Title: The Exiled Queen (Seven Realms #2)Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: September 24, 2010
Genre/Age Group: Young Adult, High Fantasy, Romance
Source: Purchased
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:
Haunted by the loss of his mother and sister, Han Alister journeys south to begin his schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden's Ford. But leaving the Fells doesn't mean that danger isn't far behind. Han is hunted every step of the way by the Bayars, a powerful wizarding family set on reclaiming the amulet Han stole from them. And Mystwerk House has dangers of its own. There, Han meets Crow, a mysterious wizard who agrees to tutor Han in the darker parts of sorcery-but the bargain they make is one Han may regret.
Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana'Marianna runs from a forced marriage in the Fells, accompanied by her friend Amon and his triple of cadets. Now, the safest place for Raisa is Wein House, the military academy at Oden's Ford. If Raisa can pass as a regular student, Wein House will offer both sanctuary and the education Raisa needs to succeed as the next Gray Wolf queen.
Everything changes when Han and Raisa's paths cross, in this epic tale of uncertain friendships, cut-throat politics, and the irresistible power of attraction.
MY THOUGHTS
After the mailbox incident, I figured I might as well try to review the entire Seven Realms series instead of leaving this much more coherent piece all by itself to outline all the reasons why you should start this series I M M E D I A T E L Y, because it’s been almost two years and I still have feelings. Feelings that are now resurfacing in a major way because Judith is currently reading this series and Raisa ana’Marianna is her everything, which is basically all I’ve ever wanted out of life. This won’t be the last super true hyperbole you’ll come across here.
If you thought The Exiled Queen was going to give you time to get back into the swing of things by providing you with pages and pages of build-up first, you’re not ready. I was young and naïve and thought both Raisa and Han would make it to their the-Seven-Realms-kids-are-going-to-Hogwarts story line quickly and safely and was thus thoroughly unprepared. This sequel jumps straight into the action and has the nerve to put my favourite characters in situations where I can’t predict or guess how they’ll get out of them. For some reason it then assumes I’m still a functioning human being and launches into Raisa having I-don’t-need-saving-I-save-myself moments, alternated with bits where she manages to turn conversations in such a way that men of the realms with “strange notions” (
patriarchyyyyy) realise how fucking stupid they were to underestimate her in a matter of five sentences.
And as if I wasn’t going through an emotional hellscape already, it then thought it was the perfect time to attack me with a certain TENT SCENE, and one that is second only to the one we get in The Gray Wolf Throne. My fellow Seven Realms survivors know what I’m talking about. Or they SHOULD at least. Maybe they were distracted by how frustrating it was that Han and Raisa were always so close but kept missing each other. That’s valid. Or maybe they were still overwhelmed by how precious and epic the Gray Wolves cadets were a.k.a. Raisa’s personal defence squad, handpicked by none other than the love of my life, Amon Byrne, because I sure was. Or maybe they missed it because they needed a moment due to how much mutual respect and true friendship there is between besties Raisa & Amon and Han & Dancer. I would definitely understand.
LUCKILY The Exiled Queen then decided to chill out for a minute, which is my way of saying that I thought the sections at Oden’s Ford dragged a little and I was generally more interested in Raisa’s chapters than Han’s. Not that I really noticed, because true to form this was once again a ship-a-palooza. It’s a good thing that I’m a multi-shipper at heart because otherwise this innate sexual tension everyone seems to be having with each other would have been even more unbearable and I was already in constant pain what with my ships crashing and burning around me. LOOK, on a rational level I appreciate [View post to see spoiler]
Just thinking about it makes me want to scream. As does the next bit, because I’m well aware this isn’t the quotes section but:
He thought he’d seen his future in her eyes.
“And you will remember this conversation, and wish that you’d listened to me.”
Not to mention some of the worst words ever written:
She noticed everything.
He noticed everything.
So it’s a good thing this book is also (unexpectedly) funny — Han walking in on a certain side ship, anyone? — because the humour is seriously needed between the frequent heartbreak and everything is terrible moments. Because these characters just go ahead and want the best for each other, even when “the best” doesn’t include them which is just MADDENING AND WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU. It’s honestly offensive how much these people (yes they’re people to me shut up) love each other and how they’re all a bunch of hopeful romantics living in a hard and uncertain world because for some reason I’ve decided to become seriously attached to them so really, the person truly suffering here is ME. For fuck’s sake, I even fell in love with how CWC describes the air after a storm as “rain-washed”, which, honestly, what the hell. I swear, only fantasy can get away with this because if this were any other genre I’d be laughing my ass off at the dramatics. But no, instead I’m only getting more invested.
IT’S REALLY HARD TO STAY UNAFFECTED THOUGH when this book is going to continue the fundamental story line that is Raisa caring about her people and wanting to become a person worthy of ruling them. She might still be a princess, but she’s constantly focused on how she can be a good queen. She’s not just at Oden’s Ford to learn strategy and battle techniques. She keeps interacting with different kinds of people so she can have the most comprehensive overview of exactly what is happening in her queendom while she’s in hiding. And as if that wasn’t enough to make me shriek well into the night instead of trying to get some sleep like a normal person, this was also the book that gave me Han Alister checking out his male peers and teachers. You can be damn sure I noticed that.
On a rational note, I still think this series needs new blurbs, because once again this one is slightly spoilery and alludes to things that only start happening halfway through. The ending is rather abrupt and would have been plain evil if I wasn’t already grabbing the next book off the shelves. DEATH TO ANY AND ALL BAYARS WHO AREN’T FIONA (<3) is my take-home message here. Not all questions are answered yet, but where The Demon King set up the fundaments of the series, The Exiled Queen introduces a bunch of questions and issues that will develop in full-blown arcs later on. And makes you fall in love with a bunch of people who’ve already led such full lives, because even the side characters are not just here to pose as a colourful and entertaining cast around the main players but actually have lives, struggles, and stories of their own. And it ruined me.
MEMORABLE QUOTES
“When my mother hears what you’ve done, you will find out what vengeance means to a Gray Wolf Queen.”
“I apologize,” he said. “It’s not the company. If there’s anybody I want to be awake for, it’s you.”
“That’s what we do, the Gray Wolf queens — we take what we can get when it comes to love. That’s why they calls us witches and harlots in the south.”