MUST READ OF THE WEEK: THE QUEEN OF MONSTERS BY ARIA MOSSI
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Get ready to step into a vivid and magical world of pleasures and peril like no other in the new sci-fi fantasy romance The Queen of Monsters by Aria Mossi, book two of The Tarrassian Saga. Reading like a fusion of Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Beauty and the Beast, you’ll soon fall head over heels in love with this unique novel.
By Gwyneth Rees
They say that love makes the world go round, but what about the wider universe?
Based on the new novel The Queen of Monsters, the answer is that passion is just as fundamental a force in a galaxy far, far away as it is on our planet.
The second and latest instalment of a five-part epic series entitled The Tarrassian Saga is a shining example in the growing genre of sci-fi fantasy romance and perhaps the first such entry from a British author.
While the science-fiction, high fantasy and romance blending genre, is popular in America, it has yet to establish itself on our shores.
The Queen of Monsters, however, will, no doubt, go a long way to changing that, being a spellbinding read that is vividly told, creatively dazzling, and sizzling hot.
Unlike most fantasy characters who embark on epic journeys of self-discovery, Natalia already knows who she is. Her journey is all about the beings which no one else can see. The ones who are even invisible to themselves.
It doesn't matter if they are aliens, monsters, mythical creatures or humans. Natalia can see behind their labels, their protective walls and behind their scars. This is her greatest gift.
This unforgettable heroine comes wrapped up in a hilarious, whinny, giggly, scheming, tiny package, confusing aliens, sphinxes and humans alike.
Natalia was born in a remote part of Siberia. Her older sisters, her mother and all the other women in her family were nothing but the property of a human trafficking gang. Natalia pretended the grown-ups were “Monsters” to survive her crude reality, and she had special invisibility powers. ‘Monsters cannot see me, and they cannot hear me’, becomes her mantra.
The fearless little girl taught herself to read and write, learned how to stay off the radar and brought her jailors down by the age of six. After her rescue, she was taken to Nevada, USA, as part of a witness protection program for victims of human trafficking.
By age 19, Natalia becomes a well-known commercial model, famous for her hair adverts and cute girl's next-door appeal.
Once again, fate seems determined to shred Natalia's life when alien slavers take her from Earth. Another alien race, called Tarrassians, rescue her, but as it turns out, the word ‘rescue’ means a different thing to aliens.
The Tarrassians are an elitist, snobbish species with a strong hero syndrome and outdated, rigid laws. In time, their narrow-minded way of life affected their fertility and took away their precious mating marks they call “The Sign”.
They are a dying species, and their Healing Elder's research proves the humans are the only compatible species. What is more, the Tarrassians soon find out the strange humans can bring back their lost mating marks.
This is why they rescued Natalia and the other humans she was taken with. She joins Sia, the protagonist of The Ice Queen—the first novel in The Tarrassian Saga—and the first to develop the Sign, in a poorly organised escape, only to find herself stranded on a hostile planet. One that looks like the perfect habitat for her worst nightmare: monsters.
Tannon, the alien protagonist, is the only half-blood Tarrassian. He is a tormented soul who can't adhere to his people's standards of perfection or their outdated laws. His family’s traumatic history, the shame of his birth, and his scarred monster-like appearance keep him running from anything familiar, but most of all, from himself.
To his people, he is the Great Warrior, a made-up title since he refused to take his rightful one. He is the male responsible for the empty sacred throne in the Council, the male who can single-handedly win a battle, the one who hardly ever talks and everyone fears.
In reality, nothing is as it seems. Not Tannon's past, not the story of his birth and especially not who he pretends to be.
He is content with living a life on the run from himself and the perfection of the Tarrassian society. That is until the confusing alien female turns his life upside down.
She is scared of everything, yet nothing stops her; she is fragile and breakable, yet she can tame Sphinxes; she never stops talking, laughing, or crying, and most times, she does it all at once.