought were the same way, where they were a little prickly and difficult to connect with at the beginning of the book, though as the story continued and motives and personality unfolded, I found myself getting more and more attached to them.
I think a little more editing would come in handy in terms of grammar and structure, but overall, I genuinely really enjoyed reading this and I'm absolutely rooting for Julie and Eryma to work it out.
This is definitely the sort of book that needed to get going to grow on you, but by the end of it, I was completely invested in what was happening, and the twists were absolutely fantastic. I found the world to be incredibly interesting and a really new, exciting take on fantasy in general, though the worldbuilding at the beginning was a little heavy-handed and could have been held back and eased into a little more.
The characters I thought were the same way, where they were a little prickly and difficult to connect with at the beginning of the book, though as the story continued and motives and personality unfolded, I found myself getting more and more attached to them.
I think a little more editing would come in handy in terms of grammar and structure, but overall, I genuinely really enjoyed reading this and I'm absolutely rooting for Julie and Eryma to work it out.
November 30, 2017
I'm too shy to review myself, lol
so here is a link to the first three chapters :
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin...
so here is a link to the first three chapters :
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin...
August 8, 2020
I received a free copy from Voracious Readers Only. I found this book very interesting with a good plot. I would like to read the rest of the series
August 14, 2020
I found it a bit hard to get into but once I did, I loved it!!! Keen to keep following the storyline. Very well written
August 16, 2020
I got a free copy of this book from Voracious Readers Only, I wanted to like this book the premise is really interesting but this book is just confusing. The editing doesn't really help either.
September 19, 2020
Entertaining, funny. I enjoyed it. I loved the the birds' banter.
February 23, 2021
A great story full of mystery, and history.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series from this author.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series from this author.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews