I devoured the first book so I was excited to read this. The Rogue Queen is still a great story, but it was a little slower than the first. Kalinda still is awesome, strong, and a fighter. And I enjoyed getting to know her even better in this book.

This book just wasn’t for me, the writing style and me just didn’t mix but I can see how this would be enjoyable for many others

The Fire Queen by Emily R. King is the sequel of The Hundredth Queen. I enjoyed it but I think the first one was still better. This one was packed with action but the introduction of a love triangle kind of annoyed me (it's always so cheesy!!) I still cannot wait to see what will happen in the third one. Thank you NetGalley for a free ebook copy.

First of all, can we talk about how beautiful the covers for this series are? They are gorgeous and let's admit it really makes you want to read it even more, right?

Alright, book two...Kalinda is married to the dead rajah but the troubles is way far from over yet. The imperial city is overtaken by the warlord and now she must find Prince Ashwin, but of course things don't go as planned and when she meets Ashwin she ends up finding herself in another tournament. A tournament that will not only save her city, her friends but herself too.

The more time she spends with Ashwin the more confused she becomes, he resembles the dead rajah physical so much but inside they are so different and she finds that out by spending more and more time with him.

But once her powers are out in the open her life will get more complicated both personally and politically. And that will not be the only thing that will have to worry about, more danger is coming, more than she and everyone ever thought.

Once this book was over? I just was ready for the next one, more so than when the first one ended. I think book two was even better than book one, I cannot wait to continue with the series, it won't take long people, I'm planning on picking book 3 up next month, or maybe even this month :)

4.25 out 5 stars.

Need to read book 1 first before this as it is the 2nd in a series. Will update review after I read them both.

Following the events of The Hundredth Queen, Kalinda and Deven search for the rajah's son Ashwin - the only one who can release Kalinda from her duties to the kingdom, and clear the disgraced Deven of the charges of being a traitor. The prince has however made his way to the neighbouring kingdom of Janardan, seeking allies to drive out the rebels. Janardan is a land where unlike the Tarachand Empire, bhutas are not persecuted, but live like all others, serving the Sultan of the kingdom - all bhutas, except Burners who are hated and feared. Kalinda, now hiding several dangerous secrets and truths, finds herself in yet another deadly tournament - this time to defend her throne.

The world-building in this novel is absolutely beautiful, and through the events of the story, we get to learn more about the various kingdoms, the system of bhuta powers, along with the history behind it. The tournament and action scenes were well written and plot-wise, I like where the story is going.

On the downside, where I was impressed with Kalinda as a character in The Hundredth Queen, I am as disappointed this time around. For a main character, there is surprisingly little development in her personality and the full potential of the character, the possibilities her power holds is barely explored. Deven was not much better and his POVs were way too whiny. The plot also drags noticeably in parts, and it goes over a lot of the previous story more than necessary.

As a comparatively shorter novel, this is easily finished in one sitting. While I did not enjoy this as much as The Hundredth Queen, it is an imaginative story and it promises an exciting sequel that I hope to get around to reading very soon.

Readers are swept across the desert to the sultanate of Janardan, filled with the deadly beauty of King’s imaginative world. Kalinda finds herself surrounded by dangerous jungles, refugee camps, and Bhutas living openly and proudly, serving Sultan Kuval. Yet Kali cannot reveal she is also a Bhuta for her people still abhor the fire power of the burners.

Kali must compete once again. This time to keep her throne as the first wife of Raja Tarek’s son, Ashwin. It is the only way she can save her people, and Deven, from the atrocity of Kuval’s refugee camps and the chaos tearing their country apart.

Kalinda comes into her own in this book as she embraces her burner abilities as well as her role in the future of her people. Faced with the difficult choice between duty and her heart’s desire, Kalinda must decide between Prince Ashwin and Deven, all while keeping the sacred Zhaleh safe from those who would use it to release the Voider into the world.

I enjoyed seeing Kalinda test the boundaries of her burner powers. This time she is a warrior and a queen, better equipped to face the arena and win her place as Ashwin’s first rani. She faces fire, poison and a mysterious force within that she doesn’t yet understand.

The growth of both Kali and Natesa is a joy to see. Once enemies, the two women have overcome their differences and become loyal friends—a wonderful example of strong female characters for King’s young audience.

Readers will likely miss Deven’s presence in this book as he and Kalinda are torn apart upon their arrival at the sultan’s court, but I have high hopes of his return in the next book, The Rogue Queen.

Final Verdict:
The Fire Queen picks up right where book one left off, throwing the reader straight into the heart of another fast paced journey for Kalinda and those closest to her.

Love, love, love this series and I can't wait to see where it goes next! A great fantasy read by a Canadian author!

Thanks to Netgalley and Skyscape for giving me this book to review.

The Fire Queen is the light, fast paced sequel to The Hundredth Queen which improved on the world building and descriptive writing. However, I found the story very predictable as it was so similar to the first book. I also was not a fan of the love triangle in this book, and while I liked the alternating POVs in this book as we got to see more story, it did make me like Deven less.

Kali is a good character as she knows what she wants now and is very loyal to her country and the people in it. I wish Deven would grow a pair as in the entire book he was moping around, pushing people away, and then was upset that they weren’t around. I found Ashwin’s character a bit inconsistent but also naïve and a pushover. Brother Shaan’s character changed completely in this book as he seemed a bit shady.

While this book is not perfect I still enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading The Rogue Queen. I would recommend The Fire Queen to fans of the first book The Hundredth Queen.

Love love loved it! Seriously, Emily R. King is an absolute auto-buy for me! I adore this world and can't wait for many more books set in it! The Tarachand Empire is enthralling and I love all of the magic surrounding Kalinda. She's really coming into her powers in this one. And I don't care what anyone says, I will always love Ashwin the best.

Honestly, one of my favorite series. I absolutely love Emily King's writing. Reminds me a lot of the Wrath and the Dawn!

I absolutely adored the first book in this series and was really looking forward to the continuation with this second installment. I’m not sure exactly what didn’t click with me this time around, probably a combination of things, but I found I didn’t enjoy The Fire Queen nearly as much as The Hundredth Queen.

The pacing in this second installment was so incredibly slow for me, with not much in the way of action. Instead, the bulk of it, seems to be very introspective with characters dealing with their own internal struggles and qualms, and I would have liked some more dialogue and some more kind of “hashing it out”, so to speak. I realize that the events that led the characters to this specific point were life-changing, incredibly altering, and certainly the characters need time and space to sort of get their heads back together, and that’s understandable. But to me, there was too much time spent inside their heads and not enough time outside - which slackened the pace considerably.

The characters this time around have changed for me, and not so much in a good way. Too much “Debbie Downer” and while I recognize that this isn’t exactly a happy-go-lucky series, at times they were too down. And again, I recognize that prior events have shaped them, but to devote almost an entire 50% of a book to their new and dim personas kind of made me dim and down, and I eventually couldn’t force myself to pick this back up. And perhaps it’s a time/space thing, maybe I’m not in the right headspace to read about so much struggle, but it just overall wasn’t working for me. I may pick this series back up in the future because I do like the characters, I do like their strength outside of this story, and I do love the feminism and girl power, and I certainly may enjoy down the road. I’m not writing this trilogy off completely because I loved the first one too much, but I’m putting it off for now and will pick it up again when I have a fresh mindset. I’ve already purchased The Fire Queen and will pick up The Rogue Queen when it hits shelves, so it will most definitely make it back to my tbr sometime soon.

This is the second book in The Hundredth Queen series....This was not a favorite for me, it seems to have the same plot line as the first book. Except instead of marrying the Emperor, she has to marry his son the Prince...Kalinda is manipulated, once again into fighting for a marriage she doesn't want but is trying to help those she loves. Deven is with her but afraid of her? Like your the Fire Queen, she cold do serious damage but she doesn't..... I would read this book if you have a chance but be prepared for disappointment in the main character. *eARC Netgalley*

I thought this was an interesting read and concept. It had lots of potential. I feel like this was a title many fell in the extremes of. I love stories that cover other cultures than the default euro/aryan cultures for as much as I love them. This is very much a YA title because of all the typical tropes and somewhat insta-love concepts which I absolutely hate. At the same time Kali and Jaya is a friendship that is really close that may be mistaken as a lesbian, which there's nothing wrong with that. I like how the story exposes relationships outside of the heteronormative.

Kali and Devin I have a love-hate relationship with because I love the guard-princess trope, but it's just how sudden they fall for each other. I think the most I can really say is that it was okay. There was nothing spectacular about the story, but it wasn't horrible either. I almost wish this was more an adult title than YA. There's a certain event of detail you can and cannot have with YA. Some titles are better concepts not as YA.

Overall, very high potential if the series steers away from cliches.

I didn't like the first book or couldn't get into it... sorry wasn't my cup of tea I shall say! But I tried!

What can I say about this book other than the plot was underwhelming and the characterization weak. I forced my self to read each subsequent chapter after the first. The first book was good, the second is, for the most part, a failure in my opinion.

Great addition to the series, can't wait for the next installment!

Beautiful cover art! This is second in The Hundredth Queen series, the main character Kalinda is again thrust into a tournament that puts her life and her people at risk. She becomes more powerful in this sequel, and more aggressively fights for her throne, hoping that her actions will improve her people’s lives. I enjoy love triangles but I know not everyone does. Overall good read!

Major spoilers ahead so if you haven't read the book and are going to then avoid reading.

This literally took me like a month to finish and I can't believe I did. I was so ready to dnf it at certain points.

I was at around 27% in and ready to give up when I had to wait for my laptop to update which took forever, so carried on reading and got to 80% when the updates were finally done! Wth.

This book continues with Kalinda after winning her title of Kindred in the last book and killing Rajeh Tarek, going to track down Prince Ashwin who is Rajah Tarek's son and a carbon copy of him (who everyone keeps thinking is Rajeh Tarek at first and I'm just like get a grip, because his son looks the exact same age as him? Yeah right.) I imagine Rajeh Tarek like some kind of genie but evil like Jafar in Aladdin when he turns himself into one. He literally pops out of the Zhaleh like yes I will grant your wish! Although it's not really him but the Voider on his form but seriously why bring back that awful man in any form???!

So this one goes to both Kalinda and Deven's point of views and both in first person. When reading Deven's POV I was just like no! I'm sorry but I don't particularly like him, he has no chemistry with Kalinda at all, no personality, and they fall in love far too quickly and for no reason at all but simply because they are attracted to each other. Okay, Kalinda is feisty and outspoken and draws pretty pictures, but Deven has literally nothing going for him. If it was his brother Brac, then he has all the personality, funny, sarcastic, cool and hot (in the literal and figurative sense). Although HE IS HARDLY IN THIS BOOK. I'M RAGING. Like only in the first I'd say 11% of the book and THAT'S IT.

So this book is pretty much like the first in a way. Kali has to basically fight her way to the throne against other contenders, however this time they are Bhuta's. Someone falls in love with her (Prince Ashwin - again for no real reason at all), she fights, she runs, she hides, uses her powers, etc. If you asked me what this book was about I'd just simply have no words to tell you.

I upped this from the two stars in my head to three because I actually got through it and there were some things I did like. Those things (or people) are: Natesa and Yatin, Opal and Rohan, Indra and Pons. More so than the MC's. And sorry Deven but I didn't like you at all.
I'm not desperate for the next book but I do hope it is better than this one.

The Fire Queen is the sequel to Emily R. King’s fantastic debut novel, The Hundredth Queen and is a stellar follow up to its predecessor, drawing readers further into a lush and dangerous desert world that’s as appealing as it is threatening…..

Having only just managed to escape with her life, warrior queen Kalinda finds herself forced into exile at the hands of the warlord who has invaded the palace of her late husband, Rajah Tarak. Haunted by dreams and memories of the tyrant she was forced to marry, Kalinda and those closest to her--including her enemy-turned-friend Natesa and the man she loves Captain Deven Nirik, now disgraced and striped of his rank for his actions against the rajah--seek asylum and assistance from one of the Kingdom’s neighbouring Sultan’s. Kalinda hopes to find the heir to the empire of Tarachand, Prince Ashwin and restore him to his rightful place on the throne, but when the only way to do so includes participating in another brutal tournament, can Kalinda once again harness her fears or will enemies bring Kalinda once again to her knees?

Taking place almost two months after the conclusion of The Hundredth Queen, The Fire Queen picks up with a flourish; exploring new aspects of the desert landscape Emily R. King introduced her readers to in the first novel. The Fire Queen was as well paced as the first novel and I loved seeing the characters from the first novel back, as well as new friends and allies for Kalinda and Deven.

One of the biggest changes King brings to this second novel is the alteration of the way in which the novel unfolds. After following Kalinda for the whole duration of The Hundredth Queen, I was both surprised and then delighted when I began reading The Fire Queen and discovered that the story was now told through both Kalinda and Deven’s alternating POV’s. Considering the nature of The Fire Queen and the fact Kalinda and Deven spent a large portion separated from each other, following Deven as well helps offer a better rounded version of the story than if we were still following Kalinda only. It also didn’t hurt to have a glimpse into the mind and heart of our male lead and love interest.

Personally I think this series is shaping up very well. Kalinda continues to grow into her powers and her capabilities and remains a strong heroine to follow. I enjoy the relationships she has with the other characters and the way they interact with each other. I think Natesa and Yatin are sweet and really want more of Brac. I’m still on the fence with my feelings for Prince Ashwin, although I am fully behind Deven and Kalinda’s relationship.

The Fire Queen is filled with plenty of twists and turns you won’t necessarily anticipate. Emily R. King ends The Fire Queen with a story shaping development that leaves the characters once more facing a massive challenge. Personally I can’t wait until the third novel releases and will be looking to read it as soon as possible!