Behind the Throne

By: K. B. Wagers

Narrated by: Angèle Masters

Behind the Throne begins K. B. Wagers's action-packed science fiction adventure, with a heroine as rebellious as Han Solo, as savvy as Leia, and as skilled as Rey.

Hail Bristol has made a name for herself as one of the most fearsome gunrunners in the galaxy. But she can't escape her past forever: Twenty years ago, she was a runaway princess of the Indranan Empire. Now, her mother's people have finally come to bring her home.

But when Hail is dragged back to her Indrana to take her rightful place as the only remaining heir, she finds that trading her ship for a palace is her most dangerous move yet.

In a world where the only safe options are fight or flight, Hail must rule.

©2016 Wagers (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Excellent SF adventure debut." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

"Full of fast-paced action and brutal palace intrigue, starring the fiercest princess this side of Westeros." (B&N.com)

"Promising science-fiction series...for fans of stories with plenty of action and political maneuvering." (Booklist)

Captivating Main Character!

The whole series is fantastic and I started listening a 2nd time almost as soon as I finished the 2nd trilogy. The narrator is top notch and brings the story to life. Highly recommend!!

Fascinating story with a vivid, kickass heroine

I read the print version of this book, and loved it. I enjoyed it. The rich world with its Indian influence is fascinating. Yet Hail is as far from prim and traditional- a kickass combination of King Arthur and Wonder Woman, yet with human foibles. So I bought the audiobook and found the narration added another nice layer to the story. Good work all around.

Great performance, good opening

The performance was engaging and kept me entertained. The story was a great introduction to the world Wagers is setting this trilogy within, as well as a good set up for a brewing war. Loved Hail as a character!

Couldn't stop listening.

I truly enjoyed Behind the Throne. I was hooked from the first chapter. Hail is a tough as nails woman but she’s shown to have emotions and vulnerabilities without them making her seem weak or whiney. The mutual trust between Hail and her tracker turned bodyguards develops slowly and realistically as the book progresses. The political intrigue along with the character development and world building propelled the first half of the book. The author described the Indranan Empire’s founding and it’s matriarchal society and Hindu inspired ceremonies as well as Hail’s past little by little as needed for the story without the pages long information dumps so often found in this type book. The last half of the book is more action packed but I think the time spent developing the plot and people make their peril and sacrifices more intense.
I thought the narrator was superb. She was perfect for this book. Since the ruling body of the Indranan Empire are descendants of India her Indian accent enhanced the characters and brought the story vibrantly to life.

Fast Paced Story

Any additional comments?

What do you get when you kidnap a gunrunner and haul her home to be heir to the throne. A fast paced, action packed story about characters that pull you into their world and give you reason to want to stay.

Gunrunner to Empress

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, because it asks a lot of interesting questions about power, authority and human nature

Did Angèle Masters do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The main characters were clearly defined. The less important people took some sorting out,

Any additional comments?

I want to find out what happens next.

Great Heroine

Very good story, but I absolutely loved the empire the author created peopled with marvelous characters.
Hail is a princess of the empire who has been living as a gun runner for the last 20 years. Her empire needs her so she is brought home against her will to a place full of treachery and intrigue. The story goes on from there.

2 Much Accent

just a bit 2 much Hindu accent 4 my ears 2 process all the names & some words as I'm listening. I don't wanna be pulled frm the story but 2 many times I had 2 back it up cus I was like, "wait...what?!"

other than that, excellent story.

What it is VS what it isn’t

The blurb compared this to Star Wars and the main character to Han Solo. At least for this first book, I feel it is a bad comparison on both counts. The main character is like Han Solo only insofar as she used to be a gunrunner and can fight, but she’s not a Han Solo-esque personality at all. She’s very diplomatic, noble and unselfish, but she can’t come up with a better catchphrase than “bugger me”. The story so far isn’t much like Star Wars either. There is some action, but it is mostly court intrigue on a single planet with the limited action scenes being concluded quickly. There might be more action in the next two books. This also isn’t a romance. It never said it was but that’s what some people look for, so I’m just clearing that up right now. I love that this is a single woman fighting for her family and her empire.

If you like court intrigue and political thrillers, this is an uncomplicated and satisfying story. I enjoyed being introduced to this universe. It’s also kinda refreshing to see a world where women rule and men are traditionally considered weak, powerless, incapable of leadership etc. Like: wow, finally a female lead who doesn’t have to overcome THOSE particular obstacles. I feel I should note that the protagonist does seem to believe in equality for the sexes, though it’s not her priority to address so far.

I love the balance so far and I’m on to the next!

Lot's and Lot's of Setup for Series

For those that read the summary and see the words Gunrunner and Indranan War and think action packed book, you might be disappointed. This is more a cloak and dagger story that unfortunately waited way too long to really flesh out the characters. It was just good enough in the beginning to finish and see the entire thing through. As for the narration it too got better as time went on but only a little. The Indian accent,though thoughtful for the story, seemed to suck the emotion and any action out the more peaked
moments. That said , I did like the story once the final act played out but I was considering setting it down through most of it. My final grade was lowered more for the narration than the book itself. I may have been better off buying the copy instead.