eARC Review – The Queen Will Betray You by Sarah Henning

Title: The Queen Will Betray You (Kingdoms of Sand and Sky #2)

Author: Sarah Henning

Publisher: Tor Teen

Publication date: July 6th, 2021

352 pages

3/5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis

The breathtaking sequel to The Princess Will Save You in the Kingdoms of Sand and Sky duology — a brilliantly-executed YA fantasy homage to The Princess Bride

To stay together forever, Princess Amarande and her stableboy love, Luca, must part: Amarande to reclaim her kingdom from usurpers, and Luca to raise a rebellion and find his destiny. Arrayed against them are all the players in the game of thrones for control over the continent of The Sand and Sky. Facing unspeakable betrayals, enemies hidden in the shadows, and insurmountable odds, their only hope is the power of true love…

Review

The Queen Will Betray You follows The Princess Will Save You, a The Princess Bride inspired series with 5 kingdoms, all thrown off balance when one king is found murdered. The events of this book follow up pretty directly after the first one, with increased POV’s and more characters added.

I enjoyed the plot of this book more than the first book. It was more gripping and more seemed to be happening. With more characters, more pieces of the puzzle came together and you learned more about the motivations behind characters. There are flashback scenes which help shape the current climate and help the reader understand how we got to this point.

However, I found this series just isn’t for me. I don’t love the romance arc, I actually wanted the MC to end up with someone else which didn’t happen. By the end, I felt the author was trying to incorporate too many plot twists in a short number of pages and it didn’t quite work for me. I likely will not be continuing the series, as I don’t find the characters or plot to be compelling enough at this point. This likely could’ve stayed a duology, in my opinion.

However, that’s not to say this book wouldn’t be amazing to others. It just isn’t for me.

Thank you to Tor Teen and Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Happy reading, folks!