The Rogue Queen by Emily R. King is the thrilling third installment in the Hundredth Queen series, continuing the epic journey of Kalinda, a fierce and determined heroine fighting to save her world from destruction. Packed with action, intrigue, and romance, this novel delves deeper into the complex politics and magic of King’s richly imagined world, offering fans a satisfying and intense continuation of the saga.

The story picks up with Kalinda facing the aftermath of a deadly plague and the rise of a new, formidable enemy: the demon Raja Tarek, who has returned from the dead with plans to conquer the world and unleash an ancient evil. As Kalinda struggles with the burden of her powers and the weight of leadership, she must navigate treacherous alliances and confront her own inner demons to protect those she loves.

King’s portrayal of Kalinda is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. Kalinda continues to grow as a character, balancing her vulnerability with her unwavering courage and sense of duty. Her journey in The Rogue Queen is not just about physical battles, but also about the emotional and psychological struggles she faces as a leader and a warrior. Kalinda’s internal conflict—torn between her responsibilities and her personal desires—adds depth to her character and makes her relatable to readers.

The novel’s world-building is expansive and immersive, with King expanding on the intricate mythology and cultures introduced in the previous books. The blend of magic, religion, and politics creates a complex and believable world where every action has far-reaching consequences. The stakes are higher than ever in this installment, with Kalinda’s decisions carrying the potential to either save or doom her entire world.

The supporting characters in The Rogue Queen also shine, with their relationships with Kalinda adding layers of emotional complexity to the story. Deven, Kalinda’s love interest, faces his own set of challenges, and his loyalty and love for Kalinda are tested in ways that bring tension and intensity to their relationship. The dynamic between Kalinda and her allies, including Ashwin and Indah, is well-developed, showcasing the importance of trust, sacrifice, and camaraderie in the face of overwhelming odds.

One of the novel’s highlights is its pacing. King expertly balances action-packed sequences with quieter moments of character development and introspection. The plot is fast-moving, with plenty of twists and surprises that keep readers on the edge of their seats. The battles are vividly described, capturing the chaos and brutality of war, while the moments of magic are imbued with a sense of wonder and danger.

Romance plays a significant role in The Rogue Queen, with Kalinda’s relationships providing both strength and complication to her journey. The love triangle between Kalinda, Deven, and Ashwin is handled with care, adding emotional tension without overshadowing the main plot. King explores the complexities of love, duty, and loyalty, showing how these themes influence the characters’ decisions and the course of the story.

While The Rogue Queen delivers on action and romance, it also tackles deeper themes such as sacrifice, power, and the cost of leadership. Kalinda’s struggle to balance her personal desires with her responsibilities as a queen is a central theme, reflecting the challenges of leadership in a world fraught with danger and uncertainty. King’s exploration of these themes adds depth to the story, making it more than just a fantasy adventure.

The novel’s ending sets the stage for the final installment in the series, leaving readers eager to see how Kalinda’s story will conclude. King wraps up some plot threads while introducing new challenges, ensuring that the stakes remain high as the series progresses toward its conclusion.

The Rogue Queen is a strong and compelling addition to the Hundredth Queen series, filled with the elements that fans have come to love: fierce battles, complex characters, and a richly developed world. Emily R. King has crafted a novel that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, offering a satisfying continuation of Kalinda’s journey while setting the stage for an epic conclusion. Fans of the series and lovers of epic fantasy will find much to enjoy in this action-packed, emotionally resonant story.

The Rogue Queen by Emily R. King

This. Was. Amazing. I don't know how to write about this without spoiling earlier books (or this one, for that matter), but oh my goodness. The Rogue Queen is action-packed from beginning to end, and left me so excited for the next one! I love how this series has evolved and circumstances have changed. I love the characters (even the secondary ones). I love the writing style, and how emotion is conveyed. I cried. Of course, I cried. I;m mad that this book broke my rule of not crying! LOL. All in all, this was stunning and I need more.

This series continues to get better and better. Stronger depth in writing and stronger character development. Oh goodness what an ending!

I really, really loved this series and I absolutely finished this book. I found the writing to keep me hooked on the plot, and the love story. It was the perfect balance of a world-building story and a character-driven fantasy.

Emily brings us the third book in the The Hundreth Queen series and Oh Man, this series just gets better with each book, the story line gets better, the characters' development gets better, the world build is even better. EVERYTHING is better. Seriously, if you haven't started this series yet, because you are not sure if you will like it, just read the first book and trust me, you will be hooked.

So, Kalinda is back in this book and after surviving a marriage to a tyrant and tournaments to her death now she literally has to fight for everyone. She cannot think only about herself, even though it's really tempting, the world is not what it was when things started out for her. The demon is destroying everything and everyone and he will not stop no matter what. And Kalinda knows that she has to take back the empire and fight him even if it will cost losing what she loves the most.

I can't wait to see where the next book is going to bring us and Kalinda, where the whole story is going to go, how it will all end. But I also don't want it do end, which is why I haven't read it yet lol.

Emily create this magical place that I don't want to leave and that I'm totally loving it...

I got a free copy of the book from NetGalley.

4 out of 5 stars for this one...bring on the last book!

Great fantasy with an awesome premise!! I fell in love with the settings and characters. Fantasy fans, this is for you! Read it!

The Rogue Queen by Emily R King is so action packed. Kalinda’s spirit is really what keeps me going in this series. The queen is such an amazing character. This installment in the series covers a war with the demon Rajah. It is very interesting how demons entered the series. Everyone is trying to be part of this war and there is so much pain and suffering. Yet this book was so good.

Kalinda is as stubborn and reckless as ever before. She is constantly trying to save the day. The issue with Kalinda is just never thinks things through. She just lets her heart lead her all over the place. Then there is Ashwin. I was expecting everyone to just hate him but they didn’t. Ashwin took responsibility for his actions and tried to fix things. This book is really all about Deven. It is about time that we got a book that focused on him and showed him develop as a character. Everyone loves Deven. People trust him because he has proven to be a great leader. I just love his characters so much.

King’s writing is fantastic in this installment. She brings this book to life so well. I have really enjoyed this series. I think that King has brought some fantastic characters to our lives and a beautiful world. Her writing is so colorful and easy to read. I look forward to more from King.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series. This book does not disappoint it picks up right where the second one leaves off and it is a must read. It’s a bit slow moving at times however I’m still very glad to have read it.

Not as good as the second one, though better than the first. The love triangle wasn't done well, or it didn't work well for me (not really fond of love triangles), and I ended up rooting for the other guy (Ashwin) and disliking Deven a little. Also, things got a little convenient at times, with Tarek so powerful and at the end defeated so easily. But again, I had the urge to read to the end, so that's a good thing - though I think the story would've been better if this was the last book. It feels like the author decided to alter the ending to make a fourth book possible. I haven't read the fourth book yet though, so I can't say if my assessment is right.

Its been a long time since I picked this series up, but loved it. It felt slower than the first two but was still interesting.

It was good to see Deven have a point of view. It kept things interesting. I liked seeing Ashwin and Kalinda figure out their paths together.

This was a good continuation of the series. My general thoughts still remain the same: solid series, good characterisation, still not that into Deven.

The Rogue Queen picks up where the last book left us, with Kali and her small group of companions are on the run from the Voider, the demon that was unleashed at the end of the last book, who took the place of the dead Rajah Tarek. Kali fights a sickness brought on by the touch of the Voider, causing weakness, injury as well as an imbalance of her fire gift. The group knows that a dangerous war is brewing for their empire, of good versus bad, that will have surprises and betrayals. But the real question is who will survive?

Gah, Kali made so many choices that I wanted to reach into the pages and force her to take back! Sure, I understand the idea of the good of the empire (thank goodness for all you that I am not in charge of an empire because I vote love over the good of all...) but it was so difficult to support what was happening, especially when I could sense the underlying darkness. This book made my heart hurt with the emotional upheaval that took place. The men in Kali's life pretty much got whiplash from the ups and downs of this roller coaster relationship and my heart really broke for all of them. Nothing has ever been easy for Kali.

Sigh, how I missed Deven, and his loyalty and even disposition! Deven was the second narrator in the book and I was ever so happy to get his voice again, I needed his point of view to keep me going in the face of so many hard choices. Can I just mention how happy I was that Deven made a choice based on what he felt was right and not from his emotions due to the guilt trip a certain powerful Kindred gave him? Deven has always been the vice of reason, the paragon of virtue and I love that about him- no matter what has happened, what love is lost, he will always fight for what is right. Sniff, sniff.

I loved seeing characters from all different parts of the past books pop up, all showing how everything is tied together and that the fate of the empire for everyone is in question (Natessa and Yatin make me so happy!). The tension just kept building and building throughout the book- I was literally on the edge of my seat while reading, grasping the book with both hands, white knuckles, waiting for the moment everything would come crashing down around these people I have become invested in. Sure there was some nice fighting and action thrown in to, but I feel like the body of the story was setting me up for the huge climax in the plot.

There is just one book left in the series and with the number of surprises Emily has thrown at me and these characters, I have no idea what will happen next- everyone's fate is questionable. I can only hope for a HEA for Kali, but I am ever so worried as to what devastation will come (the ending!). I hold my breath and very willingly jump into the last leg of this magical, dangerous journey. I hope I can survive it too!
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I enjoyed this book a lot; I love stories where an individual is trapped in an evil situation that at first looks hopeless but eventually starts being conquered. The characters were mesmerizing and the story flowed in an interesting manner. I enjoyed this book and author.

Many thanks go to Emily King, Skyscape, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.I have every book in this series. It's very fluidly written. It's also really good on audio. The main female character doesn't always come across as strong as I'd like her to be though. She's really mushy . In fact there is just about as much romance in these books as there is adventure. I'm not much on love stories. But I do love magic powers, so sometimes that balances out. I think the villain could be much more ruthless too. I think that's what I need-more extremes.

I really loved this series. This book although I had more trouble getting through and took me a few sittings. The beginning was slow and then everything happened so fast in the last few chapters. Still a good read and will be waiting for the final chapter

❝ "Dutiful men are all the same-- martyrs. You want for everything but take nothing for yourself. You sacrifice your own happiness for others and validate your ensuing misery with your magnanimous loyalty." ❞

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book!

The Rogue Queen was another great continuation of the Hundredth Queen series. After surviving yet another tournament and facing one of her greatest enemies, Kalinda still isn't done. Not only does she have to deal with demon's effects on her powers, but she has to figure out what her heart wants: Devin or Ashwin, love or her throne. I also want to say that the book did a fantastic job of summarizing up the previous events in the beginning, which I could really appreciate since I can sometimes forget what happened if it's been a while.

As usual, I wasn't thrilled about the romance in this book. I haven't cared for it since the first book because it's all felt like insta-love for me (sorry Devin). And although we still had the love triangle with Kalinda, Devin, and Ashwin in this book I understood it better in The Rogue Queen. At first, it was very annoying reading from Kalinda's perspective because she was always swooning over Ashwin and wondering if her being attracted to him was the same as loving him. She was just very naive and lovestruck. I thought it was silly/annoying, but I was glad we were given an explanation later in the book where this all makes sense. I thought it was an interesting and logical approach to it, and I could accept it.

In book two it felt like Devin was being really petty and self-pitying so I wasn't a fan of his period and that didn't change with this book either. I still felt like Devin was prideful and too concerned with his rank. It's understandable that he felt lost for a while because that had been his whole life, but I felt it was time he showed some growth and started to move past it. To his credit, I guess you can say he did start moving past his rank in this book. I respected him more when he fought his jealousy and tried to understand that Kalinda was doing what was necessary to save her people/friends.

Ashwin was pretty much the same story. I didn't like him at first, but I did respect him more towards the end. My big problem with his character (which started in book two) was that he instantly fell in love with Kalinda. Seriously, it was love at first sight for him and he was super obvious. I have a problem with characters that instantly fall in love (which is why I don't care for any of the romances in this book) because it doesn't feel organic. If you don't care much about that then this book will be even more fun; it's still fun with the romance, but since I don't enjoy it that always knocks off a star for me.

Aside from that, my only other issue was that he tended to keep Kalinda out of the loop for big decisions (to be fair, Kalinda did the same thing sometimes). I think that was just due to his inexperience being a ruler, and he did better later on.

❝ Healer Baka once told me that peace is a choice. A decision not to be at odds with the world. I have been at odds with Tarek for so long, I know no other way. But we are not the same. I have to make a better choice than he did. I must let go, or I will earn a place with him. ❞

And the last character I'll talk about is Kalinda--because how could I not talk about her, haha! But yeah, Kalinda was still a great character in this book. She fought for those that couldn't defend themselves. Although, she did have some rough moments. Without spoiling anything, Kalinda's powers take a hit because of the events in the last book and she finds a temporary solution (a bad one) that she takes up a couple times in the book. I wasn't happy that she did it--and yes, she felt bad afterward. But still.

I think we saw a more vulnerable Kalinda in this book because she actually fell into temptation and made some bad/harmful decisions. She was also a bit childish when she went back to the temple and tried to do away with the whole Claiming aspect. She acted irrationally. It felt like "I'm the Queen so I can do whatever I want". I just think she could've been more tactful about it and that she should've told Ashwin her intentions since they were supposed to be working together.

And the last thing I'll say about Kalinda is that I enjoyed the character growth that came with her facing Rajah Tarek. I liked that this came back into play and that she was able to face her feelings and move past this. It felt too wrapped up in the first book and I'm glad that she actually addressed this.

Now, let's talk plot and pacing. Did I enjoy the plot of this book? Yes! But, it wasn't perfect. I felt like the whole series was building up to this big bad enemy and then... it was all over in a flash. This is actually an issue I had with every book. It's nice to have things move along but it's kind of right on the edge of being too fast? I just expected our big enemy to take more than one book to defeat is all. It's not terrible enough to say that I didn't like it, and maybe we'll still get to see more of him in the next book considering how this one ended.

And that ending! Intense and gripping! I was so worried about our characters, I wanted to see how everything would play out and when the big battle happened I was not disappointed. As always, I won't spoil things, but when the characters went underwater... nail-biting. Admittedly, I wasn't too surprised with the "reveal" at the end regarding that. And it totally left me eager to read the next book. I can't wait to see how Kalinda's journey progresses and how this series wraps up.

Overall, another great hit in the series! One that I recommend for fantasy lovers!

The Rogue Queen was released on February 13th so go check it out, it's a great book/series! <3

I'm not really sure what to say about The Rogue Queen. I loved The Hundredth Queen and The Fire Queen was alright, but I feel like I'm enjoying the books in this series less and less as they go on.

We're switching from the competition-style plot now into more fantasy war/epic battle type stuff. Not a bad thing, I'm there for all that, but what I found happened was the action scenes were just words on the page, the entwined romance needed to just disappear, and I no longer like our protagonist, Kalinda.

The magical aspect is much stronger in The Rogue Queen, with Kalinda's Burner powers on the fringe as they slowly destroy her. Which, you know, sounds like a good tension builder because you don't know what will happen to her. Instead, I found that I couldn't care less if Kali did get killed off and a side character stepped in because they were more interesting. Kali's been the same in every book. She's warring with herself between duty and her heart which gets her into trouble. It went from interesting to boring. Three books in and they're predictable. She's a sister warrior who's trained and fought and should be pretty kick-butt at this point but instead she's the weak one being cared for by everyone around her.

What really gets me is that this ENTIRE TIME Kalinda is fighting for a change in how her world works and yet none of it really changes. I feel like she's just trading one rajah for another, the son for the father, where the son is a nicer person but that's it. And don't get me started on the romance-thing between him and Kali because that was just a mess.

Actually, the entire romance subplot was a mess.

First. Love triangle. And not done well either so UGH. Then, for the THIRD TIME Kalinda and Deven are kept apart. My biggest issue with this is that in the last book, King introduced Deven as another point-of-view character, alternating chapters between the two. That happened again in The Rogue Queen (and I still don't like Deven's PoV) but she is still keeping the two apart.

There's slow burn romances and then there's frustration to the point that you lose the reader. That's where I am. The whole "forbidden romance" deal gets old.

I won't even comment on the ending because I saw no reason for it to even exist. The story could have ended, in my opinion. The book could have been the third and last. Yet instead there's this random ending that made no sense and we're getting a fourth book.

I can't with this book, y'all. I'm not sure I've ever read a series where I progressively disliked each book more as they went on. I LOVED The Hundredth Queen so it's really disappointing seeing the direction the books have taken. I'm not sure if I'll read The Warrior Queen (book 4). Part of me is considering it since I've read up to this point but we shall see. It's safe to say The Rogue Queen was a disappointment.

This book picks up right where the second book ends. For me, it was a little slow in the beginning and made it hard for me to get back into the world, but once that action got going I was drawn in.

These books have romance, but they are not about the romance. They are about women. Women who fight, women who make the best with what they have. And that really comes across in this book. First of all, what appears to be a typical love triangle is turned on its head. I really liked how King works with Kalinda and Devin. I love that Devin lets Kalinda be herself and do what she needs to do, rather than being stupid and possessive. Their relationship is refreshing to read and needed in a genre where often controlling and somewhat abusive men are idealized.

Plot-wise, it was okay. People move around and things happen to further the plot of the series and set everything up for the final book. But in terms of character arc, this book really shone. There were a couple very poignant scenes for me. The first is when Kalinda confronts the reality of the place she was raised, and what it really means for girls and women like her. That scene I feel like is the message of the book, if not the entire series. Kalinda's decisions are to better the world for other women like her. The second scene that punched me in the feels is where Kalinda faces the hate that she holds in her heart against Tarek, the cruel sultan who forced her to marry and fight. In the scene, she realizes the freedom and peace that comes with forgiveness. That scene made me cry, literally cry sobbing tears, and I feel it was the crux of the entire plot and Kalinda's character arc.

Overall, a very satisfying mid-series book. If you haven't read this series I would highly recommend it!

Just love this series, loved the characters more!!!! Just wonderfully written. I could not put it down !!!!