The Queen Will Betray You

May 1, 2021

Gr 8 Up-Princess Amarande and her love Luca return from their adventures in The Princess Will Save You to face grander threats than pirates and kidnappers. Amarande's long-absent mother has returned and is determined to put Ama's illegitimate brother on the throne. Meanwhile, Luca must find an underground rebellion and earn their trust as the long-lost heir to the throne. Matters are further complicated by the machinations of Queen Ines, who intends to claim every country for her own, no matter who sits upon the throne. Unlikely alliances and betrayals wait around every corner as the young leaders work to reclaim their kingdoms. This fast-paced sequel doubles down on the strengths of the first book with nonstop action and increasingly deadly intrigue. There are some plot points and coincidences that require a little too much hand waving (like a tattoo that remains unchanged from infancy to adulthood and a continent that can seemingly be crossed on horseback in less than a day). The romance feels disappointingly thin as the protagonists are once again separate for most of the book, but this time they have other things to worry about. Ama's relationship with the charismatic and complicated Prince Taillefer, who is with her for much of the story, is more interesting and electric than her repeated intonations of "my love" when thinking of Luca. VERDICT A fast-paced installment in the Princess Bride-inspired series. Give to teens who love swordplay or want a less gruesome alternative to Game of Thrones.-Amy Diegelman, Chicago P.L.

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June 1, 2021
The Princess Bride meets Game of Thrones in this follow-up to 2020's The Princess Will Save You. Tucking in a red wedding to clue in the clueless and occasional summaries to help everyone else keep up, Henning picks up the action from the end of the last volume and pushes her gender-swapped homage to William Goldman's fantasy classic to a gore-splashed happy ending. Alas, fun as it may be to work through a tale rich in thinly disguised references ("My name is Ulara Vidal. You killed my mother"), panting romance, and so much royal back- and front-stabbing that readers will surely be moved to wonder, along with a secondary character, "what in the stars is wrong with you people?" the action seems incidental to ruminations, ramifications, and analyses, mostly about incidents from years past--with more than enough sudden, gap-filling flashbacks, lines like "the body fell with a moist thud," and outright fudging (quicksand with tunnels underneath? Really?) to impart a distinct sense of authorial I'm-just-making-this-up-as-I-go. There's also a certain disconnect in the agenda to end the oppressive, albeit peace-maintaining, patriarchy that drives the three bloody-minded queens and around which the story revolves. The cast presents as White except for the residents of one nation who are described as having burnished brown skin. No dragons but plenty of fierce women hacking their ways to power and true love. (Fantasy. 14-18)

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July 30, 2021
Grades 9-12 There are actually two treacherous queens in this second Sand and Sky novel, and though they're both aligned against each other, they'd like nothing more than to see the end of Princess Amarande and Luca, stable boy turned long-lost king of Torrence. One queen is Geneva, Amarande's mother, who left when the princess was a baby. Geneva returns with Ferdinand, Amarande's half brother, and she intends for him to take the crown. The other is Ines, mother of the lamented Prince Renard, who tried to force Amarande to marry him. Intrigue, combats great and small, and plot twists abound as Amarande escapes her mother's machinations to join Luca, bringing along an unlikely companion: Talliefer, Prince Renard's younger brother. The novel is largely plot driven, but the characters show further development, particularly Talliefer--with his backstory fully revealed, he grows more sympathetic to the reader. Henning conquers the second book slump, the hobgoblin of series books, with aplomb, leaving readers exhausted from their vicarious adventure but eagerly awaiting the next installment.

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