A college student falls into a crevasse in Antarctica and discovers a civilization that believes that she’s the answer to a prophecy in this fantasy-series starter.

One day, 20-year-old Shara Kennington awakens in an ice cavern below the Antarctic Circle. She’s on a research team, led by her father, studying climate change. She remembers falling into a crevasse and that her dad did, too, but she doesn’t see his body anywhere. She summons the energy to explore her surroundings, but all goes black again after she arrives in a beautiful pastoral area. She next awakens in a castle as a captive of the kingdom of Shalemar, which is in the middle of a revolution. She’s rescued by Prince Joffrey, who’s fighting against his father, Shalemar’s king. Shalemar formed in the 1500s when a ship full of British pirates, led by a son of King Henry VII, discovered this amazing terrain under the ice. Joffrey, who becomes king after his father’s suicide, must wed immediately and quickly produce an heir. Despite culture clashes, Joffrey and Shara are drawn to each other and marry. Traveling the kingdom, Shara learns about a prophecy that a red-haired woman will become Shalemar’s warrior queen; many are sure it’s her. Joffrey, who’s less certain, lets her attend his meetings with his circle of male advisors. She also participates in a battle in which Joffrey’s forces push an enemy group into retreat and helps the team to build high-tech aircraft. But pressure builds for Shara to get pregnant, as Malina, the enemy leader’s daughter, schemes to get Joffrey—and power—for herself.

This novel is an entertaining mashup of the King Arthur and Atlantis myths with some steampunk-type flavor thrown in; there’s no modern military aircraft until Shara comes along, but a special water tank is used to heal Shara. As often is the case in series-launch books, the detailing of the various players can get a bit excessive. Some of the Circle members, for example, figure little in this novel, but they may play larger parts in future books. Some readers may also be taken aback by some of this novel’s violence, as when Shara is tortured by Malina’s goons, although this also serves to underscore issues of misogyny that the book raises. The romance between Shara and Joffrey has lovely moments, as when he repeats his vows of love. The geography and climate of Shalemar is also artfully rendered, complete with a Turquoise Sea (“When it was still, the Turquoise Sea reflected the sun on the mountains, seeming to double their voluminous peaks”) and a calendar of festivals marking this world’s progress from days of nonstop sunshine to days of complete darkness. It comes as a bit of a shock at the end of the novel that one major player is termed “incidental” and an unanticipated new setting emerges. Ultimately, though, this saga’s elements of surprise and lingering questions will whet one's appetite for the next installment.

An enjoyable vision of a fascinating world with an intriguing landing.