She’s the One Who Doesn’t Say Much
by S. R. Cronin

Do you know what your problem is?

Olivine knows hers. This quiet thirteenth-century artist has been hiding a secret as she travels to K’ba to meet her friends. Others assume she’s fallen in love with another artist, but it’s much worse than that. For on the way to K’ba is the dirt poor nichna of Scrud, a place scorned by other Ilarians. And in Scrud is the one man who understands her.

However, Bohdan recognizes the dangers posed by an impending Mongol invasion. When he learns of Olivine’s unusual visual powers, he convinces her to pick up her bow and start practicing.

She does, though she’s more concerned with moving to K’ba where she can paint all day and see Bohdan whenever she wants. If only her sister hadn’t decided Olivine and her fellow long eyes held one key to defending the realm.

Then, as if life wasn’t complicated enough, Olivine learns the artist community she yearns to be part of has developed a different take on the invasion. They’re sure the only way to survive is to capitulate completely to the Mongols’ demands. Artists who feel otherwise are no longer welcome.

Where does her future lie? The invasion is coming soon and Olivine doesn’t have much time to decide.

5 out of 5 fairies

I can’t believe I’m on book four already! I loved Olivine’s artist soul. The conflict she feels between pursuing her art and standing with her sisters, using her extraordinary vision and bow to try and protect their land, is beautifully laid out and written. Bohdan was wonderful, and he and Olivine made the perfect pair. I love how the world is gaining more depth, and we get to explore more of it in this installment. I really hope once we’ve gotten to see the perspectives of all seven sisters we get to watch them come together to fight the Mongol invasion.

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Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and now writes a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. The synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s made a lot of stops along the way. She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. She’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is. 

These days she lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she also answers a hot-line, does things to improve her writing, and volunteers for the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) of which she’ s proud member.

All her life she wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.

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