When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable—until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world—and of each other.
This book is one helluva ride. Switching between the perspectives of two formidable women, it was never easy to put this book down, and I loved it.
Beginning with the prologue, Rielle is shown to be a powerhouse, strong and confident in her power and not taking shit from anyone. So it's even more fascinating seeing her story begin with her afraid of her own powers. As the daughter of the king's guard's captain, her life has been spent in comfort of nobility, but tinged with regret and fear of what she has done.
Juxtapose that with Eliana who is a bit full of herself and her abilities, though not fully committed to how she's employed. She's grown up on the streets, eking out a living on assassinations carried out for the empire. And though she's excellent with her blades, that hasn't prepared her for the strange disappearances ravaging her city, nor the heartache that follows.
I think I liked Eliana just a tad better than Rielle. Then again, Rielle's case isn't helped much knowing how she ends up from the prologue. So while Rielle's story is interesting from a "what went wrong" perspective, Eliana's is completely unknown territory. Plus she named her blades - how awesome is that?! Still, I assume both stories will continue into the next book(s), so there's still a lot to learn about both of them, so I might still change my mind.
Both girls, however, were the epitome of strong female characters. Nevermind that they possessed supernatural powers, both of them were forced to deal with heartbreak, fear, doubt, rage, and turmoil, and both came out of their trials fighting. They even both have destinies being thrown about their heads, but it does little to encourage them. If anything, Rielle's prophecy makes life harder for her. You'd think people would NOT want to piss her off or try to kill her if she could be one of two queens - light or blood. Gee, I wonder if torturing someone might make them a little vengeful? Good job, dad, Church, etc.
But I digress - cause I could be talking about this book all day.
I'm not really sure whether to mark this as YA or new adult. There were a couple times when I thought they were alluding to sex a bit strongly, but nothing more than I'd deem 'typical' these days. Then nearly 3/4 through the book there is a full-on, descriptive sex scene. Now, I personally don't have any hangups over it, but I know describing sex (instead of implying it or time-skipping past it) is usually a big no-no in the YA section. So if that's something that really bothers you, maybe skip chapter 41.
I wouldn't call the ending a major cliffhanger, but there's definitely a lot still left to resolve. Rielle's story hasn't yet caught up to the prologue (and I assume not everything is as it seems), and there's war on the horizon. And Eliana's story is veering off in a new direction entirely. If I didn't already love this book, I'd be pissed at it pulling me into another incomplete series. I eagerly await Ms. Legrand's next installment.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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