ESTA: Veil of Ashes: The Last Queen Trilogy Book 1 - Marin Cyrus

In The Last Queen Trilogy, surveillance states and gilded courts collide. A masked young woman holds the key to toppling a tyrannical regime—but love, betrayal, and deadly palace politics stand in her way.  Step into a breathtaking dystopian world where identity is forbidden, survival is a battle, and a hidden queen must rise to challenge an empire built on silence.

Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Red Queen, Shatter Me, and The Selection, The Crownless Queen Trilogy reimagines the ancient story of Esther as a gripping sci-fi fantasy filled with political intrigue, deadly secrets, slow-burn romance, and a fierce heroine fighting for justice.

ABOUT THE TRILOGY

Born into the shadows of a regime that erased her people from history, she was never meant to be seen. Yet when fate thrusts her into the spotlight of a brutal selection meant to crown a silent queen, she must hide the truth of who she is—or risk everything.

But power always comes with a cost. And as the palace walls close in, and the fate of a forgotten nation rests on her shoulders, she’ll have to choose:

Obey. Or rise. Bow. Or burn. Survive. Or lead a revolution.

Inspired by the timeless story of Esther, The  Last Queen Trilogy is a powerful dystopian saga of hidden identity, unbreakable courage, and the fight to reclaim your voice in a world built to silence it. For fans of The Hunger Games, Red Queen, and The Selection, this series will take you on a thrilling journey through betrayal, sacrifice, and a rebellion born in silence.

The Last Queen Trilogy

• Book 1: Esta – Veil of Ashes
• Book 2: Esta – Throne of Silence
• Book 3: Esta – Sovereign Uprising

Book in production.

Marin Cyrus is a thriller and dystopian author who reimagines ancient stories for a world on the edge. Drawing on timeless biblical narratives and historic power struggles, she writes high-tension, character-driven fiction where women stand at the centre of the storm—brilliant, brave, and often dangerously underestimated.

Her acclaimed Reckoning Trilogy is a contemporary reworking of the Book of Job, told through a female lens. Set against a backdrop of modern wealth, media warfare, and personal ruin, the series explores what it really costs to hold on to integrity when the world decides to break you. Marin doesn’t just retell Job—she interrogates it, asking what suffering, faith, loyalty, and justice look like for a powerful woman in the 21st century.

In The Last Queen Trilogy (Esta), Marin turns to the story of Esther and rebuilds it as a dystopian power thriller. Set in an oppressive regime where silence is survival, the series follows Esta as she rises from obscurity to become a quiet revolutionary—weaponising wisdom, beauty, and strategy to confront tyranny. It’s Esther, but with secret councils, palace intrigue, surveillance states, and the ever-present threat of erasure.

Across all her work, Marin Cyrus champions female agency. Her heroines are not passengers to fate—they’re architects of it. They question empire, expose corruption, protect the vulnerable, and make excruciating choices in impossible systems. Her stories blend:

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  high-stakes suspense
  
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  moral complexity
  
• 
  rich, intertextual worldbuilding
  
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  and the emotional depth of classic narratives
  

Whether she’s writing about a fallen media dynasty or a future kingdom built on silence, Marin invites readers to look again at the stories they thought they knew—and to see the women in them more clearly.

Dystopian Esther meets palace thriller: secret queen, brutal regime, court politics, and a woman who chooses courage over comfort.

1. Dystopian / Oppressive Regime Tropes

• Totalitarian state / surveillance court – power concentrated in a palace or ruling council.
• Silence-as-survival – speak wrong, disappear.
• Resistance-from-within – change the system from inside, not by open revolt.
• Propaganda vs truth – what the people are told vs what the palace knows.

2. Esther-But-Make-It-Thriller Tropes

• Ordinary girl → political queen – low visibility at the start, ascendant by strategy.
• Hidden identity / concealed origin – she can’t reveal who she is or whom she serves.
• A decree that must be stopped – classic Esther beat: a planned purge / extermination / erasure that only she can halt.
• A mentor in the shadows – the Mordecai analogue feeding intel from outside the palace.

3. Court / Palace Intrigue Tropes

• Dangerous court politics – rival consorts, ministers, and advisors.
• Powerful but unstable ruler – charming in public, ruthless in private.
• Secret councils / midnight meetings – decisions made off the record.
• “One wrong move = execution” stakes – every scene has latent danger.

4. Strong, Strategic Heroine Tropes

• Weaponised femininity – she uses what the regime underestimates: grace, beauty, poise, intelligence.
• Smart, not just chosen – she wins by planning, not destiny alone.
• Moral courage under pressure – “If I perish, I perish” energy, but in a dystopian frame.
• Loyalty vs safety – protect her people or protect herself?

5. Secrets, Masks, and Double Lives

• Courtly masquerade – what she presents to the king vs what she’s actually doing.
• Spy-in-the-palace – she’s basically running an op from the throne room.
• Encrypted / forbidden texts – messages, edicts, or histories the regime tried to erase.

6. Romantic / Tension Tropes (depending on how you lean it)

• Dangerous attraction to someone in power – the person she must influence is also the one who could kill her.
• “I can’t be seen with you” dynamic.
• Duty vs desire – love will cost the mission.

7. Trilogy / Arc Tropes

• Book 1 – rise and revelation – girl enters palace, discovers the scope of the threat.
• Book 2 – tightening noose – plots inside the court, enemies name her, decree draws near.
• Book 3 – sovereign uprising – she’s no longer surviving the system; she’s overturning it.

Book in production.

Book in production.