Shadow Quenne by Kate Ristau
Lately I’ve been processing the events of the past two years (I bet I’m not the only one!). As I do so, some of the images that overlap reality in my head are from Hennessy’s journey through the Hetherlands in Kate Ristau’s Shadow Queene. Hennessy, a human learning to understand the world of the fey, is separated from her fey friends and pulled by shadows in a dark, hellish world; all alone, left to fend for herself. In the early days of the pandemic, as the world went into lockdown, I thought a lot about her journey through that dark, uncertain place, fraught at every junction, and I felt a kinship with her. Along her way Hennessy finds uneasy, unexpected allies and learns about her possible role in the balance between darkness and lightness. Like us, Hennessy doesn’t know how her journey will end, but I’ve found myself reflecting on our journey over the past few years and wondering if we can find the balance between our dark and our light.
On the whole, like I believe Hennessey’s journey will turn out for the best; I believe most of us will learn to maintain equilibrium.
LeeAnn McLennan, author of The Supernormal Legacy Trilogy
LeeAnn McLennan is he author of The Supernormal Legacy trilogy and the co-author of the crossover novela Far from Normal (with Karen Eisenbrey). Though she graduated from Clemson University with a degree in English, LeeAnn has spent her career working in computer engineering related fields. LeeAnn lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Andy, and three cats (number of cats subject to change). Visit her at https://lemwritesstories.com, follow her on Facebook @lemwrites, Twitter @atticusmcl, and Instagram @atticusmcl.