Today, I am SO excited to be a part of the Character Reveal part of The Orphan Queen blog tour! I absolutely love Jodi and her books! As much as I loved her Newsoul trilogy, I love The Orphan Queen THAT MUCH MORE!
Now, before I introduce you to my girl, Wil, I want to show you the beautiful cover (I mean really, I want to frame it for my office when I remodel this spring!) and the summary!
(Gorgeous, right?!) The Orphan Queen
Pub date: 10 March 2015
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, HarperTeen
Genre:Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Status: Book one of The Orphan Queen duology
FIND IT: GOODREADS || AMAZON || BARNES & NOBLE || INDIEBOUND || BOOK DEPOSITORY
Summary:
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others,
Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.
I am here to introduce to you the incredible Wilhelmina “Wil” Korte! Here’s the full fact that I’m sharing with you today:
Almost ten years ago, Wilhelmina and the Ospreys were kidnapped to the kingdom that conquered their homeland. They stayed in an orphanage for a year until they orchestrated a breakout, then took over an old, abandoned castle in the mountains. Wil and the other older Ospreys raised the younger ones, hiring tutors to further their education and combat training.
Now, I’ve already had the chance to jump into this strange new world Jodi has created, but just for fun, I’m going to play along that I haven’t!
I can’t even imagine being kidnapped from my homeland to the kingdom that conquered mine. I could draw parallels with a certain group kidnapping Americans, but I’m not getting into that. Not drawing the focus away from Wil & the Ospreys!
Why were the Ospreys kidnapped in the first place? With magic being such an important part of Wil’s world, it leads to a lot of strain between nations. I think that magic plays a big part in the Ospreys being kidnapped. (Obviously, I’m not going to TELL you why, just some thoughts I had before I read.)
How do they get the nickname Ospreys? Again, this is a big spoiler, but I find the backstory fascinating! There isn’t a detail too small for Jodi to flesh out and leave to chance.
I think it speaks volumes of the character of Wil and the other Ospreys to take the younger kids under their wings and make sure they get a full education. (Plus some combat training, cause you know a battle is going to go down!) When I was Wil’s age, I was concerned with MY education. I wasn’t concerned with anyone else. The older Ospreys are basically parents to the younger kids. That’s A LOT of pressure on this group as it is.
What kind of education do you think these orphans are getting? One thing Wil learns is calligraphy! I think it’s amazing that to fully understand Wil, Jodi learned calligraphy herself. Check out her Instagram (unicornwarlord) to see just how talented she is! She was doing an awesome pre-order gift, but I’m not sure if you can still get that or not. Either way, you should pre-order and then ask if Jodi is still doing the calligraphy cards!
If you could pick one combat skill to learn with the Ospreys, what would you want to learn? I definitely would want to learn some hand to hand fighting and maybe even some dagger skills.
This is just a small glimpse into Wil and not even really scratching the surface on the Ospreys. For more character reveal information, make sure you check out the character tour leading up to release day week! The stops are as follows:
3/2 – The Whimsical Mama
3/3 – Aphonic Book Reviews
3/4 – Adventures in Reading
3/5 – Step Into Fiction
3/6 – Read Write Love 28
3/9 – Just a Broke Bookworm
3/10 – Love is Not a Triangle
3/11 – Jenuine Cupcakes
3/12 – The YA Book Traveler
3/13 – Katie’s Book Blog
Keep an eye out for my review on release day too! Now the mastermind behind Wil & The Orphan Queen! Jodi Meadows herself!
Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and the forthcoming ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen).
*A Kippy is a cat.
FIND JODI AT: WEBSITE || TWITTER || GOODREADS || TUMBLR || FACEBOOK
The Whimsical Mama 