Rating: 9.5/10
Synopsis
Cerulia is damaged. Broken. Mutilated by the Fire Spirit incarnate that lives among the Oromondo. Forever scarred by the fireball that maimed her (both physically and emotionally), the Princella is found and brought to a house of healing, where the patients are expected to care for each other. Cerulia’s place among the wounded is only temporary, however, as she remains more steadfast than ever at creating a path to her rightful place on the throne.
She is not the only one on the move, however, as Cerulia’s old friends and enemies are also positioning themselves to make an impact in the war. The game of Chess continues, with all the players looking for checkmate.
Review
A Broken Queen is the third installment in the Nine Realms series, and it is very different than the first two books. This one is more of an ebb. A Yin. A diminuendo to a story that has been in constant crescendo. I have seen this pattern with a few series, now, where one book is used a kind of reset for plot. Everything starts with a sort of Big Bang scenario: the characters begin in their places, an ignition event scatters them over them over the World, and due to certain decisions that were made or universal magnetism (“fate” or “destiny”, I guess) many of those characters are brought together in different arrangements than they started. Alliances are formed and broken, friends and enemies are made.
Now everyone is preparing for a final countdown: who lives, who dies, who rules – THIS is the book where those pieces come together. In my mind, that makes it the most important. Do not get me wrong, I love the battles and the action, bad guys fighting good guys, people switching sides, and magic coming into play. But I am also down with a little castling and some en passant. Bring your bishops, hide your kings… get prepared to strike.
This book represents a much needed repositioning, a tensioning of the spring. It was also the most emotional of the three books, and the last 100 pages almost brought me to tears. I, for one, cannot wait for the final release.
As with the first two books, I continue to recommend this series as it is one of my favorites so far this year. The story gets better and more complex and intriguing and emotional with every page. I absolutely love it, and I think you will, too.
A new author. From your review, this seems like a reboot
Great review. Loved the words chosen.. They were beautiful
Hey, Shalini. Thank you for reading and commenting. Definitely not my intent to give people the feeling this story is any kind of reboot of another book. It is a really unique story. I am trying to say the format of the story feels familiar, like many fantasy series before it where there is usually a book that is less action and more bringing characters together. Which I enjoy, because it kind of resets the tension and prepares the reader for the epic ending that is to come (we hope 😅). Thank you for the kind words!
I meant reboot of the characters not reboot of another book. I loved your review.
Oh, yeah, okay. For sure, yeah, that is what I meant. 😅 Thank you!
Yay, looks like this confirms my belief that the series just gets better and better. Can’t wait to read this one!
It absolutely does.