Blog Tour: The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee (Interview + Giveaway!)

Happy Tuesday and welcome to my stop on the The Electric Heir blog tour!! I am so excited to be a part of this tour, and I’m even more excited for you to discover Victoria’s favorite moments from her book, how she chose the names for her characters, and some fun research that didn’t make it into the book! Plus, follow the rest of the tour and enter to win a print copy of The Electric Heir!

In the sequel to The Fever King, Noam Álvaro seeks to end tyranny before he becomes a tyrant himself.
Six months after Noam Álvaro helped overthrow the despotic government of Carolinia, the Atlantians have gained citizenship, and Lehrer is chancellor. But despite Lehrer’s image as a progressive humanitarian leader, Noam has finally remembered the truth that Lehrer forced him to forget—that Lehrer is responsible for the deadly magic infection that ravaged Carolinia.
Now that Noam remembers the full extent of Lehrer’s crimes, he’s determined to use his influence with Lehrer to bring him down for good. If Lehrer realizes Noam has evaded his control—and that Noam is plotting against him—Noam’s dead. So he must keep playing the role of Lehrer’s protégé until he can steal enough vaccine to stop the virus.
Meanwhile Dara Shirazi returns to Carolinia, his magic stripped by the same vaccine that saved his life. But Dara’s attempts to ally himself with Noam prove that their methods for defeating Lehrer are violently misaligned. Dara fears Noam has only gotten himself more deeply entangled in Lehrer’s web. Sooner or later, playing double agent might cost Noam his life.

Do you have a favorite scene, quote, or moment from The Electric Heir?

Ha, yes. My favorite scene is probably the one where Noam and Dara are eating peanuts and debating ideology. My favorite line is the one where Dara declares in favor of pineapple on pizza.

I also like the waffle scene. (You’ll know it when you read it.)

If Noam, Dara, and Lehrer were to hang out with characters from other YA books, who would they be and why?

Me and Casey McQuiston have just agreed that Noam and Alex from Red White and Royal Blue would probably be besties. Besties who throw back margaritas and debate political structures. Noam is team “abolish the state,” whereas Alex argues that democracy can still work. He’d also like Gideon from Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

Dara, meanwhile, would get along with Laurent from The Captive Prince (which I only read for the first time recently? what??) or Lymond from Dorothy Dunnett’s The Lymond Chronicles.

Lehrer doesn’t deserve friends. 

What is your favorite piece of research you didn’t end up using?

I cut a lot of detail from the electromagnetism lesson in book 1. I also had to put a lot of research into state weddings way back when.

How did you choose the names for your characters?

PAINSTAKINGLY. I’m terrible with naming, honestly. I think I just reached a critical mass of hours spent scrolling through baby name sites and finally found some names that sounded like they fit the characters. “Lehrer” was a little easier because it means “teacher” in German, and I wanted to give a nod toward X-Men (“Lehrer” being similar to “Lehnsherr” in spelling).

What would you do if you spent the day with Noam, Lehrer, and Dara? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

Well, first we would push Lehrer off the nearest cliff.

That taken care of, Noam and Dara and I would wander around a used bookstore for a bit, then maybe go shopping because both Dara and I would be very invested in getting Noam into some well-fitting fashionable clothing. Next, dinner at a tapas place that has flavored sparkling waters for Dara and a good wine list for me. Then we’d drive around on country roads with the windows rolled down, out to a field in the country so we could look at the stars and Dara could tell us which constellation was which.

…Then I think I’d leave so Noam and Dara could have some alone time, we hate to be a third wheel.

What can you tell us about your characters that we might not find out in the book?

In my vision of the future, Dara goes on to study astronomy at university and ultimately gets a job working with child victims of family abuse and incest. Noam works for the National Cybersecurity Bureau and Ames tries to convince him to run for Chancellor because she hates the other guy who’s running, but Noam refuses, because he hates politics but also because he just wants to spend his free time at home with Dara and Wolf and all their houseplants. 

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