Author: Rebecca Ross
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Age Range: 15-17
Review by: Emma
Synopsis:
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?
Review:
It isn’t too often that I completely fan girl about a new series all over my social media page as well as making recommendations at work, but The Queen’s Rising has me doing just that, as well as recommending it to every single reader friend I have.
Rebecca writes this tale in such a visually stunning way. There are very few writers out there who have ever made the thought “hmmm I would love to write a book†cross my mind – Trudi Canavan, Maria V. Snyder and Sarah J. Maas being the few.
I found the world to not only be thoroughly believable but utterly enchanting. It was filled with such rich characters and descriptions that I swooned the whole way through while nonstop page turning. Again, it is one of the few books that, like Harry Potter, I just could not put down until I had finished it!
On to the characters – I just loved the character Brienna, I found myself relating to her quite a bit, especially with her story of being not so sure of where you belong but trying your hardest anyway until you find it and then, when you do, you just completely blossom out of yourself. Brienna is the protagonist of this story and a student at Magnolia House, a specialized boarding school to study ‘passions’. Usually Passions are very skilled or even prodigies in their respective fields – Music, Art, Knowledge, dramatics and wit. Brienna doesn’t particularly excel in any of these areas but after some convincing on her grandfathers part, and upon the revelation of her true name, the headmistress makes an exception and allows a 6th student to board.
Brienna spends her time moving from passion to passion before settling on Knowledge, with Cartier as her professor. At the end of her tutelage, Brienna fails to acquire a patron and feeling rejected begins to withdraw from her budding friendship/relationship with Cartier. Over the summer break, an unexpected offer of patronage and a previously undiscovered power arrives and changes Brienna’s life dramatically.
You will need to read the book to find out where Brienna, her patron, and this new mysterious power end up, but there will be elements of bravery, battle, intrigue, romance, friendship and betrayals down the road.
I wholeheartedly give this book 5 stars and am happy to report the 2nd instalment in the series – The Queen’s Resistance was published in March 2019 and is also available on Bolinda Borrowbox! I highly recommend it – I cannot tell you how in love with this book I am and how immersed in this world I became while reading it. A huge congrats to Rebecca Ross on this fantastic debut !
Find it here on the Kildare Library Bolinda Borrowbox page :
Or, if you would prefer to a physical copy of the book, you can find it in our catalogue by clicking here!
Leave a Reply