Get ready,"Red Queen"fans:Victoria Aveyardhas a new fantasy novel up her sleeve.
"Tempest,"publishing Sept. 8, is Aveyard's adult debut. It's also the first in "The Lyrian Sea" duology, a romantic pirate fantasy that Aveyard calls "a love letter to 'The Pirates of the Caribbean.'" The second novel in the duology will follow in summer 2027.
In "Tempest," heroine Cat Rose was once the wife of a loathsome lord of the Meridian Empire and now, as a widow, is the queen of a pirate tavern in the Lyrian Sea. As the Meridian Empire sets out to usurp wealthy colonies and crush the pirate republic, Cat is faced with an ultimatum – turn in the fearsome Valerian Kane, the only man she's ever loved and the biggest threat to the Empire, or die.
USA TODAY is exclusively revealing the cover of "Tempest." Keep reading to see what Aveyard is excited for fans to see and how the sweeping blue design came to be.
'Tempest' by Victoria Aveyard cover reveal – Exclusive
Aveyard was working on an entirely different adult novel with a small pirate storyline, but deep down she knew the pirates deserved their own novel, she tells USA TODAY.
"I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I was struggling so much with the other idea, which was much more literary and cerebral, and kind of half-baked. So I went for a walk and I listened to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' soundtrack as I stomped around my neighborhood," Aveyard tells USA TODAY in an email. Having grown up with the franchise, nothing scratches the itch like "Pirates," she says. "But as I walked and listened, an entire plot unfolded. I saw the sequences, the acts, the arcs of each character so clearly, to the point it was almost scary. It truly felt like magic unfolding in my brain, and all I could do was try to write down what I was seeing."
She sent an outline to her agent and shared her dilemma, but her agent was unwavering when she responded: "Write the pirate book."
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The cover features a twisting blue sea, a ship in the distance and gold-flecked filigree. The deluxe edition hardcover will also feature stenciled edges and illustrated endpapers. Aveyard said she wanted the cover to communicate a world "torn between a pseudo-British Empire and the untamable waves of a free world."
Readers can expect more of that key contrast in the pages of "Tempest."
"The story unfolds in dual timelines, flipping back and forth so we see characters after a cataclysmic shift to the world, with everyone dealing with the repercussions, and long before, starting 10 years prior to the opening scene," Aveyard says. "I really got to follow characters more closely than I ever had before, and track their evolution while also directly contrasting two moments of (a) person's life side by side. It was a tremendous challenge to make the timelines echo each other, and keep up momentum."
'Tempest' is Victoria Aveyard's long-awaited adult debut
Aveyard is known for heryoung adult fantasy series"Red Queen" and "Realm Breaker," which have sold over eight million copies in over 40 languages. She says she felt she grew up with her characters, having written "Red Queen" when she was just 21. Now that she's switching to adult, it's not the writing that feels different but the characters themselves.
"Young adult fiction is so much about discovering who you are – with adult work, you have characters who know themselves very well, who have already made choices about their lives, and have to survive with the outcomes," Aveyard says. "As a 35-year-old woman myself, writing a 30-year-old female character who chooses herself and pursues survival was so gratifying."
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find heron Instagram, subscribe to our weeklyBooks newsletteror tell her what you're reading atcmulroy@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'Red Queen author reveals cover for 'Tempest,' a pirate romantasy
