Behind the Throne

A kickass adventure with mystery and suspense -- in a package which avoids the usual SF stereotypes

This is an SF space opera/ mystery adventure, the story of the black sheep of a royal family, who ran away many years ago to become a smuggler/ pirate in the wilder reaches of the universe. But now, all of her family members -- the would-be heirs -- have been assassinated in numerous suspicious circumstances, and she is being forcibly dragged back to the empire by loyal Trackers sent by her Empress mother, to take over as their reluctant ruler and find out who is behind the murders.

Yay! Finally, a novel I just unabashedly loved. It's like Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor, but with a lot less of the kinder, gentler aspect of that book, and with the adventure factor ramped up several notches. The main character is flawed but really likeable. This is almost certainly going to be one of my Hugo nominees. I can't wait to pick up the next entry in this series, After the Crown.