Book Reviews, NetGalley Reviews, Reviews by Ariel

The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3) by Emily R. King

I received this book for free from the mentioned source in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.



The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3) by Emily R. KingThe Rogue Queen by Emily R. King
Series: The Hundredth Queen #3
Published by: Skyscape on February 13th 2018
Genres: YA, Fantasy
Pages: 298
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley

View on: Goodreads
Grab it: Amazon

Review Score:
About the Book:

Despite the odds, Kalinda has survived it all: Marriage to a tyrant. Tournaments to the death. The forbidden power to rule fire. The icy touch of a demon.

That same demon now disguises itself as Rajah Tarek, Kalinda’s late husband and a man who has never stopped haunting her. Upon taking control of the palace and the army, the demon brands Kalinda and her companions as traitors to the empire. They flee across the sea, seeking haven in the Southern Isles.

In Lestari, Kalinda’s powers are not condemned, as they are in her land. Now free to use them to protect those she loves, Kalinda soon realizes that the demon has tainted her with a cold poison, rendering her fire uncontrollable. But the lack of control may be just what she needs to send the demon back to the darkest depths of the Void.

To take back the empire, Kalinda will ally with those she distrusts—and risk losing those most loyal to her—to defeat the demon and bring peace to a divided nation.

 

 

 

 

Review gold new 2-min

 

When I first started The Rogue Queen, I did not think I was going to enjoy it.  Boy am I glad I stuck with it.  I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it and how invested I was in the characters by the end of it.  I can only hope that there is a fourth to the series, because Emily R King can’t just leave me hanging like that.

 

Kalinda has been through a lot in life, and she’s only eighteen years old.  She was married to the previous raja, who was terrible, she has literally had to fight for her life in tournaments, she is a bhuta who can control fire which is something that a lot of people are not cool with, and now there’s a demon on the loose posing as her dead husband.  And yet, she is still here and she is ready to kick some butt and save her people, along with the help of her friends and loved ones.

 

The book switches perspectives between Kalinda and General Deven Naik.  I always really enjoy books that switch perspectives, and this was no different.  The two also separate fairly early on in the book, so I liked getting to know what each party was up to and how they were doing in terms of the war that’s happening.  I will say, I felt more invested in Deven’s plot than I was with Kalinda’s.  The thing that turned me off so early on in the book is that she was having really torn feelings between Deven and Prince Ashwin, the new rajah and son of Kalinda’s dead husband.  I don’t mind love triangles when I feel like they’re done right, but this one was really grating on my nerves.  There are so many more important things that need to be focused on, like the fact that there’s a demon posing as rajah.  Luckily, the triangle resolves itself within the first half of the book, so it was much more enjoyable to me from that point on.

 

The world building in this novel was excellent.  I haven’t read the first two books in the series and I was able to jump in pretty close to effortlessly.  Aside from figuring out who was who, I was able to pick up everything else pretty quickly.  I kept picturing Avatar (the cartoon, not the blue people) but for adults.  There are certain people, called bhutas, who can control different elements.  Galers can control air, Aquafiers can control water, Tremblers can control the earth, and Burners can control fire.  Bhutas are looked down on by a pretty large chunk of society and therefore, usually try to hide their powers.

 

This was a wonderful way for me to end 2017.  I really enjoyed the story, the characters, and the world that has been created for this series.  If not for the fact that the love triangle annoyed me so much, this book would totally have been 5 stars.  But since it did, The Rogue Queen gets 4 out of 5 from me.  A wonderful YA fantasy that will have readers on the edge of their seats.

 

My RatingNew Rate 4 Controllers-min

 

Ariel New Sig 2-min