Hey all, Dani here.
It has been a pretty great day. We made our weekly trip to the grocery store, and picked up a couple different Instant Pot recipe ingredients, so I’m excited to try them out later. Other than that it has been a pretty lazy day around the house. I played a little bit of Animal Crossing and have done a bit of reading. I’m getting ready to settle in for even more reading after I finish up a couple of blog posts.
I’m going to pretty much try to read all day tomorrow too, because there is a 24 Hour Readathon going on then, which will be pretty fun. I have a lot of books I’m hoping to get read this month, and I’ve only finished a couple, so I need to get reading.
Anyway, today I’m back with the second review in a pretty unique fantasy series…unique in regards to the fact that each book in the four book series is released a month apart. So, book one came out in January, with book two in February, book three in March, and book four will be out in April. I have the first review up already, and need to read book three very soon, because I was lucky enough to be granted an early copy of book four and I want to have the review up by release day.
Okay, let’s jump into the review.
Book Details
Format: Paperback
Pages: 487
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: February 18, 2020
ISBN: 1250168562 (ISBN13: 9781250168566)
Summary
Sarah Kozloff, author of A Queen in Hiding, continues the breathtaking and cinematic epic fantasy series The Nine Realms with book two, The Queen of Raiders, and all four books will be published within a month of each other, so you can binge your favorite new fantasy series.
The soliders of Oromondo have invaded the Free States, leaving a wake of misery and death. Thalen, a young scholar, survives and gathers a small cadre of guerilla fighters for a one-way mission into the heart of an enemy land.
Unconsciously guided by the elemental Spirits of Ennea Mon, Cerulia is drawn to the Land of the Fire Mountains to join Thalen’s Raiders, where she will learn the price of war.
My Thoughts
Rating: 5 stars
I feel like this book is the one that starts to pull the differing characters and plots together. In the first book Thalen was in one place/plot, and Cerulia/Wren (now Kestrel) was somewhere else, and we also got to follow Cerulia’s mother until her death. And the first book did a good job of setting up the world and the magic and the politics.
So this second book can just dive straight into the deep end, which I think is really cool. And with the quick releases it isn’t like you have enough time to really forget some of the details. I have to be honest, I’m completely excited about this story and its premise and set up. You just don’t find books that come out this way often. About the closest I’ve seen is Amanda Hocking, who typically writes a whole trilogy or series and then the books are released every few months.
But it was cool to see all the raider training and the scholarly angle from Thalen, and then get more of the political bureaucracy with Regent Matwyck, and sort of the natural and theological side of things with Wren/Kestrel’s plot. I like how the diverging and converging story lines help to greatly expand our understanding of all aspects of the world-building. It is seriously fascinating.
Our queen in hiding is learning more about her ability, and also learning how to be more adaptable and getting stronger in a variety of ways.
And for being almost 500 pages long, it read rather quickly. I had a very enjoyable experience reading this book, and can’t wait to get into book three.
Where to Get a Copy
You can grab your own copy of this book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local independent bookstore through IndieBound.
You can also check with your local library.
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