This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, Furyborn, or don't mind knowing major spoilers for it.
SPOILER ALERT
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.
This was not the best time for me to read this book. Then again, I don't know if there's ever a good time to read a book like this, but definitely not when you're already feeling depressed. It's not uncommon for the 2nd book in a trilogy to be more depressing than the first, what with needing to set up for the more triumphant finale, but this one, I think, takes it to a new extreme. I mean, I don't even think Catching Fire (The Hunger Games) was this disheartening.
This time around, I felt myself not wanting to read any more about Rielle. It's probably to do with the whole time-travel aspect, plus already knowing exactly how her story ends from the prologue of the first book, but I just didn't want to read any more about her fall. Last time she was at least working toward something happy: controlling her powers, gaining love and recognition, and earning the title of Sun Queen. This time, though, you can tell early on that nothing good will come for her. This is truly the beginning of the end for her, and while I never did end up skipping her chapters, I was very, very tempted to, just to escape the dread of knowing what was coming.
But I'm glad I didn't, especially when hers and Eliana's stories began to reflect upon each other. Both characters experience their first attempts at healing one right after the other, and it was very revealing for both their characters. While Rielle's attempt focused on controlling the Empirium to do her will, Eliana focused more on guiding the Empirium to heal itself, returning it to its normal state of being rather than outright changing it. Even though both women are seeing essentially the same thing in the Empirium, they each have their own way of experiencing it, which was great to see.
They also experience their own lovemaking scenes one chapter after the other. Once again, I'm not sure I can fully classify this as YA, as the scenes are relatively descriptive. There's even a point in Rielle's story where the sex becomes rather forceful... So while the characters may be still in their late teens, and Eliana's still having a few coming-of-age themes in her story, I'm leaning towards more New Adult, than young...
I did find it refreshing, however, how sexually fluid our main characters are. Neither Rielle and Eliana are put off in the slightest about making out with other women. In fact, Eliana ranks two experiences with women at or above the level of her experiences with Harkan. There are also at least two instances of same-sex monarchs, as well as other gay secondary characters. So, while the main characters' primary relationships are both hetero/straight, there is a good amount of gay and bi representation throughout, none of which is demonized by religious organizations. In fact, I think a couple of their Saints were gay, but I may be misremembering.
I honestly don't know how this series will end. I thought I knew at the end of the first book; we'd see Rielle's eventual fall from humanity and siding with Corien (possibly planning to double-cross?), and Eliana would work on taking down the Emperor with the help of the rebels and her newfound powers. Now... Well, Rielle's trajectory hasn't changed much, but Eliana? Why did they have to introduce time travel into things?
Okay, obviously time travel is what starts out the entire series, with Simon and Eliana traveling 1000 into the future. But...what happens if they manage to change things? Would Eliana and Simon even have met? And if not, then how could they have gone back and changed things? So many paradoxes, it's mind-boggling. And now I don't have any idea what will happen in the finale.
I guess that's a good thing? I mean, it'd be kinda boring if you could predict how every series would end. But at the same time, the twist has almost completely thrown me off the series. Normally I like to go back and re-read the series leading up to the latest release, but Kingsbane was so depressing and heartbreaking to read that I don't know if I will ever want to go back to it. I guess I'll see how I feel next year(?)...
Overall, I think Kingsbane was well written, though maybe a little slow in places, and a great character study in how love, and grief and fear can shape people. Both story and characters are detailed and complex, and every chapter knows just how to end to where you want to get back to their story as quick as possible. Of course, you end up feeling that way for both storylines, so you're stuck reading the book as written. If you were intrigued by the first book, you'll definitely want to continue their stories, but I might recommend waiting until the next book is out so you're not left in so much despair for so long...
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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