Crown Duel

Crown Duel

First edition of the single-volume release, 2002
Author	Sherwood Smith
Cover artist	Victor Lee[1]
Language	English
Genre	Young adult fiction Fantasy literature
Publisher	Harcourt, Firebirds
Publication date	June 2002[1]
Publication place	US
Media type	Print
Pages	471[1]
ISBN	0-14-230151-5
Preceded by	A Stranger to Command

Crown Duel is a 2002 young adult fantasy novel written by American author Sherwood Smith, originally published as two separate books, Crown Duel (1997) and Court Duel (1998). Both stories take place in the fictional land of Sartorias-deles, a fantasy world Smith has written about since her youth. The first book follows the adventures of young Countess Meliara "Mel" Astiar of Tlanth as she and her small group of forces rebel against the greed of King Galdran; along the way the mysterious Marquis of Shevraeth aids her, though she distrusts him. With the king now dead, the second part focuses on Mel's journey to the court in Remalna-city, where she must navigate court intrigues surrounding Shevraeth's rise to power as king. In 2008 Smith also published a prequel about Shevraeth: A Stranger to Command.

Smith invented Sartorias-deles as a fantasy world that gradually became populated by humans over a number of centuries; these new arrivals were influenced by the world's indigenous beings enough to better themselves, largely eradicating societal problems like disease and overpopulation. She originally wrote Crown Duel as a twenty-year-old, and when she returned to rewrite the story later in life, she sought to maintain the story from Mel's young perspective. As a result, the novel's intended audience are young adults. As Smith's most popular YA novel, both parts of Crown Duel received generally positive reviews. Reviews of the 1997 publication of Crown Duel highlight the character of Mel and Smith's worldbuilding as positive elements. Critics assessed Court Duel as generally the lesser of the two.