Review: The Queen's Resistance by Rebecca Ross

The Queen's Resistance by Rebecca Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This releases March 5, 2019.

I'll be honest, I've had the ARC of this for quite some time, but I put off reading it. One because the release date wasn't until March of 2019 and two because I've been let down by so many other YA follow-on's. Let me tell you I should not have put this off for so long. I really enjoyed The Queen's Rising and this one did not disappoint. I read it in about 2 days once I settled in. I pretty much couldn't put it down.

This picks up immediately after The Queen's Rising ends, with Brienna now a Mistress of Knowledge and a daughter of MacQuinn by adoption. She is comfortable with the first role and not as comfortable in the second as the people of MacQuinn know who her biological father was and he wasn't exactly kind to the MacQuinn house under the prior king. Brienna gets some good advice that if she is true and stays the course, the people will come to love her. This is harder work that it seems, but Brienna is strong and willing to take on the challenge and help her people heal. She also acts as friend and advisor to Isolde, who is to become the new Queen.

The other perspective we follow in the book is Cartier also known as Aodhan, who is a Master of Knowledge, Brienna's former teacher, a long lost Lord of Maevana, and Brienna's love interest. Aodhan/Cartier must put his own castle back together as he is the Lord of Morgane and help his people come together after the tyranny and wounds they have suffered. He must also help the Queen build alliances and figure out which houses are loyal to her and which are trying to overthrow her. In the midst of putting his house together and making political alliances, Cartier finds a boy squatting in his castle. He immediately takes the boy in and nurses him back to health and finds work for him while never knowing his true identity. We eventually learn the boy's true identity as well as much of the family history between Cartier and the Lannon family.

I really loved that we get a ton of back story in this book. We get a history lesson of what happened to Aodhan/Cartier's family on the day the Lannon's overthrew the Morgane, MacQuinn, and Kavanagh houses to take the throne. There is a ton of political intrigue and a lot of twists and turns I didn't expect. There is a huge focus on family in this book both blood relation and the family you choose. I really liked that. I was so engaged in reading, that I didn't want to put the book down. I was intimidated by the size of the book as it is quoted at nearly 500 pages but I tore through it it just a few sittings.

I will say I wanted a little more of the magic system. It takes a backseat to the plot. I do like that the romance element between Cartier and Brienna was there but it was very slow burn and also takes a back seat. They know they care for each other and want to be together and that's it. There is no drama or sappy bits. I also love the Macquinn tradition with the ribbon in the tapestry. You'll understand when you read the book. That was a nice touch. Overall, I loved this. The writing was excellent as was the pacing. This was a great follow up.

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