The Queen's Rising

The Queen’s Rising was a surprising story of empowerment and self-discovery. Our heroine, Brienna, finds herself where we’ve all been—trying to find what she should do with her life, having no yellow brick road to guide her while everyone around her has clear paths and obvious talents. She grew up as an orphan, sent by her grandfather to live in hiding from her father. She doesn’t even know her father’s name, only that he’s dangerous and from Maevana, a neighboring kingdom now ruled by a ruthless dictator but which was once ruled by magical warrior queens until a traitor usurped their power. After living in Magnalia (a boarding school) for seven years, Brienna is about to become impassioned (essentially, graduate) and become a mistress of knowledge (like a graduate with a degree in history/education/medicine). There are five passions (majors)—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge. She tried and failed at four before landing in knowledge, and while she has managed to catch up in her education and succeed at it, she still feels like she just doesn’t measure up to the other students who have clear devotion for their studies. She sees how the people around her are so sure of their roles in life, and she’s still trying to find hers. When her peers get job offers and forge ahead with their lives, she’s left behind without a patron (employer) to take a chance on her. When she starts getting memories of her ancestor who led to the downfall of Maevana, she snatches the opportunity to right his wrongs by forging a new identity and helping to reinstate the rightful queen using her ancestor’s memories. Though that means leaving a budding romance unexplored, she needs to find her purpose, and there is finally a sense of destiny pushing her forward. As she grows to learn more about herself, she gains a family and a purpose, and by the end transitions beautifully from our protagonist to our heroine. While there is also a satisfying romantic storyline, this book is ultimately about Brienna forging her path and figuring out where she fits into the world. If you’ve watched people around you confidently step off into their futures while you linger behind waiting to find out which direction is yours, then this story will resonate with you.

What follows is a wee bit spoilery.

The only nitpicky thing I have with this story is that there are parts of her parents history that goes unexplored, and then we never find our what happens with her biological brother and his house or where Brienna’s relationship stands with him in the end. I’m not sure if that’s because there will be a sequel where those will be addressed, but the story can otherwise act as a standalone novel. My unanswered question regarding her origins is that we’re led to believe originally that her father is a terrible human, and while that is mostly true, we later find that they loved each other and her mother even named Brienna after him. So then why not go to be with him and raise Brienna together? Her mother didn’t die until she was two years old, so she must’ve made the decision to stay away from him, but then why the love letters to him? Granted, this is essentially irrelevant as it’s history and she has a new family in the end, but it’s the puzzle of it that bugs me.

However, the story ultimately delivers where it counts, giving us great character development that you can identify with and a satisfying payoff.