Queen Rielle has had powers since she was young, but even years of trying to suppress them failed. Now, the nobles of her kingdom are making her go through seven trials in order to prove that she is the Sun Queen of the prophecies and not the Blood Queen. If she fails the trials, she will be executed, so she has to go through all seven of the life-threatening challenges.
Eliana is born a thousand years later when Queen Rielle is simply a fairytale. The Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, so she embraces violence and thievery to protect and provide for her family. When her mother vanishes, she joins a rebel captain in order to find out where the women of the city are going.
I had heard great things about this story, and so I was so excited to read it. However, the more I read it, the more disappointed I became.
The story was told from the POV of both Rielle and Eliana, alternating every chapter. This got confusing because for a while I did not know how their stories were connected. Like clearly the cover says “Two Queens”, so I knew that they had to be the queens somehow. But other than that, it seemed annoying that I had to go from the main storyline to the side storyline.
Also, I didn’t like Eliana’s storyline. Like at all. Every time she came up, I didn’t even remember what she was last supposed to be doing. I also felt irritated that she was “interrupting” Rielle’s storyline for me. So for me, she was the side storyline. I hope that in the next book, I will like her storyline more.
I liked Rielle’s storyline so MUCH. I loved that she wasn’t the “perfect princess”, but instead had very real flaws. I also enjoyed her relationships with Audrik and her best friend. These things, plus her trials, were what really made the story for me. I won’t spoil anything else, but this truly made the story memorable for me.
Overall, I wish that I had liked Eliana’s storyline more, but I will just have to stick with Rielle for this book. I will definitely read more of this trilogy when the next book comes out! For now, this gets three and a half stars.
Overall Rating: 3.5
It’s a shame you didn’t like Eliana’s storyline. Whenever there are dual POV’s like that there is always one that I find much more interesting than the other. I’m always half tempted to just read the one I like first and then come back and see the other one. I have an ARC of this and hope to get to it soon and really hope I like it. Great review!
I’ll definitely check out your review then! Maybe you’ll like Eliana’s storyline and I will be able to see it in another light.
Oh no! I’m sorry that it didn’t end up working out for you. I do get what you mean about Eliana’s storyline. There were times that I totally failed with it and just wanted to jump back to Rielle’s. Hers was quite, quite intriguing. Totally got what you were saying with some of it, though. Wonderful review!! 🙂
Thank you! I might reread it sometime this year, maybe that will help, but for now I am done with it.