Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Queen's Rising

However, the seventeen year old female main character ends up in a relationship with her twenty-seven year old former teacher. They did wait to act on their mutual attraction until she had graduated, but it’s still creepy.

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darkclouds's review against another edition

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informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Sometimes you read an author's work at the right time. It's not always necessarily their first, but it's an olive branch to take a step into their world they've crafted.

Fate allowed me to enter Rebecca's with Divine Rivals. In comparison to Queen's Rising, the quality in the writing is tremendously evident. Ross has crossed leaps and bounds to write the masterpiece that is Divine Rivals and the potential is there in Queen's Rising. It just didn't quite follow through with the execution amongst other details.

For the most part it was a slow ride from an academic setting, some mysteries regarding Brienna and her Maevan heritage she must suppress in order to keep safe. We triage into the next act with plotting to overthrow a vicious King and restore the Queendom it once was. I was grateful that Brienna was not drawn into the "Lost Queen" trope for I fear that would have put me off completely.

It felt oddly lacking in adventure and almost monotonous until that last quarter. I found no joy in the romance, although slow burn, which was formed between a professor (Arial) and his pupil (Arden). He met her when she was ten and having watched her grow up and then teaching her himself, just does not sit well with me.

In any case, I can see why people would struggle with this one. There's a staggering amount of history about the world to remember, many names and Houses, aliases and terms. It's a lot. The way it has tied up I'm not quite sure how there is a sequel. But I guess we'll dive into that one too.

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maralaene's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Even though this was her first book to be published, this was not the first book of Rebecca Ross’ that I read. And I have loved every single one so far.

Even though I felt like I had guessed a lot of the story long before it was revealed, especially given the way certain things were setup, I found this story very captivating. It has those very heartwarming elements of found family and bonded friendships. There is a sort of instant familial bond built in here, which I found a little unrealistic, but it didn’t deter me much from the story.

I also enjoyed the fact that our FMC isn’t the classic lost princess or gains magical powers when she shouldn’t, yet still played a critical role.

. I also appreciated that the magic in this world isn’t intended to make the royals almighty and is cursed when used for violence - definitely an interesting twist! And who doesn’t love an animal sidekick 🐺

My only comment is that I sort of wished the constellations and connection to stars played a bigger role - I’m imagining something like the names selected after “graduation” from Shusterman’s Scythe books.

I am excited to see what happens in book 2, given the story was left very open and with no obvious cliff-hanger ending setup for the sequel! Hopefully there is more magic in the next!

✓ Found family
✓ Strong female character
✓ Storytelling vibes

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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scribblesandsuch's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I loved this. I really enhoyed the universe, and though I'm not one for historicalesque fiction, there was just enough revolution and intrigue to keep me going. It was a really fun read- I would stop between chapters to let out excited noises at the twists and turns

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