Anji Kills a King

DEBUT When a laundress finds herself alone with a terrible king, she takes the opportunity to slit his throat. Anji pins her hope for survival on two facts: people should be glad the king is dead, and no one pays attention to the servants. Unfortunately for her, the heroes of the realm are on her trail—a band of warriors known only by their animal masks. Though she’s soon captured by the Hawk, a fight with the Lynx tells Anji things are more wrong than she knew. If her captor is fleeing her fellow heroes, why is she delivering Anji to torture and execution? Despite her impulsiveness and inexperience, Anji will show them all that no one is just a laundress, and she might even survive her captor. This debut is full of violent banter that will delight fans of Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief; it also has the messy, complicated politics that Joe Abercrombie readers crave. There are many ways to corrupt a hero and no easy fixes for the world’s woes, but maybe a would-be hero can convince a fallen one to let her live.