The Empress of Xytae

Tales of Inthya, Book

By: Effie Calvin

Narrated by: Brenda Scott Wlazlo

Crown Princess Ioanna of Xytae has kept her truthsayer blessing a secret for twenty years. In any other nation, her powerful magic would be cause for celebration. But Xytae’s patron is the war goddess Reygmadra, and the future empress is expected to be a brutal warrior.

Reserved and peaceful by nature, Ioanna knows the court sees her as a disappointment. She does her best to assuage their worries every day, working quietly beside her mother to keep the empire running while her father is away at war. But when news of the emperor’s untimely death reaches the capital, Ioanna finds herself ousted by her younger sister Netheia, who has the war magic Ioanna lacks.

Princess Vitaliya of Vesolda has come to Xytae to avoid her father’s upcoming wedding, which she sees as an affront to her mother’s memory. Vitaliya has absolutely no interest in politics or power struggles and intends to spend her time attending parties and embarrassing her family. But when she saves Ioanna’s life during Netheia’s coup, the two are forced to flee the capital together.

Despite their circumstances, Vitaliya enjoys travelling with Ioanna and realizes that the future empress’s shy and secretive nature is the result of her unhappy childhood. Ioanna is equally unaccustomed to being in the company of one as earnest and straightforward as Vitaliya, for she has spent her life surrounded by ambitious and cutthroat nobles.

Ioanna cannot allow her sister to continue their father’s legacy, and plots to rally supporters to her side so she can interrupt Netheia’s coronation. Vitaliya knows she ought to leave Xytae before the nation is ripped apart by civil war but finds she is unwilling to abandon Ioanna. But Ioanna’s enemies are always watching…and they’ve realized that Vitaliya is a weakness to be exploited.

©2020 Effie Calvin (P)2021 NineStar Press, LLC

Lovely series

This is such a feel good series! The world is so wholesome and inclusive it's refreshing. The twists might be a bit easy to see coming, but it didn't go exactly like I thought and the "cliches" are good ones.
All in all, I hope there will be more books!

Incredible book

I don’t think I have enough words to explain how incredible this book is. I love this author and the world that she has created. I have purchased all her books up-to-date and I cannot wait to get my hands on more of her stories. This story is fascinating and the romance is so tender. I want more!
I also have to comment the narrator. Brenda Scott Wlazlo is amazing and makes the story so much more engaging.

in love with the whole series

I love this whole series. the characters where easy to fall in love with

This series just keeps getting better!

Every book I read in this series I love more than the last. Adventure, fantasy, and romance set in an immersive world.

Best Writer and Best Narrator!!!

I am in love with this Series! I am listening to the audiobook again because of the narrator; Ms. Brenda has done an awesome in the last three books! And in this book, she did a fantastic job as well.
I love this author's writing, and I am waiting for the next book! I hope this series never ends!

More please!!

I accidentally finished this too fast and now I am waiting for the next one. Waiting to buy the book till after I move but I love the audiobooks so much!!! The writing is perfect and I couldn’t help but listen to all 4 books in one month. I may be addicted...

Heroes..

4th book was amazing just like the 1st 3 what a great series this was I'm hoping that there will be a 5th book looking forward to it if there is.

Excellent fantasy series with YA f/f romance woven in

In this volume of the Tales of Inthya, the patron gods/goddesses work out supernatural conflicts through their gifted champions on the mortal plane. 13 years have passed since the events of Daughter of the Sun, and we get a glimpse of Orsina and Aelia, who are called to a new chapter in an old conflict: heavily militarized Xytae, under the protection of the Goddess of War, undergoes a crisis of succession when the Emperor is killed in a frontier war, and the throne must be claimed against her ferocious middle sister by his inexperienced, scholarly elder daughter, anomalously gifted by the God of Justice. The story is about how the young Empress gets her mojo, with supernatural help, and the unexpected assistance of a visiting foreign princess who just happened to be at right place at the right time, where she did the right thing, though she thought she'd only come to Xytae to annoy her father and party her time away. Scott Wlazlo's narration in all of these books is spot-on, convincingly modulated for male, female, neutroi, young, old, human and divine voices (the encounter with the child-bandits and the priest of the god of domestic animals is especially endearing). Calvin's language is chaste, with fade-to-black love scenes, but emotions are vivid, and the world-building is very compelling. 5 stars++.