When I started in the first book, I was pretty exciting. But in the first 10 chapters I found out the writingstyl wasn't really my thing. I couldn't get into the story and it felt like there was a lot of extra information that wasn't really that important. Since I wasn't able to finish the first book, I can't really say anything about this sequel. But I hope other readers will enjoy it!

I've been looking forward to this sequel since the twist end of book one and I must say, it met and exceeded all of my expectations. It wastes no time jumping straight into the action, and each beat of the plot is paced well and has much more impact than some of the various kidnappings and capturings of the first book.

The violence and spoils of war are much more graphic and shocking this time around, and I'm glad this series isn't afraid to shy away from the harsh actions that cruel, manipulative leaders are willing to take to keep their power.

There were some amazing whammy lines in this book - especially from Taillefer, and as much as I hate to say it, I love how absolutely terrible he is. I also love that, even two books in, some characters' true intentions and alliances are unclear to us. I can't wait to learn even more about Ferdinand and Osana in future books.

Worldbuilding was definitely solidified as well. The five kingdoms and their tangled web of deceit, manipulation, and betrayal were so fun to watch unfold. I may be in the minority here, but I very much enjoy political buffoonery amongst the action and romance.

The ship tease in this book is absolutely delicious. Between Osana and Ferdinand, and Ula and Urtzi, (and did I see a hint of Amarande/Taillefer happening for a second there?) I was just overwhelmed with the amount of secretive romantic tension, which was my favorite thing about the first book.

I wish we got more time with Luca and Amarande together, and more of Luca being a leader and his own person in general. I feel like he definitely took a backseat in this book, which is a shame.

Overall, The Queen Will Betray You was a vast improvement from the first, which I still enjoyed, though not nearly as much as this one. Even though the titles of this series essentially give away the brunt of the plot, the complex characters and each step they take through their journeys to reach the slightly obvious conclusion is immensely entertaining.

This was great--even better than the first one, and I really enjoyed the first book as well! The writing is lush and immersive, the court politics are well thought out, the characters are compelling, and so many of them are raw, interesting, and rough around the edges.
I love Amarande, Luca, and was really interested in the new characters added in this rendition.
Great read!!

"Even the best of us are willing to lie for those we love."
"The worst of us, too."
The Princess Will Save You amazed me with how fluid you can get with both storytelling, fast pacing the plot still keeping all the action interesting and clear. Conclusion to Amarande's story we find here felt a bit different, but still kept the best values. Yet again our heroes are on the journey to fight for their homelands, and people they keep in their hearts. All secrets seem to unravel before their eyes, sometimes leaving only confusion and fear for the future, others letting them understand the past.

"If we survive, I will explain. If I die in the process, please forgive me without my answers. I have made mistakes, but I have always loved you."
Amarande still grieving her father has to face his and her own mistakes, her own blood turning on her and making her way harder than ever. Friend or foe, and many others, especially the motive of two mothers and their twisted tales made me think a lot about Avatar reading this book, and I mean it in a best way possible. If you're a fan of Ursa's episode, you'll love hearing struggles of upbringing a royal offsprings here too. Add Amarande's own voice for justice and independence, and you'll get a perfect realm story mix.

"Princess, your father saw greatness in you every day.""Of all his plans, you were his best one, and I failed you both by thinking I could repair it myself."
I loved the way Amarande&co questioned themselves every step their made on their journey, instead of being prickly proud of their heritage. It made them vulnerable yet powerful, and let me see teen-dream-team of ya in completely new light. We do have to take advice of our superiors, still making our own choices.

"Which is why we must make the first mark."
If you've loved first book, your love will last for second. If you're from the opposite camp, you should still give it a try, as here you can dive into the world of Sand and Sky and question your view on the heir apparents squad.

Dare I say it? I liked book 2, this one, better than the first book. Often sequels are a bit of a let down, but this one wasn't.

The Queen Will Betray You starts up right after the twist epilogue of The Princess Will Save You, and it's a wild ride filled with conspiracies, political intrigue, betrayals, backstabbing, and more. Also, this book provides Princess Bride references and I think they were done better here than the almost carbon-copied from Princess Bride scenes in book one.

Also, I liked the characters in this one! We have backstabbing, powerful queens, scheming kings, and a certain cunning, trickster prince (shhh Taillefer is my favorite character). Luca and Ama are still a power couple who save each other - although I still wish we got more scenes with the two of them, as they are mostly apart in this series. (Also can we have more of Ula & Urtzi, I just want them to be happy (preferably in a KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE way)). Honestly, I loved all the character dynamics in this novel!

All in all, this one expanded upon the plot set up in book one, and was a more enjoyable read. (Also there's evidently going to be a book 3 called The King Will Kill You? So, can't wait to see what shenanigans and plots follow our characters...)

Many thanks to NetGalley & Tor Teen for this eARC. I really enjoyed this novel (and getting the push I needed to finally read The Princess Will Save You).

It’s noticeable that those who love this series say in their reviews that they’ve never seen or read The Princess Bride. I think for me – a long term fan (many decades) of that film – that might why I’ve enjoyed these books but not loved them. They’re not direct retellings and everyone enjoys an easter egg or two, but they do try to redo parts of The Princess Bride which in my opinion don’t need to be redone. They even suggest that the original story was not well understood. So that grated. Basically this series does it best when its doing its own thing imo. However, I think this was a better book than the prequel. There was less fluff and more politics. It’s fast paced and fun and Luca at least, is a very likeable character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a free copy of the ebook ARC. It was my choice to read and review.

So, as I said in my review of book #1 (The Princess will Save you) I had seen it all over Instagram and wanted to get to it. Receiving this ARC gave me the push I needed to start the series and continue with this ebook ARC of book 2. I LOVED the first one and while many other reviewers are saying that they liked this second one even more, I actually disagree. It was still really good and I liked it a lot but I didn't connect with it as much as I did with the first one. While I could not stop listening to the first one, with this one, I found myself taking breaks and not having that urgency to read non-stop. I also was a bit disappointed with one of the twists towards the beginning because I felt like it was pretty predictable. But, there are many other twists that I did not expect, and loved all the unexpected political power shifts and schemes. Amarande continues to be awesome and I love scenes with her telling people off and some other characters by her side telling people off. The dialogue was quick and witty, especially when Tallifer would speak.

Overall, it was enjoyable It just didn't have the same spark as book 1 for me. This could also be because I'm an audiobook lover and the narrator of book 1 is awesome so when I read ebooks and have to do the voices in my head, it's never as good as a good narrator. I'll re-read once the audiobook comes out and maybe it will bring the magic I was missing.

This book follows the events from The Princess Will Save You, with Amarande needing to go back to Ardenia to reclaim her throne and Luca going to the Torrent to claim his heritage. They will go through many challenges and find unlikely allies as they disentangle all the history and machinations that have brought them and the continent to where they are, and as they try to unite it once again.

It's a book that foremost talks about the patriarchy and its effects, about powerful men who want to keep the status quo and badass female characters that refuse it, and even when I didn't agree with the way in which some of them rebelled, I couldn't help to feel that feminist empowerment!
It also brought back everything I loved from the first book: Friends to lovers trope and Luca! How can you not love a guy who isn't threatened by a woman who's stronger than him, and has no issue recognizing it? plus those dimples!

The story captivated me from the beginning and kept me engaged with all the twists and turns. I loved having more background story explained to us and was pleasantly surprised when the author managed to make me gasp outloud.

My only complaint? I NEED MORE! Is that a complaint or a compliment to Sarah Henning?

In short: Would I recommend you to check this duology? Always, princess.

honestly, after how the first book ended, i ran to read this one (luckily i got accepted to review it yay), and i was not disappointed.

theres not much i can say without providing spoiler so ill try to be general.

characterwise, i liked princess amarande in book one and i still liked her in book two. luca now, however, what a change. in book one he was just the bland guy but the character change in this sequel was to die for. i loved how he expanded more than just being a love interest. also, the villain was such a good villain.

plotwise, i enjoyed this book more than the first one, it was super fast paced and i think i finished it in around two days. this book expanded more on the world and there is still a lot more to cover on it for sure. it had a surpringsing emphasis on political intrigue, that was shocking but an amazing addition. honestly, this is the best sequel i have read in a while, and i still think there is another book coming.

my only negative is it does have a few info dumps here and there with a ton of information and not enough time to process it, but you can deal with it. its not a reason to not pick up the book.

final thoughts:

love this so much i need to pick up the sequel of sea witch that i have been putting off. i can trust sarah.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm just going to say it - I have been FREAKING out since I got this eARC and I was really excited to dive into this today. Especially after re-reading the previous book. It's safe to say that I'm still in love with all things that revolve around Luca and Ama. Seriously, the princess bride vibes were very strong for me. Heck, I was loving the little game of throne vibes too.

Even though I really liked Luca being the nobody who Ama just happen to fall in love with.. but him being a lost prince or whatever. I still ended up loving the guy either way because this book was just so freaking addicting. Definitely hard to put down.

Besides Luca and Ama, there's Tallifer. Now even though he is a villain and such - well, I still loved him. Yes, some things were a little predictable but the twists and turns definitely kept me hooked. I loved each little joke, banter, and fight. They all gave me joy and now I'm sad that the duology is over. Is it weird that I wanted this book to be even longer?

Don't get me wrong, the epilogue was freaking adorable but I just wanted more. Personally. Mostly because I didn't want the book to end - ever. So happy that I got the chance to dive into this and I look forward to diving into this once again.

This was such a good read, and a great sequel to the first instalment! I found it so easy to fall back into this world, and my love for it and the characters just got instantly reignited as I started it and made my way through the story. The writing was easy to take in, but also entertaining enough to keep me hooked.

3.5 stars

Overall this is a pretty good book as far as sequels go. I really loved The Princess Will Save You, it had tons of world building, the characters were well written, and as a whole the storyline was fabulous. The Queen Will Betray you is just missing something, and I'm not quite sure what it is. The writing is still very good, maybe it's the new characters? I don't know. Will definitely complete the series though!

I'm not entirely sure why I requested this because I didn't enjoy the first instalment, and last time I checked it was only supposed to be a duology? Stories sold as a duology and then reformatted into a trilogy are rarely successful in plot pacing and character development. I genuinely forgot which character was which at times and even though I looked up the plot of book one before I started reading this, I had no clue what was happening. I think I picked up this sequel because I wanted the political intrigue and adventure that I missed in the first book, but I was still disappointed. I won't be picking up the third book when it's published.

~Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Tor Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!~

*This is a spoiler-free review, so you can read it even if you haven’t read the book yet!*

"Survive the battle win the war."

My rating: 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

【Note: As I mentioned in my review of the first book here, I do not know the story of The Princess Bride, and my review is based solely on the book.】

Characters

Princess Amarande:
I really enjoyed reading about Princess Amarande in the first book and I’m happy to say that I enjoyed her character just as much in the sequel. She’s everything I’d want in the main character: fierce, determined, clever, loyal, loving, and brave.

Luca:
Luca had a lot more character change in this book and he had his own role aside from being Amarande’s love interest which I really liked. The book mostly focused on the princess, but Luca had his own story too, which later merged with Amarande’s into one.

Tallifer:
I know that Tallifer was one of the supposed “villains” but I couldn’t help but like him. He didn’t seem that evil, and even if he did he was evil in a clever way, which showcased his abilities. Also, he just seemed like a good companion to travel with because he has so much knowledge but he’s also fun to be with. I loved reading his dialogue because was oftentimes he was either being sarcastic or laughing at a joke of some sort. Another thing I like about him was how complex his character was, since in this book we got to learn a lot more of his perspective.

This book was also filled with strong female characters, including Geneva and Queen Inés who were both very clever, powerful, and bold, but also evil, proving that women have the ability to be evil too. Most of their actions were in the name of destroying the patriarchy which I partly liked because it shows why they had to do all these evil things. They were women and therefore not allowed to rule on their own without marrying, and since they wanted power, they were forced to kill multiple people just to claim the throne that belonged to them in the first place.

Plot
The plot is fast-paced without being confusing and it hooked me from the start. There was never a part in the book where I felt confused or wanted to stop reading.

This book focused less on the romance and traveling side of things and more on the adventure and political side, which I really enjoyed. Each chapter brought the plot forward and it was filled with twists and turns which kept me guessing right up until the end. Just when I thought I knew what would happen a new piece of information was revealed giving the readers more knowledge and carrying the story forward in an unexpected yet perfect way.

World-building
The world-building was full of rich details and it made the world seem very real and intricate. Each of the four kingdoms of Sand and Sky had their own customs and features and stories. We didn’t get to see all of this history and culture but we did get enough for the plot to make sense.

Last Thoughts:
The ending was a bit open as if there was more to come and at first, I was worried that would be the end, but I searched online and I found out there will be a third book called “The King will Kill You”!! If you want to check it out, look at this link!


✨ You can find this review and others on my blog here:https://emailsmily.wixsite.com/dragonwingsblog! ✨

The Queen Will Betray You was a great sequel to The Princess Will Save You! There was a lot of great world building beyond that in the first book that allowed for plot expansion. The action was fast-paced and entertaining and I really enjoyed the overall adventure aspect of the story. There is a lot of political intrigue in this book which was super captivating. I didn't mind that this one focused on those politics a bit more than the romance. I really liked the character arcs that occurred and I think this was a fulfilling conclusion overall.
Readers who enjoyed the first book will like this sequel just as much, if not even more!
I'm also in love with this cover which is always a plus!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was an enjoyable sequel to one of my favorite 2020 reads. The cast expanded, the stakes rose. I have to admit I didn't connect as well with something in the story this time around...the characters, the writing? I'm not sure. But overall, I'm glad I took the journey with our fiery princess and her cinnamon roll dear Luca.

The sequel to The Princess Will Save You was good. It wasn’t anything like I expected it to be, however. I thought for sure that this was a duology but the way it ended made me think that it is going to be a series. Anyways, I’m not sure if I liked it more or less than the first book. As I said previously it was very different than what I was expecting. While this book did have some adventure like the first, this one was more political intrigue than anything else. So don’t go into this expecting a lot of action. It just isn’t there the same way that it was in the first.

I do enjoy Henning’s writing, and it held up very well in this book. Henning is always able to compose a cohesive narrative that ties everything in together. Some of the moments and dialogue that were written were obviously inspired from The Princess Bride as well as some other books, but I think that it worked in the long run here. Despite all that, I think that there is a lot to be said for a book which manages to balance dialogue and prose in even amounts like Henning does.

The world building in this book didn’t expand too much. We get to know about a few other kingdoms that are tied in, and through that we also get glimpses of the past. It works well overall as it sets the stage for what happens in this book. My personal preference maybe would have to divided it into parts and put the past section at the beginning. But in the end it doesn’t really matter where it ended up in the book, as it served its purpose.

The characters in this book are almost all the same as last time with a few surprising additions to the cast. To say anymore would be spoilers. But for those looking for romance in this book you won’t find much. Ama and Luca are separated for most of this book, each with their own missions and quests. They meet once or twice, but overall their page time together is probably less than one hundred pages. To go along with that we have several different third person POV chapters, from Luca, Ama and a few new characters. Thankfully as it is in third person it is easy to tell whose POV we’re in. I enjoyed both Luca and Ama’s story, although I didn’t like one part of Ama’s all that much.

The plot in this as I said, was very political intrigue based. Lots of things happening, lots of plot twists and turns that you don’t expect. In the last book you knew who was good and bad. In this book that isn’t nearly as easy to decipher. In other words, don’t trust anyone. I like how the first part of the story in book one carried over through this one all the way until the end. I think that was a well done overarching plot. The rest of this plot still remains similar to book one in fighting for the throne(s). Ama is still fighting for hers, and Ines is trying to get hers. And this spills over into this book, and that’s where things start to get complicated.

The pacing in this I think was fine. I don’t think there was anything wrong with it, but it was slower paced than the first because of the aforementioned political intrigue. It was a well done pacing too, because you wanted to get to the next page and find out the ending of the book.

Overall, I think this was a good book!

I want to thank Macmillan - Tor/ Forge for providing me with an E-arc of "The Queen Will Betray You" by Sarah Henning.

I'm a big fan of beautiful covers and fairytale retellings and "The Princess Will Save You" had both. With its release last year I couldn't wait to read it. When I read it I couldn't wait for the second book to come out. Unfortunately I had to wait a whole year for its release. You can imagine how happy I was when I was provided an E-arc for "The Queen Will Betray You".

Since I just finished the book I was reading I could start immediately with "The Queen Will Betray You". The books are a feminist spin on "The Princess Bride" and I love how Sarah made Amaranda a strong and badass main character and I fell in love with her again in this book. The book picks up right where "The Princess Will Save You" left off. Amaranda and Luca have set up a plan to secure both their kingdoms. But plans never go as they are planned.

The book starts strong and full of action making me fear it would lead into a slump afterwards. But the book is packed with action and keeps you at the edge of your seat. It's the first time I dare to say I loved the sequel more. Most of the book Amaranda and Luca are not together. This results in less romance, but with the hanging treat of a war there is a lot more adventure and political intrigue in the book.

In this book Amaranda is not alone in her quest to prove that a woman can rule on their own. We get power hungry women, who are also frustrated with old rules and habits that hold them down and prevent them from ruling. You understand their frustration and their drive to prove themselves. I loved how this subject was woven into the story and was actually the base of the whole book.

The ending is amazing and thinking it was a duology I was surprised the ending was relatively open. But after some digging I found out we are getting a third book called "The king will kill you"!

I've rated this book ★★★★ (4 stars). "The Queen Will Betray You" will be released on July 6th. 2021.

OUTSTANDING! That’s all I have to say about this book! I fell I love with Amarande and Luca in The Princess Will Save You and I am super excited to have the opportunity to read an ARC of The Queen will Betray You! If you though TPWSY was phenomenal just you wait!! The Queen Will Save You is one of my favourite books! I cannot wait for the third book to come out!!

4/5 stars!!!

Book Review for The Queen Will Betray You by Sarah Henning
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!