This was the series finale to the red queen series. At the end of Warstorm I wanted more information and now I have it. What a lovely way to end the series. This was enjoyable.

So if you are a fan of the Red Queen series then you will want to get your hands on this companion book.

Broken Throne is a perfect book which includes snippets of history, maps, flags, and five short stories. It features two previously published novellas, Queen Song and Steel Scars, and three brand-new novellas.

I loved that the story tell the story not only of before the start of Red Queen, but also the middle and the after. When the series finished with War Storm, I thought that it had ended suddenly and I wanted to now the impact and effect the War had had and how the society was going to change. So there were two stories that I adored, as I felt that they added closure to an already great story.

I love this type of book because you can dip in and out as you feel. And if you’re not in mood for a huge book then having loads of short stories of a brilliant series is perfect.

This felt like the final and proper goodbye to Red Queen. One that I felt that War Storm should have provided. However, this tied up the loose ends and provided the perfect ending.

Oh how nice it was to be back in this universe!
I really enjoyed this book and being back with these characters!

QUEEN SONG
It seems silly to include QS and SS when they're already published instead of including more new content. It's simply repackaging the existing material.

As it is, I love this novella. It gives a glimpse of the court before Elara was queen - and more background on Julian and Sara. Corianne's fears and the juxtaposition this creates with her seemingly perfect life makes this a really heartbreaking story.

STEEL SCARS
If you found yourself wishing you knew more about the Scarlet Guard, then this is a short story for you. Farley starts the mission that will bring her into contact with Mare and Shade. Even with a little more of the organisation revealed, the Scarlet Guard remains shrouded in mystery, but the fog rolls back just enough to provide tantalising glimpses of its scope.

There were no chapter breaks in this story. I felt like I was just having to read on, without having anywhere to pause and collect myself. By the end, I was flagging a little, struggling to keep up with the all-in-one-go reading style. The closest it came to any sort of 'pause point' were the encoded messages. The use of code names meant I found it a little tricky to work out who was talking to who.

WORLD BEHIND
With an entirely new cast of characters, this short story follows a smuggler in the disputed lands. It was interesting to see this new part of the world, the illegal trade carved out by the Reds along the river. It's a world that might be fun to see more of, smugglers and the underworld. The references to the main story were fun, how jumbled news was.

Lyrisa expands on the ideas Evangeline has brought throughout the latter books in the series, about the cages Silvers can find themselves in due to marriages. Ashe is a swaggering captain, and the tension between them (not romantic, but actually life-or-death tension) was great. However, as it was all new, I had a bit of trouble connecting to the characters in such a short space of time (8 chapters I think).

IRON HEART
For some reason, I wasn't expecting this story - Evangeline post-WAR STORM - and it was a lovely surprise. It's the story with the clearest character growth across it, and gets the same 'Yes, Evangeline!"  feels as her decision at the end of WAR STORM.

FIRE LIGHT
This is the story I wanted to read the most - the final large story in the book, which kept me reading until I hit it. What happens to Mare and Cal after WAR STORM?

It was well worth the wait - my favourite part by far.

I loved how the consequences of the series - the betrayals, heartbreaks and deaths - are so real. There is no shying away from the mess between them, and the scars they carry. It affects every action and interaction, all this baggage. I loved it, loved the pacing and the conclusion.

CAL AND MAVEN BONUS SCENE
When writing reviews, the first thing I do is jot down words or phrases - things I liked/didn't like, areas to talk about. For this bonus scene (two chapters and a journal entry), I simply wrote: Ah, my heart!

Set during and after WAR STORM, this contains Cal and Maven's final interaction - and then Cal coming to terms with Maven's death. I was on the verge of tears at the end. It's so bittersweet, and makes Maven even more pitiable. His final choice is... well, if you aren't sure what to think of him, this will make the conundrum worse.

I love how Aveyard, throughout the series, has made him both evil and pitiable, how much you want him to have a redemption arc. This story has all of that, crammed into very few pages, just to hurt you some more.

JOURNAL ENTRIES ETC
Honestly, this was my least favourite part of the book. Presented as Julian's notes and text excepts, these four sections split up the stories, and are basically adapted world-building documents.

There was some interesting new knowledge about the world and history - I particularly liked the section about all the different countries as some (Tiraxies) only get passing mentions in the series. The different sections were each related to the short story/ies that came next. I like that, as it got me into the right frame of mind.

However, the documents contained a fair bit of rehashing the events of the series (timeline, 'Monfort' perspective on war). I can't really imagine that you'd read the companion without having read the books (and the spoilers are massive), so I didn't need to be told what I'd just read.

"Long Before You Knew What A Monster I was, You Did Monstrous Things Too"

Broken Throne is a collection of six short stories from the Red Queen universe, two of which we've already seen in the Cruel Crown collection, and an assortment of extracts provided from Julian Jacos; these largely comprise of family trees, timelines, extracts from propaganda, maps, interviews, journal extracts and scribblings from Julian throughout.

Each of the stories adds weight to the wider series - something a lot of anthologies struggle to pull off entirely - and each focuses on a particular character or duo. The inner musings of Julian and various extracts from him were unusual and felt wasteful and out of place. Aside from a really stunning family tree and an interesting timeline of events, the extracts serve purely as messy recaps of the events of the previous four books. I do think they look really nice, the random scribblings are fun and different, but they felt pointless because they added very little, if anything, to our current understanding of things.

Queen Song is the first of the two duplicate stories within this collection, showcasing the life of Coriane before she marries the King, her internal struggles with mental health and the torture she was subjected to at the hands of Elara. There are few spoilers within, and the story is pretty good, giving interesting insight into a character we see very little of in the wider series and adding weight to the relationships between Julian, Sara, Coriane and Elara. 4/5 stars.

Steel Scars centres on Farley taking command of a mission and sharing intelligence via coded communications with her general, most of which are of the usual snarky and rebellious nature readers have come to expect from Diane Farley. Whilst this is pretty interesting it was also quite repetitive due to the format of the communications as transcripts, and equally didn't feel as compelling as a standard narrative. It does however provide a behind-the-scenes kind of look at the moment Shade and Farley meet and this felt authentic and really well played out. 3/5 stars.

World Behind was easily the most compelling of the stories within this collection. It introduces Ashe, a Red and captain of a commuting boat, and Lyrisa, a Silver on the run and hoping to buy her way onto his boat. I adored this story and both of the characters captured entirely different but equally useful perspectives. Whilst Ashe wants to mind his own business, isn't fond of Silvers and lives a relatively humble life, Lyrisa really showcases how the glamorised nature of the Silvers is perhaps not all it would seem. She's also a fun insight into an ability not portrayed terribly often within the wider series. Alongside this is a healthy dose of mystery about her purpose on board and this resulted in a total page turner. 5/5 stars.

Iron Heart felt very much like War Storm. Evangeline and Elane have alternating chapters, much like the alternating chapters of World Behind, but neither of them are especially captivating within this story. It takes place following the events of War Storm, with some focus on Elane and Evangeline's relationship (but nothing much more than we'd already seen previously) and considering if Ptolemus and Evangeline might abdicate their right to the throne. Whilst I wasn't especially interested by any of the characters, the political intrigue is really high in this story, with some important events taking place which reshape the future of the characters. Despite really liking Evangeline prior to this, I found her a little flat here. 4/5 stars.

Fire Light is the highly anticipated reunion between Cal and Mare following the close of the series and honestly it was probably the most disappointing story of the bunch. Neither Cal or Mare were characters I felt significant connections with; they both have very similar narrative voices which can make their interactions quite wooden. But more so than this, their eventual reunion was limited, superficial and didn't really have much impact aside from a predictable, albeit satisfying, conclusion to the cliffhanger of War Storm. 3/5 stars.

Farewell was brief but very clever. Aveyard does a fantastic job again of letting us into the head of a monster whilst still managing to humanise them; Maven is every piece the horrific mask he wears for his brother but this also captures his vulnerabilities. This is also told in alternating perspectives between Cal and Maven to highlight their toxic relationship - it left me wondering if Maven's story could have ended differently and what that might have looked like. 3/5 stars.

Despite some of the stories packing less punch than others, Victoria Aveyard's writing has only gotten better and this collection is a perfect example of that - and of why Red Queen was so good! I absolutely love this world, I find Aveyard's ideas really fun to read and her attention to detail is incredible - a perfect combination of intelligent, compelling and thorough prose, the likes of which encompass genuinely good fantasy writing. This world, the kingdoms, house and rules make for an incredible read and it was so nice just to be back with the Reds for one last time.