April 2, 2024, written by Marlee Salas.
New Zealand-born Jordan H. Bartlett made the trek from her home in the Rockies to visit Slow Burn Books to chat about her newest YA Romantasy, Queen’s Catacombs, the second novel in the award-winning Frean Chronicles. The series is set in the Queendom of Frea, where women rule and hold all positions of power in the Upper and Lower Realms, challenging what readers have come to expect within stereotypical fairy tales.
Traditionally, lessons in fairytales were rarely empowering where young women were concerned. Bartlett told us she finds these standards tiring and boring (we agree), and her intention with the Frean Chronicles is to use the books as an opportunity to change those stereotypical ideals.
The story is centered around Jacs, an inventor’s apprentice from the Lower Realm, who participates in the Contest of Queens to prove that a Queendom is strongest when united. Her long-time pen pal Connor, who just so happens to be a Prince, lives in the Upper Realm and is an unlikely friend, as they have never met in person. The series is fun, sweet, vivid, and unique. It navigates prejudice, gender roles, and class separation through the eyes of young adults doing their best to change their world for the better, all while being teenagers and living teenage experiences.
Yes, Jacs is trying to change the world and the values of its people by uniting the Realms, but she remains a seventeen-year-old girl, and it’s not every day you get to kiss a dreamy prince – distractions happen! The Realms can wait! The high stakes of uniting the Queendom is coupled with teenage emotions, so things are bound to be stressful and scary. Still, cute princes and fierce female friendships help Jacs along in ways that make the story fun, exciting, and heartwarming while showing readers why the Queendom needs change.
Bartlett told us her first novel, A Contest of Queens, was originally intended to be a stand-alone, but when she heard that “trilogies are where it’s at” from a friend, it opened a realm of possibilities, and a story meant to be one book was allowed to stretch and grow over three. Bartlett laughed while telling us she always hated when, in Scooby-Doo, Velma revealed clues had been found, or mysteries had been solved off-screen and that a trilogy allows her to ensure that doesn’t happen in her world. Now, with the story’s foundations laid in A Contest of Queens and readers invested in the lives of Jacs, Connor, and co., Bartlett gets to dive deeper and darker to reveal the hows and whys behind the division of the Upper and Lower Realms in Queen’s Catacombs.
We discussed the excitement of continuing a story after so much has been poured into it and the intention behind her refreshing choices surrounding gender roles within a young adult series. Young adult literature and Romantasy lend themselves so well to the magic and escapism in the Frean Chronicles and the feminist lens Bartlett’s gender role-reversals provide. As romance readers, many of us will agree that without those fun and sweet moments, stories sometimes lose their relatability and desirability (okay, maybe a Queendom isn't the most relatable, but it sure is desirable). These giggly romances and moments of teenage excitement and emotion give a balance that allows the character’s personalities to shine and the lessons being taught to them to feel tangible.
Bartlett told us about the love and acceptance the series has received from people who aren’t just friends of her mother – we are happy to be amongst those people singing her praises. We are rooting for writers like her who are creating stories that are changing the world of fantasy one page at a time. Next, Bartlett will continue to take her time to make her work something she is proud of and wrap up The Frean Chronicles with her upcoming third installment: Queendom Come, set to release next March. We may have heard a rumour that a spin-off, mysteriously titled Enemies to Lovers Pirate book, is also coming soon. We are so thankful she took the time to visit and can’t wait to read what she has coming up next.