In this raucous, tongue-in-cheek spin on the Eastern European fairy tale “The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy,” a knight attempts to thwart an invasion, save the most beautiful woman in the world, and finally get away from their sisters.
“An utterly captivating adventure full of genius wordplay, laugh-out-loud shenanigans, and a meaningful, heartfelt exploration of queer identity, love, and self-discovery.”—Emily Krempholtz, USA Today bestselling author of Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore
Jules is tired of running low-stakes errands with their five magically mismatched sisters, whose skills include killing plants, inducing sneezing, and making smaller windows . . . slightly larger. Blessed with a poorly controlled ability to make flowers bloom, Jules longs for a mission where they can actually prove themself. And when the siblings stumble upon a rival kingdom’s plot to overthrow their royal family, Jules sees an opportunity.
What follows is a whirlwind of botched disguises, accidental heroics, talking animals with surprisingly strong opinions, and one very inconvenient crush on the most sought-after princess in the land. And through all this, Jules learns that happy endings are indeed possible, even if you’re not quite Prince Charming. A cozy yet epic retelling of a Romanian fairy-tale, This Knight Topples Empires proves that the greatest victories of all are love and self-acceptance.
A princess with a mostly useless magical talent takes on horrible monsters, a dozen identical masked heroes, and a talking lion in a quest to save a kingdom—and herself—in this feminist fairy tale satire.
“The Princess Bride meets Shrek.”—Susie Dumond, author of Bed and Breakup
“Exactly the sort of queer fairy tale for grown-ups that I have yearned to read.”—Ryka Aoki, author of Light from Uncommon Stars
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: Autostraddle, Fangirlish, Reactor, Book Riot, Reading Glasses Podcast, Denver Public Library
Someone wants to murder Princess Melilot. This is sadly normal.
Melilot is sick of being ordered to go on dangerous quests by her domineering stepmother. Especially since she always winds up needing to be rescued by her more magically talented stepsisters. And now, she’s been commanded to marry a king she’s never met.
When hideous spider-wolves attack her on the journey to meet her husband-to-be, she is once again rescued—but this time, by twelve eerily similar-looking masked huntsmen. Soon she has to contend with near-constant attempts on her life, a talking lion that sets bewildering gender tests, and a king who can’t recognize his true love when she puts on a pair of trousers. And all the while, she has to fight her growing attraction to not only one of the huntsmen, but also her fiancé’s extremely attractive sister.
If Melilot can’t unravel the mysteries and rescue herself from peril, kingdoms will fall. Worse, she could end up married to someone she doesn’t love.
The Minor Character Chronicles Series: Bundles & Boxed Sets
The Minor Character Chronicles Series: Related Titles