The Queen's Rising Book Review

Light-hearted and fluffy, The Queen's Rising which was Rebecca Ross's debut novel from 2018 is a  pleasurable YA Fantasy read about the rewards of loyalty and sacrifice.

In this epic debut fantasy, inspired by Renaissance France, an outcast finds herself bound to a disgraced lord and entangled in his plot to overthrow the king. Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Brienna is sent to Magnalia House in Valenia by her grandfather to study one of five passions: art, theatre, knowledge, wit, or music. But Brienna does not show any talent or desire to any of the five passions. In reality, she has been sent to Magnalia to escape her father, who remains unknown to Brienna after she was born out of wedlock but is warned that he is a dangerous man. 

     Brienna is tutored under the handsome Master Cartier who shows her favour, despite only being a passion of knowledge for three years instead of the usual seven. When all of Brienna's friends receive patrons at the beginning of their seventh summer, she does not, and remains at Magnalia until a mysterious lord says he wishes to take her as his daughter. But this mysterious lord is entangled in a plot to overthrow King Lannon of Maevana who sits on a throne where a Queen should rule. 

     Packed with a few twists and vivid writing, The Queen's Rising was a pleasure to read, although at times quite predictable. 

     I have never read Ross before so I thought that I'd start with her debut novel from 2018. The Queen's Rising has been on my TBR list for quite some time and after finishing reading a history book on the Red Clydeside period (in research for my own working-in-progress book), I wanted something fluffy, light, and enjoyable. This book was certainly all of those things. 

     Ross's scenic writing was detailed and I could really picture myself at Magnalia House, craving the desire for my passion cloak. The sentences were easy to read and the writing was definitely focussed on plot, scene, and character, rather than subtext, metaphor, and foreshadowing. But I think that's the nature of YA writing, for the most part. The worldbuilding was gradual and natural, indebted to Ross's focus on scenery and the feel of Renaissance France. However, in detriment to the action, I felt the worldbuilding and scene-setting was done too slowly. I wanted more action to happen earlier on rather than just dainty movements flitting around Magnalia House. 

     Brienna was a likeable character: not extraordinary in the archetypal way of the Fantastic, but was extraordinary in her loyalty to her new-found family and friends. Although, I found her a little predictable: she wanted fleeting looks and correspondence with Master Cartier, she was the friend who falled short of what's expected of her who actually has a secret history that drastically changes the politics of the opposing countries of Valenia and Maevana. She was a nice character; a classic YA 18-year-old girl who begins to learn about the wider world around her.

     I found the ending rushed, though. It's like Ross was like, 'I only really like to write detailed scenes about beautiful scenery and not bloodstaining, life-changing battles.' Personally, I like a bit of both but maybe visceral descriptions of death, stabbings, and beheadings is not the right thing for YA Fantasy. 

     I've already bought the sequel (The Queen's Resistance) on my Kindle because I did really enjoy this book. However, it only gets a 4 out of 5 stars from me. It needed more passion, ironic given that Ross uses the term to refer to the skills taught at Magnalia House. I just thought some of the emotions were a little surface-level. This book made light, happy reading and I did find myself wanting to push on through the story and yes, I want to find out more about Brienna and Cartier. What can I say, I'm a sucker for chaste romance, or romance in any form for that matter. The novel also explored the transference of power to women and could definitely be read in the light of a feminist subtext - power to the women said the disgraced Houses of Maevana! 

     For a debut novel, The Queen's Rising is delicate but firm and explores the reward of loyalty and sacrifice.