Tag: The Queen’s Rising

fantasy, Five Star Book, ya

The Queen’s Rising Review

Courtney/Enchanted.to.Read.You
  • Title: The Queen’s Rising
  • Author: Rebecca Ross
  • Book Form: Ebook
  • Publisher: HarperTeen
  • Genre: Fantasy, YA
  • Rating: ★★★★★


When her seventeenth summer solstice arrives, Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron.

Growing up in the southern Kingdom of Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her for such a life. While some are born with an innate talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she belatedly chose to study knowledge. However, despite all her preparations, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true—the solstice does not go according to plan and she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, and with no other choices, she accepts. 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. And others are involved—some closer to Brienna than she realizes.

With war brewing between the two lands, 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?

– Goodreads

This is the first five star book I have read since last month, and oh man. I could not put it down. I love YA Fantasy, but this book was special. There were twists and turns. So many things I didn’t see coming. I mean, if we’re being real, I normally don’t see things coming. BUT OH MAN.

I did a buddy read of this book over at Words & Whimsy in preparation for our author chat with Rebecca Ross! We loved this book and loved having her to chat with!

My favorite thing about this book was how integrated the passions were. The characters took the passions into account when making any kind of decisions. It was so cool how the kids at the school had a chosen passion and spent years just perfecting it. I would love to live in a society like that, where things like art are valued like they are in this book. Where they are revered as much as knowledge. It was really special to me.

I loved the two countries and how different they were. I could see myself living in both countries, adopting either of the customs. It was such an easy world to fall into and get enveloped in.

I can’t think of anything I didn’t like about this book. The world was rich. The characters grew and developed and surprised me.

The romance had me iffy though, I will say that. Cartier met Brienna when she was like, 7. Then as she grew older they fell for each other. Like, okay. Seven years may not be that bad. But when you meet her when she’s seven?! Like, hopefully you weren’t thinking about her romantically then, because ew. That’s really my only complaint about this book. When I thought about their ages I felt icky, so I just pretended they were much closer. 🙂

This is book 1 of 2. The Queen’s Resistance came out on March 5, 2019. I cannot wait to get my hands on it! I would most definitely recommend. Please pick this book up. You won’t regret it. Pinky promise.

Until next time…