Set in ancient historical times, born under the unlucky Dog Star and blessed with astonishing beauty, Ismeni finds herself alone and shunned by the majority of the people around her. Taken into service by the queen when war breaks out, she finds that the person she loves, Wahabil, is not the person she is betrothed to marry: Agaziah, the youngest prince of the realm. As the war takes its toll, Ismeni finds that she is getting closer to the throne as Agaziah’s brothers are killed during the war leaving him as the heir. And when finally Agaziah’s father dies, Ismeni finds herself queen of the realm, with few friends and the majority of the court against her.

This is a historical tale and the prequel to the Legend of Sheba, as it briefly details the story of the mother of the Queen of Sheba and also includes the first chapter of the full story itself. Although it is a short story, it manages to pack a lot in providing all the salient points in Ismeni’s life. The main characters are well rounded although there are few of them that really matter. None of them are good or evil, and there is little truly antagonistic going on, more of it happens from misunderstanding than anything else. There is no real plot to it, it comes across much more as a record of events that are occurring. There is nothing overly clever or intriguing about what happens but the telling is fascinating to follow even if the ending is obvious enough. Historically, I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it makes a good attempt to be at least true to the times it is set in.

On a slight downside, it is a short story, but then this is a taster for the main tales to see if you enjoy the storytelling in this and the opening chapter of the main novel.