She Will Start A War To Save Him
Her Crown of Fire is a dark fantasy novel by Australian author Renee April. It was first released in 2019, and later re-released in 2021 under SkyNation Publishing. The book is the first in the Molten Crown trilogy. The second novel, His Throne of Embers, came out in 2023.
Rose Evermore, a young Australian girl in her final year of high school, is pulled into the magical world of Lotheria. Discovering that she is a mage with a talent for fire magic, Rose is kind of excited with this change in her life; if only her best friend Tyson hadn't been pulled in with her. With no magic of his own, Tyson would be executed if discovered by the Lotherian authorities.
Drawn into political intrigues, conflicting loyalties, and a brewing civil war, Rose must carefully navigate this new world and find a way to send her best friend home.
Her Crown of Fire contains examples of:
- Alien Blood: After absorbing Lydia Greatcast's blood to become the new Queen, Rose's blood turns a bright, luminous white.
- Animal Motifs: Birds, particularly dead ones. Rose's first magical experience at the start of the book is her dreaming of a dying bird, and multiple birds die around her during the course of the book. A silver bird is the symbol of Stanthor Academy.
- Big Brother Instinct: Big Sister, rather. Rose is extremely protective of Tyson, a reversal of their roles on Earth, as he has no magic and will be killed if discovered by the Lotherian authorities. "She Will Start A War To Save Him" is the tagline of the book.
- Blood Magic: How the headmasters are so powerful. The headmasters take samples of blood from each new student for "testing", but are actually using the magical power inherent in the best blood samples to enhance themselves with blood runes.
- The Chosen One: Rose is referred to as "godstouched" by a few different characters. She later becomes the Queen of Lotheria. This is a spiritual title, not a political one (yet?), granting Rose as-yet-unknown abilities.
- Constantly Curious: Subverted, on a cultural scale. Absolutely none of the people that Rose and Tyson meet show the slightest interest in the Other (i.e. Earth).
- Crapsack World: Lotheria is a shithole. The students at the prestigious Stanthor Academy are fed barely enough, while the non-magical peasantry mostly just starve. Even the wealthy Lyon family's manor house is in disrepair. No wonder Rose and Tyson want to go home so badly.
- Everytown, America: Well, Australia. Narralong, Rose and Tyson's hometown, is fairly non-descript.
- Grim Up North: Northerners, like Phoenix and Craige, are borderline superhuman in their physical abilities. They are much stronger and more resilient than the Lotherians. It is implied that the tough conditions in the north breed the people there different.
- Handicapped Badass: Rose's leg is severely mangled during a fight around halfway through the book. She will likely walk with a cane for the rest of her life, and loses much of her athletic abilities. Afterwards, she mostly just burns her enemies with her magic.
- Inevitable Mutual Betrayal: Kaya never had any intension of honouring her bargain with Rose, even though the two performed a binding ritual to help each other. Rose was a bit more willing to help Kaya, but eventually recognised Kaya's deepening insanity and started to work against her.
- Mistaken for Suicidal: Rose's friends and family believe she is trying to harm herself, playing with fire so much that she burns her jacket and nearly burns down her house. She is also drawn towards a dangerous river, which Tyson mistakes for her trying to commit suicide. In truth, she was being magically compelled towards a portal to another world.
- The Old Gods: Religion is almost an irrelevancy in Lotheria, with only a single god mentioned (Belatha). The few priests spend their time wandering the countryside, ministering at funerals or counselling the few remaining faithful, because there aren't enough of them to remain in established congregations.
- One True Love: Sort of. Every young mage will pair with a "soul mate", but this is a distinctly non-romantic version of the trope. In fact, romantic relationships between soul mates are heavily frowned upon; this is more of a predestined best friend and maybe a mild psychic link. And if your soul mate dies, bad things happen to you.
- Playing with Fire: Rose is an incredibly talented fire mage, able to master fire magic like breathing. Most of her effectiveness at controlling fire is instinctual, as she hides her talent from most of her teachers and receives little to no instruction in elemental magic.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kaya and the Halvers launch an attack on the Academy and the town near the end of the book. The headmasters and the Lotherian government definitely deserve it; the townspeople of Fairhaven that get caught in the crossfire, not so much.
- Secret Test: Upon arriving at Stanthor, Rose is subjected to a test without any warning or instruction. She first believes it to be a dream, but the wounds acquired during the test remained when she woke up. What the test told her teachers about Rose is not made clear.
- The Soulless: Halvers, or half souls; mages who have lost their soul mates. Halvers lose the ability to feel pain and slowly succumb to madness. Most eventually die from exposure, infection, or because they forget to eat or drink.
- Trapped in Another World: Rose feels a magical compulsion to jump into a dangerous river; Tyson is pulled in trying to stop her. It turns out that the river is a portal to another world. It ate a car once.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Yasmin, Petre's destined soul mate. It's not clear if the two of them had actually bonded before his death, but if they had, what happened to her is not explained.
- Wizarding School: Stanthor Academy. Hogwarts, it is not- the students are college-aged rather than young children, and a lot of the classes are geared towards preparing the students for combat. There is very little in the way of wonder or whimsy about the place.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Halvers, despite missing a soul and tending to sink into madness, are extremely protective of children.
