A review by annaka_haynes
Queen of Swords by Sara Donati

5.0

Of the five Wilderness novels I've completed so far, I enjoyed this one the most. Hannah comes into becomes her own woman, wrestling with the trauma in her past in realistic and very human ways. I was intrigued by the generous lashings of history that ran throughout, and was prompted to do quite a bit of reading about the war of 1812 and historical New Orleans, despite having no previous interest in military history. (Partly, I admit, because the tension got to be too much- I had to find out if New Orleans fell to the British, and couldn't wait until the end of the book!) I think it's significant that Donati doesn't shy away from the horrors of slavery and racial relations in New Orleans at the time. The fact that it impacts beloved central characters hopefully serves as a reminder to readers that such terrible things did happen to people of color, and not that long ago.