Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I really wasn't sure what to expect going into this sequel, as the first book ended in a way that rounded off the story really well, and things could absolutely have ended there in a satisfying way. However, I was very pleasantly surprised with the continuation of the story, which takes a look at how you rebuild a kingdom after the climax of the adventure.

I liked that we had a new POV character - though I found Brienna a very engaging main character, adding Cartier's voice gave us more insight into the shifting allegiances and difficult history of Maevana, which Brienna was an outsider to. It also offers many more facets to his character beyond just being the love interest.

I wish more use had been made of the concept of passions, because I really loved this world-building in the first book, and it seemed as though it was mostly left behind in this one. It would have been good if Brienna's passion of knowledge was made more use of, rather than just her innate intelligence, but it is nice to have a competent heroine in YA, especially one who isn't a super-special chosen one who becomes the queen, but someone who works hard to better the world around them.

Enjoyable political intrigue, and an interesting continuation of the story. Four out of five stars.

One of those rare second books in teen fantasy fiction that manages to be completely different to the first, there's no filler here or stretching of the plot to make a trilogy or longer series. I really enjoyed both books, and found this second one darker than the first; there's still the ongoing romance from the first novel but the characters are often apart and now have their own separate point-of-view chapters, and the story concentrates more upon the action, politics, betrayals, intrigue and other post-revolution complications. I feel these deserve to be more well known in the teen market, I much preferred them over the more popular 'Throne of Glass' and 'Red Queen' series.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

I have been waiting for this book for soooooo long. I fell in love with the first book with it’s medieval feels. This continues with the same emotions but higher stakes are at play. Now that they’ve rescued the houses, what happens after? This book chronicles the clean up, the recovery, the emotional exhaustion. Gaining back their houses was one battle but gaining back trust is another.

Now that Brienna has discovered her true passion, her characters has gained a lot of strength. She started off the first book as unsure and not confident. She finishes the series with the strength and capability to lead a house, and that she does. Her romance with Cartier is ongoing and their moments together were swoonworthy. As they work side by side to repair what was lost, they find out new secrets.

The plot is spellbinding! There’s still so much left to uncover and what a doozy it is. There’s so many secrets that lay beneath the rubble and as each one is brought to the surface, it shocked me. I couldn’t wait to read more. What I enjoyed is that it was an easy story to follow. I find that a lot of fantasy novels get overly complicated and Ross doesn’t need to rely on anything but great storytelling to keep you engaged and keep it going. I originally thought this was a trilogy but sadly, it ends here. I hope one day we can return to this world because it was such a good, fast- paced story.

Content warning: Torture, child abuse (largely off-page)

I think I might have liked this book even more than book one. It’s tricky. I think it depends on what you liked from book one? I personally liked the plots and plans more than the romance and I think the balance between the two is better in this sequel, largely because it’s split POV between Cartier and Brienna. Since the two of them are often off doing different things the romance is a little less in your face, there are kingdoms at stake and I personally am more invested in that then I am how two people feel about each other - that’s just me.

But yes, I think the dual POV really works, I liked Cartier’s perspective, they managed to do more than just having him as a romantic hero, he’s got a lot to do in this book but he also never outshines Brienna, it’s actually a pretty nice hero/heroine balance.

The other thing I appreciated about this book is that, where book one felt like you had to constantly be flicking back to the various family trees at the start of the book, it felt a lot more obvious who was who. Of course, that could be a quirk of how much I was paying attention or just the result of having read two books in the same world but I did feel like I had a much better handle on who was doing what (or whom…). I think because in this book you actually encounter a lot of the characters, as well as having the benefit of Cartier’s knowledge, there’s just more that the main characters can pass on to the reader.

This is a nice easy-to-read writing style. At first, I thought it was going to be too simplistic, that it would fall into that ‘so YA it hurts’ category that I find myself using all too often. But actually, I think this book does enough differently, in particular, the aforementioned balance between the male and female protagonists, as well as the fact that Brienna isn’t the character becoming Queen. While there are a lot of familiar elements to this story it still feels like it’s own thing, not like a remake of something else. Perhaps that’s just telling of what I have and haven’t read - but I hugely enjoyed reading this.

Definitely a slow start, let yourself sink back into this world, but towards the last 50% or so this got really good, to the point where I didn’t want to put it down.

If court politics mixed up with a healthy dose of action and romance is your kind of thing then I would say this is a YA duology you shouldn’t miss!

My rating: stars

I received a free digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I loved the simplicity, characters and the story in the first one. Somehow I had great time with it. And I even liked this one more.
The first one ended at a moment to allow more pace and adventure with this one, and Ross took it from there and delivered a fantastic sequel.
I find the world very enchanting, and loved how the story shaped. Sequels are not always satisfying, but this one really hit the mark.

As a Middle grade/YA fantasy, it was very good.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun read and was in my opinion, better than its prequel.
The story really kicks it up a notch and was compelling and a lot more fast paced than The Queen's Rising.

I was really impressed with this story and thought the world building was very good.

This reads like a YA/Middle Grade hybrid so if you're more used to adult fantasy you may have some issues acclimatising but overall very good!