The Dark Lord’s Daughter (The Dark Lord’s Daughter #1)

While attending the Minnesota State Fair with her adoptive mother and brother, 14-year-old Kayla Jones is approached by Waylon, second commander of the Dark Hordes of Zaradwin, who bids her to take her late Dark Lord father’s throne. The family is promptly transported to Zaradwin, where Kayla is greeted as the realm’s prospective Dark Lady, a role in which she would follow in her father’s footsteps. The Jones family would prefer to return home, but accessing enough magic to transport them back requires Kayla to embrace her new function, and the power that comes with it—if she can survive until the official ceremony of investiture. Kayla is nevertheless reluctant to perform the duties of a Dark Lady (battling rivals, waging war, and executing minions), and her presence may upset a land caught in a perpetual war between Light and Dark. In a tongue-in-cheek survey of epic fantasy tropes, Wrede (the Enchanted Forest Chronicles) creates an intentionally generic fantasy world that’s keenly devoted to its traditions. Featuring droll chapter headings (“So You Are a Potential Dark Lord,” “Discovering Your Dark Heritage”) that structure an exposition-heavy telling of family dynamics and character growth, this is an amusing story of finding one’s place amid the unfamiliar. Its fantasy-world-incompatible technology-turned-familiars are particularly memorable. Most characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ginger Clark, Ginger Clark Literary. (Sept.)