{Character Post + Giveaway} The Fallen Queen: The House of Arkhangel’sk by Jane Kindred

Today on Seeing Night Reviews I have author Jane Kindred who is hear to talk about her lead character from The Fallen Queen.
I'm really excited for everyone to read about Anazakia today, her character has so much growth through The Fallen Queen and I enjoyed reading about her through a really tough journey. There is romance, conspiracy and lots of exciting characters!

Stay tuned this weekend for my review of The Fallen Queen by Jane Kindred!

Character Post: Grand Duchess Anazakia Helisonovna of the House of Arkhangel’sk

Thanks for having me on Seeing Night Reviews! Today I’d like to introduce you to my protagonist from The Fallen Queen.

Anazakia Helisonovna Arkhangel’skova, youngest daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, is a precocious and privileged seventeen-year-old. When her entire family is murdered in a prelude to celestial revolution, she’s forced to quickly grow up.

Anazakia escapes the violence only because she’s used a demon spell to leave a simulacrum in her place while she sneaks off to play cards at a gambling hall in Heaven’s slums. A servant from the palace flees the carnage to give her the news, and while in shock—and drugged to keep her docile—Anazakia is dressed as a boy, her head shaved, and she’s hustled off to the world of Man with a pair of demon thieves. They’ve promised to hide her from her assassins, but they actually intend to hold her for ransom.

On a train car in Russia, Anazakia receives the memories of her simulacrum’s last minutes when the demon spell is broken, and in a very real sense, she experiences her own murder. My inspiration for this scene and this character came from the real-life murder of the last tsar of Russia, along with his wife, son, and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Anastasia, was rumored to have escaped, and in The Fallen Queen, I give her that chance as an angelic grand duchess.

To give you a glimpse of who Anazakia is when the story begins, before her world is torn apart, here’s an excerpt from the day she unwittingly sets these events in motion by leading her cousin into the clutches of a powerful enchantress:

Though I did not know it yet, the die had been cast against the House of Arkhangel’sk by my unbridled impulse on the day I turned seventeen. On a hunting holiday in the mountains of Aravoth, my father had presented me with a blue roan mare. I was eager to take her out, but the first snowfall had ushered in the season and my sisters were keen to head inside the lodge and curl up by the fire.

I sulked while the groom took my horse to the stable. Not even a gift of a gorgeous red velvet riding cap lined with silver fox could coax me out of my bad humor.

When my sister Omeliea admonished me for being moody, I tossed the cap back at her and announced I was taking my horse out by myself. Mama would never have tolerated such willful behavior, but she had stayed behind with Azel, and Papa was so softhearted, it pained him to discipline his daughters.

When I led the mare out of the stable, Cousin Kae was waiting for me.

“Tell her to stop being such a child!” my sister called, wrapped in a fleece on the steps of the lodge. “It’s freezing out here!”

Kae caught the reins and drew the mare to him. “Stop being such a child.” He winked, stroking the horse’s muzzle. “You can’t go alone.”

I pulled the tether from his hands and swung into the saddle. “Then I suppose someone will have to mount up.”

The Fallen Queen will be available soon and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com, along with Book Two in The House of Arkhangel’sk series, The Midnight Court ( Amazon | Barnes & Noble), due out in August 2012.

Author Bio:

Jane Kindred began writing fantasy at age 12 in the wayback of a Plymouth Fury—which, as far as she recalls, never killed anyone…who didn’t have it coming. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. Although she was repeatedly urged to learn a marketable skill, she received a B.A. in Creative Writing anyway from the University of Arizona.

She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

You can find Jane on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and on her website.

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