When her seventeenth summer arrives, Brienna desires to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Growing up in at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions, Brienna struggled to find hers until she chose to study knowledge. However, the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.
Months later, a disgraced lord offers her patronage. But there is much more to his story, and Brienna soon discovers that he has sought her out for his own vengeful gain. For there is a dangerous plot being planned to overthrow the king of Maevana—the archrival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the northern throne. With war brewing, Brienna must choose whose side she will remain loyal to—passion or blood. Because a queen is destined to rise and lead the battle to reclaim the crown. The ultimate decision Brienna must determine is: Who will be that queen?
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The Queen’s Rising
Rebecca Ross
We start off slow as we attend lessons at Magnalia House while Brienna learns to passion. This helps us to build up the world and the history of the two kingdoms. Although slow, this really helps later on in the book as it all pulls together into the plot. I also personally love having an in depth history of the worlds I’m reading about, so this was something I really enjoyed.
Immediately there’s a hint of the student teacher romance between Brienna and Master Cartier. I was really put off with this whole romance sub plot as he quite literally meets her when she is 10. I’m under the assumption that Cartier is a full grown man at this point, and he develops feelings when he is her ‘master’. Just the whole vibe was creepy and uncomfortable to read for me and I just could not route for them at all.
This is not actually a book about magic. It contains magical elements, and Brienna is part of a plan to bring magic back to the land. But we never really see, except for a little bit at the end, any magic within this world. It was much more of a political war story, based within a fantasy world. Although, this is the first in a trilogy, so I think the next book will explore more of the magic system.
Now because of this, I was expected the full ferocious war which is built up throughout the book. But unfortunately, this didn’t hold up as well as expected on paper. We get to see Brienna fight, and some other secondary characters, but it’s not a big war scene. I kind of expected Game of Thrones, and what we got was more of a Breaking Dawn kinda situation.
One of the really great aspects in this book is there’s a real emphasis on friendship and family. I loved the female friendships that were built in Magnalia House and that come back up later in the book. And I’m assuming these friendships will pull into the later trilogy as well. There’s also importance in the choice of your family in the book.
POSITIVES
+ Slow start as we watch Brienna learn to master her passion
+ Emphasis on friendship and family of your own choosing
+ Really good build up to the war
NEGATIVES
– Student teacher relationship felt creepy
– Not that much magic involved
I received The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross from the publisher via Edelweiss. This is an unbiased and honest review
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