An idealistic young student and a banished warrior become allies in a battle to save their realm in this first book of a mesmerizing epic fantasy series, filled with political intrigue, violent magic, malevolent spirits, and thrilling adventure
Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . .
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.
With the position so precarious, young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, is under no illusions as to her claim to the throne, but simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness—a journey that will test their courage and trust, and force them to stand against both enemies and friends to save their land . . . before it’s bathed in blood
I seem to be reviewing a lot of trilogies/series as of late.
This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I enjoyed most things, but I found a few specific things to be a bit lacking as far as development goes. I can't really get into detail without spoilers, but I will attempt to explain. I found the writing to be very well-d0ne, and I found the characters and magic system to be unique and interesting. I think some of my grievances may be addressed or fleshed out in the sequels.
The nice thing about this book is how grounded the main characters are. I felt like Dalenia didn't really change all that much (except for growing as a person) when she realized she had the potential to become the next queen. I found her development to be realistic and her arc flowed naturally. One thing I really enjoyed about this character is that she wasn't The Best at everything she did; she did make mistakes, and she wasn't perfect at everything she did right off the bat, only deciding to stay in the program to right wrongs of previous generations, which made her very down-to-earth and easier to connect to. I also really enjoyed was her relationships with the other girls at the school. Something that was unique about this book is that it had focus on characters that you wouldn't necessarily expect, such as the Headmistress of the Academy that Dalenia attended until teaming up with Ven.
I loved the magic system of this world. I found Sarah Beth Durst was very adept at explaining this world and the magic system within it without seeming like an info-dump. I could so easily picture this world. Her descriptions were lush and luminous and worked well to further the mythos of this world, which I think will expand upon itself in the second and third books of this series. The political intrigue was never stale or boring and provided some great twists and turns that were equally as interesting. This book does a really good job at setting the groundwork for books two and three for both the world/magic system as well as the political system.
Some of the pacing, however, was a bit spotty. While it was very easy to read, there were so many time skips that it was hard to keep up at parts. Because of all these time jumps, certain relationships didn't seem as developed as they could have or feel as though they come out of nowhere due to the time jumps that happen so frequently. I understand why they are there, but maybe some flashbacks or a cut-scene would help to further develop some relationships.
All in all, I found this to be a good foundation for an interesting high fantasy series. While I did have some issues with pacing and time jumps that made certain relationships seem out of left field, the world-building, magic system, and characters were all very well fleshed out and developed. I think this is a solid start to the trilogy. On the whole it's a great introduction to a series that promises for more political intrigue and twists. I'm going to give The Queen of Blood a 3.5/5 - it's a solid start to a promising series.
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