Ratings Explained

Title: Kingsbane

By: Claire Legrand

Rating: 4.5 stars

Summary (Goodreads):

Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Meanwhile, to help her prince and love Audric protect Celdaria, Rielle must spy on the angel Corien—but his promises of freedom and power may prove too tempting to resist.

Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity's long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana's power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother's power, or rejecting it forever.

Review:

OMG that ending. Although I was warned about the cliffhanger, I was still not expecting to be in such a state of shock. I can't wait until the third and final book comes out in a month!!

To be honest this book was much slower going for me then the first one. I found the first one to be filled with action from Rielle's trials to Eliana's quest with Simon. Although this one did have some huge plot developments. I thought the majority of the book was on character development. Particularly the polarizing differences between Rielle and Eliana in respect to their powers.

I was not a huge fan of Rielle's in the first book and much rather preferred to read Eliana's chapters. However, It was the opposite for me in this book. Now let me tell you Rielle takes a dark turn in this book that made me want to scream at her. She is still so captivated by Corien even though Audric loves her with all of his heart (seriously such a sweetheart), but she believes she is above humans, and Corien encourages this. I loved seeing this turn because even in the first book, we know she is the blood queen, but I found it really interesting to explore how her character can become someone who is still feared over a 1000 years later.

Now to Eliana, she is the exact opposite of Rielle. She wants nothing to do with her powers because she is afraid to become her mother. Her chapters were a lot more about self discovery then action unlike the first book, so it dragged on a little for me. However, throughout the book she realizes and accepts her powers and blood, even her mothers because she realizes she's human. Unlike Rielle who believes she's a god. I also really liked seeing more of Simon's powers and how they interacted with Eliana's.

In addition, I loved the seeing more of the world and how the Empire has affected each city. Legrand does an excellent job of immersing the readers into this world from the settings to the characters. Because of the flaws these characters have, I am able to relate to them so much more. Nobody in this world is good or bad, and these characters demonstrate that. I am really looking forward to the third book to see how not only Rielle and Eliana's story ends but all the second characters as well. 

Overall loved this book and characters, but the pacing was a little slow for me. I truly believed that this was necessary though for these characters' changes to be fully appreciated. I have a feeling the third book is going to be nonstop action from start to finish, and I can't wait to see how it ends!!