Review: `We have made a new crown for our new Queen and here, on our own prairie, in our own country, we will see her crowned.'
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2014
Canadian author Mary-Ellen Lang Collura was born, raised and educated in Vancouver, BC. She is best known for her series of books that centered on horses - WINNERS and  SUNNY  - both winning many literary awards and one of which (WINNERS) became the film SPIRIT RIDER. Now she is focusing on fantasy stories for young adults, the first one being THE QUEEN'S KEY and this new novel is a sequel (Book Two, or part of a series, one hopes) entitled THE QUEEN'S RETURN.As in the Book One of this series the author returns to the realm of post-apocalyptic science fiction graced with characters from a fairytale-like make-believe genre and somehow makes it work. The characters remain the same with some interesting additions. To summarize what happened in Book One, the following is offered from this reader's review: `The S.B. year designator stands for `Something Bad', and we are now in the year 328 S.B. and it is the fifth birthday for Princess Zabeth, daughter of the King and of Wife Number Two (there are four wives) who has gone missing. A celebration of her birthday is met with disappointment when she doesn't receive the pony she longs to have. Since her mother's disappearance she has felt isolated and alone, except for the ghost that visits her in her room at night. A night visit to the King's stables to be in the atmosphere with the horses she loves is met with a shared secret with the horse trainer/groomer: Zabeth's mother has left a key and a letter. Zabeth learns to read in school, grows into a feisty headstrong young lady whose missions include a search for truth in a world that presents only confusion. Or as the summary states, `Caught between what she knows and what she is not supposed to know; torn between the dangers inside the Wall and the mysteries beyond it; trusted by Rogues and Rejects but not her own father, Zabeth searches for the truth in a world that has lost it. Life in an emerging social order is hard enough for a feisty, motherless girl. But then an alien civilization from across the Shallow Sea appears and all hell breaks loose.'Now in Book Two Zabeth seems to have grown more courageous and adventuresome. Alone and hunted in a violent, chaotic world, Zabeth learns to hide. Beset by betrayal and revelation, she must balance her need for friendship and love against the demands of her destiny. When a horde of invaders claims her land and her people, she is confronted with choices no one should have to make. And to add more than this short addendum would be to rob the reader of the illusions and fantastic atmospheric pleasures of entering Zabeth's world. Mary-Ellen Lang Collura grows with every novel and is finding terra firma in the realm of young adult fantasy. Grady Harp, May 14