Crier's War (Crier's War #1) by Nina Varela
"After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, Designed to be the playthings of royals, took over the estates of their owners and bent the human race to their will.
Now, Ayla, a human servant rising the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging the death of her family… by killing the Sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier. Crier, who was Made to be beautiful, to be flawless. And to take over the work of her father.
Crier had been preparing to do just that—to inherit her father’s rule over the land. But that was before she was betrothed to Scyre Kinok, who seems to have a thousand secrets. That was before she discovered her father isn’t as benevolent as she thought. That was before she met Ayla.
Set in a richly-imagined fantasy world, Nina Varela’s debut novel is a sweepingly romantic tale of love, loss and revenge, that challenges what it really means to be human."
“Crier wanted to study her like a map. Draw an easy path between all the specific yet scattered points of her.”
― Nina Varela, Crier's War
It took me a bit to get into this book, but I feel that way with a lot of fantasy books. It takes my brain a minute to figure out the rules of the world which I always find distracting. This book was intense. And a lot darker than I had originally expected. I loved the characters a lot, even though there was so much pain there. Ayla had so much loss in her life, and such hardships. I truly felt for her and her rightful anger. And Crier’s deep feelings on otherness, and not belonging were very relatable. It was heartbreaking to see Ayla and Crier so close, and yet so far away. Mostly I just really want the sequel, because I need to know how this story ends.
Genre: ya, fantasy, sci-fi, lgbtqia+
Representation: lesbian/queer
Content Warnings: death, manipulation, violence