A young woman learns social reformation takes more than assassination when she slays a ruler and gets captured by a mysterious bounty hunter in Evan Leikam's electrifying debut fantasy adventure, Anji Kills a King.
Orphaned laundress Anji didn't plan to kill the ruler who took everything from her, but one conveniently placed letter opener later and she's on the run for regicide. Two days into her flight, justice catches up to her in the person of the Hawk, a member of the Menagerie, a famous bounty hunter collective known for their animal masks and ruthlessness. Anji is shackled, magically tethered, and poisoned. The Hawk's only motivation for keeping her alive is the promise of double bounty for a live prisoner, since the authorities would prefer a public execution. Anji struggles to escape while the pair are tailed by other bounty hunters, attacked by monsters, and ravaged by the elements. The march to Anji's fate takes them across a land where the king's death has solved nothing, and Anji discovers change is not simple when "there's the reality you wish for, and the one which exists." She must work with her captor to survive, but once the Hawk's true motives come to light, all bets are off.
The high-stakes plot and breakneck pacing drive hard from beginning to end, and Anji's emotional growth happens through action-packed danger and grueling physical hardship. Leikam's gritty setting and meditation on sacrifice for the greater good should appeal to fantasy and dystopia fans alike. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads