“Diana Ma masterfully weaves myth and fairy tale to write a story and characters that leap off the pages and straight into the reader’s heart. Empress of Cursed Realms presents a world rich in culture and magic, weaving together myth and fairy tale, to tell a story full of intrigue, passion, and sisterhood. Readers will be left breathless. A tale of sisterhood, magic, and choices steeped in sacrifice and love. I devoured every single word of it.” —Nafiza Azad, author of The Candle and the Flame

“What I loved most about this book is that it is about love in its many forms—romantic love, but also sister love and family love and love of peoples and places. And it is about protecting that love. This is about the women who are forced into the games of the men around them and find a way to twist those games back around, to play them to win—or break those rules altogether and reinvent the game while trusting in each other. This book is a paean of the power of love and sisterhood.” —Intisar Khanani, author of Thorn

“Diana Ma’s fiercely reimagined tale is its own act of defiance: a recapturing of a narrative on behalf of its clever women ensnared in systems that foolishly underestimate and restrict them. But Empress of Cursed Realms also holds the tradition of sweeping sagas performed around a crackling fire with its sly spirits, cunning political intrigue, heart-pounding action, and yes—delicious romance. Lean in close because you won’t want to miss a word of Ma’s dazzling storytelling.” —Elaine U. Cho, author of The Final Death of Namjoo Han