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Back The Lady or the Lion
Chapters (52)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. The Trial
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. A Parting Riddle
  44. Glossary
  45. Acknowledgments
  46. About the Author
  47. Author’s Note
  48. Author Q&A
  49. For Further Discussion
  50. Also by CamCat Books
  51. Shadows Over London
  52. CamCat Books

A: It took me a few months to draft, then another to do revisions, but before I even started writing, I spent months and months just daydreaming about this story, scenes and snippets flitting into my mind in random bursts. I always had my phone or a notepad on the ready to gather those thoughts before they disappeared. It was like catching fireflies, that sudden burst of light. This initial process was my favorite part, when the story was shiny and new and exciting, full of wonder and potential, and thousands of words still undiscovered.

Q: Will there be a sequel?

A: Yes, there will be! Which I am sure will make people happy, as they will find out which door Durkhanai sent him to, but another thing to bear in mind is that either way, she’ll face tragedy. If she sent him to the lady, and he chose the lion, Asfandyar will be dead. But if she sent him to the lion, and he chose the lady, he’ll marry another and live with the knowledge that she sent him to his death. So unfortunately either way, they both lose.

For Further Discussion

  1. Which door do you think Durkhanai sent Asfandyar to? The lady or the lion? Use evidence from the text to back your claim.
  2. Was the alliance between the Badshah and the Kebzu Kingdom a necessary evil? Why or why not?
  3. What are Durkhanai’s insecurities? Does she combat them?
  4. How do policies of isolationism hurt both the base country and their neighboring countries? Show how this is illustrated by Marghazar and the effects on other zillas.
  5. What makes a good match? Are Durkhanai and Asfandyar a good match?
  6. What makes a good ruler? Is the Badshah a good king? Is Durkhanai a good princess?
  7. The Badshah could have stopped the trial; why didn’t he?
  8. Should traditions be continued merely for the sake of history and custom, or should they be critically analyzed and discarded if no longer comprehensible?
  9. Analyze the usage of the word “barbaric” throughout the text and describe how “barbaric” the Badshah and Durkhanai are.
  10. Why did Asfandyar go to the opposite door that Durkhanai instructed?
  11. What is a major theme of this novel?
  12. Who is the “villain” of this story? Or are there no villains?
  13. Should Durkhanai have run away with Asfandyar when she had the chance?

Also by CamCat Books

If you loved the lyrical storytelling and complex family dynamics of The Lady or the Lion, we think you’ll also love Shadows Over London by Christian Klaver:

Fifteen-year-old Justice Kasric and her siblings are forced to choose sides between their mother and father after a Faerie invasion evicts them from their comfortable life in London and they discover their magical abilities, which their parents kept secret from them before the war.

Shadows Over London by Christian Klaver

Shadows Over London

Christian Klaver

Prologue

The Faerie King