Waiting On Wednesday: The Wolf Of Oren-Yaro

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and continued now by Tressa at Wishful Endings under the heading “Can’t Wait Wednesday” where readers and bloggers share and discuss books they are excited about reading and which have generally not yet been released. I’m sticking with “Waiting On Wednesday” just because I like the way it rolls off the tongue.

I haven’t made a Waiting On Wednesday post in an age. Like, I’m pretty sure the last one was in December. Hold on let me check…yep December. So what has me so excited that I’m posting one of these for the first time in seven months? Well, it’s because of a cover reveal I saw today. Feast your eyes on this…

Author: K.S. Villoso
Publisher: Orbit
Series: Chronicles of The Bitch Queen
Publication Date: February 2020

“They called me the Bitch Queen, the she-wolf, because I murdered a man and exiled my king the night before they crowned me.”

Born under the crumbling towers of Oren-yaro, Queen Talyien was the shining jewel and legacy of the bloody War of the Wolves that nearly tore her nation apart. But her upcoming marriage to the son of her father’s rival heralds peaceful days to come.

His sudden departure before their reign begins puts a quick end to those dreams, and the kingdom is fractured beyond repair.

Years later, Talyien receives a message, one that will send her across the sea. What’s meant to be an effort at reconciling the past spirals into an assassination attempt. Stranded in a land she doesn’t know, with no idea who she can trust, Talyien will have to embrace her namesake” – Blurb from Orbit Website

I’ll be honest with you…I already own this book. I’ve read it. It’s fucking awesome. So why the Can’t Wait Till Wednesday post? Well, it’s because I don’t own This book.

You see I originally read the self-published version of The Wolf of Oren-Yaro last year. That’s the copy I own. And let me tell you, it’s really good. Here’s a little of what I had to say at the time…

“I loved The Wolf of Oren-Yaro. I was drawn in from the very first page and didn’t want to set it down. If you like really good character driven novels that are filled with betrayal, mystery and great action well this is a book you need to read. If you’re looking for really good non-western fantasy this is a book you need to read. If you want a book with “the feels” this is a book you need to read. Hell, if your criteria is just, ‘give me some damn good fantasy’ this is a book you need to read.”

Like I said, this is a book you need to read. Here’s my full review of The Wolf Of Oren-Yaro if you want to read it.

What I’m really looking forward to are two things:

• Getting my hands on that new awesome kick-ass cover with Tali looking fierce as hell and like she’s ready to kill all comers (give me the stabby-stabby!)
• Getting to see what changes came about in the text from the self-published version to the Orbit version

And can I tell you how excited I am? It’s strange really because it isn’t like this is my book. I didn’t write it. I didn’t edit it. I wasn’t a beta reader for it. Really I’ve got no stake in it. But I’m super excited about it. I think that really I’m super excited for Kay. You see I love her writing. She’s really good at creating great character driven stories. Stories with Characters who make you love them, and who make you want to strangle them. And she likes lopping off heads. I’m just super excited for Kay. Did I say that already? I did. But I mean it. She’s one of those authors who’ve put tons of work into indie/self-publishing, has written some great books, and is finally being recognized by a larger audience through a major publisher.

I’m also excited for what else this represents. By that I mean the own voices representation of this book. I see a lot of people online post about how we are going through something of a fantasy renaissance with all the great books coming out in the last few years. A major part of that renaissance in my opinion is the increasing number of female, LGBTQ, non-western, and people of color voices who are getting published. That diversity is great for fantasy and great for publishing. And in this case it’s great for all those young women and girls of Asian and specifically Filipino heritage who can see themselves and their culture represented on that cover, written in those pages, and embodied in this fantastic author.

Like I’ve said over and over already, I’m super excited for this book and can’t wait for it to come out even though it won’t be for like another six months. That Wednesday can’t come soon enough. And when it does I’ll be picking up a copy.

– Jason