Danielle L. Jensen is a Canadian author of young adult fantasy. She is specifically the USA Today bestselling author of the acclaimed Malediction Trilogy.
Danielle graduated college in 2003 from the University of Calgary with a bachelor’s degree in finance and in 2010, went back to school to complete an English literature degree at Mount Royal University and to pursue publication.
Her work includes:
- Malediction Trilogy
- Stolen Songbird (2014)
- Hidden Huntress (2015)
- Warrior Witch (2016)
- The Broken Ones (prequel, 2017)
- The Bridge Kingdom Archives
- The Bridge Kingdom (2018 as Audible Originals audiobook, 2019 in book form)
- Traitor Queen (2019 as Audible Originals audiobook and in book form)
- The Inadequate Heir (2021 as Audible Original, to be published in 2022 in book form).
- Dark Shores
- Dark Shores (2019)
- Dark Skies (2020)
- Tarnished Empire (prequel, 2021)
- Gilded Serpent (2021)
- Scorched Earth (to be released in 2022)
Common tropes in her work include:
- Abusive Parents: King Silas Veliant of Maridrina in The Bridge Kingdom, who treats his daughters as bargaining chips and tools; Duke d'Angouleme in Malediction Trilogy, who is a Sadist and also treats his daughters as tools to achieve his goals.
- Altar Diplomacy: Lara and Aren from The Bridge Kingdom get married as a part of peace treaty. In Dark Shores Cassius agrees to marry Lydia to gain political favor from her foster father, senator Valerius.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- In Malediction Trilogy: At the beginning of Hidden Huntress Cecile's friend Chris buys a a small charm that is supposed to protect the wearer from magic, which Cecile dismisses as rubbish. By the end, it turns out the charm worked — because it was made from witches' bane, rowan. And in Warrior Witch, Martin the librarian steals a bottle of magical Elixir de la Lune to bind himself with the girl he loves, which later on turns out to be highly important not only for couples in love.
- In The Bridge Kingdom Archives a letter to king Silas that Aren begins to write soon after his marriage to Lara (and never finishes) turns out to be very important near the end.
- In Dark Shores: Small ornaments that Teriana wears in her braids turn out to be very important after she's kidnapped.
- In Dark Skies High Lord Torrington is the only one who drinks wine during the council meeting although he quickly puts his goblet away and makes a face. A few chapters later he turns out to be infected with blight.
- The Chessmaster: King Silas of Maridrina; troll king Thibault in Malediction Trilogy. Both have plots in place that would take years to come to fruition.
- Damsel out of Distress: Cecile from Malediction Trilogy, Lara from The Bridge Kingdom and Teriana from Dark Shores are not helpless and can easily take care of themselves, often to the surprise of those around.
- Deuteragonist: All Jensen's series have the female character (Cecile, Lara, Teriana, Lydia) as The Protagonist, with male character (Tristan, Aren, Marcus, Killian) as Deuteragonist. Women get proportionally more time as Po V but their partners (husbands) are equally important for the plot.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- Isle de la Lumiere, where Malediction Trilogy is set, seems to be an equivalent of 17th century France, as shown by the names of characters, fashion, entertainment and weapons.
- Maridrina is loosely based on Arabic caliphates, with their harems, general disregard for women and treating them as property of their fathers and later husbands. Geographically, most of the land is barren desert, which can only be crossed by caravans with camels and the kingdom is constantly fighting with its neighbour Valcotta over a thin strip of fertile land on the coast.
- As the author herself claims, the Celendrial Empire in Dark Shores is based on the Ancient Rome, with their legions, conquests, political system (from the republican period), fashion and role of women.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Whether it's humans and trolls in Malediction Trilogy, Maridrina and Ithicana in Bridge Kingdom Archives or Celendor and the Maarin in Dark Shores, the male and female protagonists (conveniently, coming from the opposing side of the conflict) soon come to realise that they are not so different, that both sides of the conflict have their points and that neither is fully good or completely evil.
- Gender Is No Object:
- Troll society in Malediction Trilogy works this way. What matters is a troll's level of magical power and the family they come from, gender is irrelevant.
- In the kingdom of Ithicana in The Bridge Kingdom everyone needs to fight to protect the country, so women fight alongside men.
- Subverted in the Celendrial Empire in Dark Shores, where women are treated as the property of their men (fathers, brothers, husbands). Played straight on the Dark Shores, where women are equal to men and some of them are military (the best general in Gamdeshian army is its Sultan's daughter) and political (empress Ereni) leaders. Zigzagged in Mudamora, where, especially in the South, women are not really expected to be soldiers and Dareena Falorn was not chosen as a Queen mostly because of her gender—which has not stopped her from becoming High Lady (leader) of her House.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Tristan and Cecile in Malediction Trilogy - he's a troll, she's a human and trolls look down on and despise humans. Aren and Lara in The Bridge Kingdom, since their home countries have been at war for as long as anyone can remember and Ithicanians treat Lara with distrust.
- Marriage Before Romance: Tristan and Cecile, because of a a prophecy; Aren and Lara for political reasons. Both couples meet on the day of their wedding.
- Offing the Offspring: What king Silas of Maridrina has planned for eleven of his daughters. And how Anushka the witch has managed to stay alive for hundreds of years in Malediction Trilogy. Also, princess Malahi from Dark Skies is afraid her father wants to kill her to bury their Dark Secret forever.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage:
- Cecile and Tristan, partly thanks to troll love potion that all couples drink on their wedding day.
- Aren and Lara also gradually become this, following a long period of distrust after their politically-motivated marriage.
- Subverted with Lydia and Lucius Cassius—the marriage is strictly political and ends before it really begins.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something:
- Royal twins Aren and Ahnna of Ithicana both fight to protect their homeland from raiders and often get wounded in the process.
- Royal family of Trollus in Malediction Trilogy is tasked with maintaining the magical "tree", without which Trollus would be destroyed.
- On Dark Shores most political leaders (who may or may not be royals) are also military leaders: Gamdeshi army is led by its Sultan's daughter, empress Ereni of Arinoquia is a warrior and Teriana's mother Tesya is a trumvir and a captain of a merchant vessel.
- Scars Are Forever:
- All trolls in Malediction Trilogy can heal any wound, unless it was caused by iron. Tristan has a network of scars covering his back from the time he was flogged with iron-tipped whips. And Cecile, who is human, has a long and nasty scar along her ribs from the time she was beaten up by Tristan's brother Roland.
- Lara bears many scars from her training - as well as from lashing she received from her teachers. Aren does not react very well to seeing the latter. And Ithicanian warrior Taryn has scars on her ribs from being bitten by a shark.
- At one point in Dark Shores, the legionnaires and Teriana tell stories about their various scars. Marcus has one on his face, where an arrow almost hit him.
- Self-Made Orphan: Lara is seriously considering it at one point, so is Tristan although the deed is finally done by his brother Roland. And Malahi sends Lydia to kill her father.
