Lea (drumsofautumn)'s Reviews > The Queen's Rising

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The Queen's Rising is one of the most promising debuts I have ever read. Going into this I was definitely hesitant. While this seemed like the kind of YA Fantasy I absolutely love, I also have incredibly high expectations for it.
But lo and behold, this blew me away! I would go as far as to say that this is the first book in the five years since I first read GRACELING by Kristin Cashore that came close to THAT kind of Fantasy that I love with all of my heart.



The Queen's Rising had a certain simplicity about it that I've always loved in the Graceling Realm trilogy. This is a story that does not need to rely on relationship drama or tropes to keep you engaged. It just does. Throughout +450 pages I didn't find myself bored by this story ONCE. I always wanted to continue, always wanted to explore more of the world and characters.

The main character, Brienna, is absolutely wonderful. She goes through an amazing character development. She starts as a strong character but throughout the novel she comes to terms with who she is, what she wants in life and proves how brave she is throughout her whole journey. Not once did Brienna make me sigh with annoyance or incomprehension which is also thanks to basically no use of tropes.

The world building and plot is exactly what I wanted from this book. It's a political story with an intriguing world building that was very easy to understand. I loved how we slowly unravelled the history of it all. There's much more I wanna know about the world and I can't wait for Rebecca Ross to explore more of that.
My eARC had family trees and a map, which I found absolutely gorgeous and can't wait to see in the final print copy. I would recommend not looking at the family trees until you read the book though.
The pacing was very well done too. It definitely has that "first book" kind of feeling but I thought even the slower parts were well done because they were packed with intriguing information. I found myself absorbing everything like a dry sponge!
Some things are predictable but it was never anything that took away from my enjoyment but rather a "OMG YES I KNEW IT" kind of triumphant moment!

There's some wonderful female friendship portrayed in here, which sadly gets stripped away from us way too early in the book, but no worries when you hit that point, we get more later on. The found family theme is STRONG throughout this book.
Now if you know me, I CARE about romance, like, a LOT and this romance did not disappoint. This was definitely what put me under its spell the quickest in this book. I was invested in TWO SECONDS. While the romance is a pretty strong theme in the beginning of the book, it's still a slow burn and something that I think even people with an aversion for romance won't mind. It definitely moves more to the background after the first quarter or so and is never something that leads to the main character making dumb decisions.
I found myself incredibly invested, not only with the romance, but with all of the characters and their relationships. WHY YES I DID TEAR UP A FEW TIMES OKAY. The feelings were STRONG in this one.

As you can see, there's not really any flaw for me to point out here. As I said, if you enjoy the GRACELING REALM trilogy I think you should give this a try. DON'T SCOLD ME IF YOU DON'T LOVE IT AS MUCH! I know that series is hard to beat but as I said, this is one of the rare book that came close to what I felt. I think it's also great for fans of THE REMNANT CHRONICLES by Mary E. Pearson, HIS FAIR ASSASSIN by Robin LaFevers or the STUDY TRILOGY by Maria V. Snyder.
Overall a great debut that, despite its similarities to other series, absolutely stands out in this genre!

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I received an ARC of this through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review!