Title: Queen of the Shining Sea

Author: Miranda Honfleur

Pub. Date: August 31, 2018

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Enemy mages and ships. An all-powerful organization gone rogue. One woman refuses to stand aside.

After the Divinity reveals its dark intentions, Rielle and her friends patrol the Shining Sea, doing all they can to stem the tide of gold flowing into Magehold and the dangerous goods flowing out. Facing Immortals and pirates at every turn, they wage battle after battle against clandestine Divinity ships in an effort to weaken its ability to grasp for power.

Meanwhile, Veris draws near and the Dragon King hunts Jon, whose life hangs in the balance as Olivia and Samara seek answers to heal his heart. As the werewolf presence in Emaurria escalates, Brennan is forced to confront both sides of his werewolf–noble identity and choose whether to reject it or embrace it. In a harsh and deadly wilderness, Leigh and Ambriel search for clues about the Sundering ritual, hoping to seal away the violent Immortals and save the land for good.

But the Divinity does not accept defeat — and when the Grand Divinus strikes back, it is not at Rielle but at Emaurria. Will she give up her war against the Divinity, or will Emaurria fall?

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This will be a spoiler free review. This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook for this book, and I highly recommend it. Amanda Leigh Cobb is an excellent narrator and is quickly becoming a favorite with how well she brings characters to life. If you want to check out my reviews for the first two books you can do that here – Blade & Rose and By Dark Deeds and Court of Shadows.

This is easily my favorite book in this series so far.

Hands down.

After the shit that went down at the end of the last book, which, let me tell you, had me absolutely seeing red. I don’t care if it wasn’t actually Brennan, I’m just fucking glad it happened. Rielle needed to do what she did, like midway through that damn book. I was glad about how this book picked up. I’m all for pirate ships, out on the open ocean, living life free and kind of without a care. Rielle is thriving after basically slowly suffocating after months with Brennan. It’s wonderful, it’s cinematic and Rielle is just living her best life with a new kind of family.

It’s been five months since she’s seen Brennan, Jon or even her best friend Olivia. She’s come to realize some things and she’s surer of herself, she knows what she wants and has plans on how to make her dreams come true. She keeps finding ways to say “fuck you” to the Divinity which screwed her over. All bets are off and Rielle is back!

She’s still recovering after the events that transpired in By Dark Deeds, but they don’t hang over her in such a dark cloud anymore. Some things are still incredibly painful, and she doesn’t know when or even if she’ll ever move past them, but that’s okay.

Rielle has been through so much, lost so much, gained some things, and seeing her come back into her own, find her footing was so good. She’s done letting others dictate what her life is should be like. She takes her power back and chooses what makes her happy. After everything that happened in the last book, this one was like a breath of fresh air.

For all the of the characters, things are falling into place, people are happy – despite the looming threats that plague them all.

Ambriel and Leigh are still as charming and adorable as ever. I thoroughly loved Leigh’s chapters and their journey. I found myself really looking forward to his POV. I need the next book, because I need to find out Leigh’s fate…how it’s left open at the end of this book is torture.

I’m still not a Brennan fan. I don’t think I ever will be. He and Rielle come to terms with each other, and Brennan is moving on. But honestly, I don’t really care about his POVs.

Then there’s Jon and jfc his journey in this book is chaotic, reckless and the last-ditch efforts to live his life how he wants to. I can’t fault him for that. As for Rielle and Jon – I swear if they aren’t endgame by the end of this series, I WILL RIOT. I need them to be endgame.

With the freaking precarious cliff, we were left hanging on at the end of this book, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. I’m so concerned and filled with anxiety. I need the next book, because I need to find out what’s in store for these characters next.

Narratively, I couldn’t find a fault. It’s another long book in this amazing series, but they never feel long. Hell, they never feel long enough! It comes to life in your mind, and I’d kill for a tv show adaptation of this series. Miranda sucks you in and keep entertained and takes you through every emotion you can think of. Listening to this book while at work, I know for sure my coworkers must’ve thought I was crazy. I know I was making faces, snorting/laughing and getting emotional at some parts. Things are getting dicey in the Blade and Rose world and I really can’t wait to see the outcome of the events that happened to Jon at the end of this book.

If you’re a fan of The Throne of Glass Series, The A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, The Daevabad Trilogy or the An Ember in the Ashes Series, then you’re going to want to check this series out.

I highly recommend binge listening to the audiobooks – it’s legit like a show in your head. Disappointed about how GoT ended, read these instead – listen to them. They’ll come to life right in your mind.

I’m also going to apologize in case this review seems to be all over the place. I’m 4 books in and so much has happened, that it’s getting harder and harder to discuss things and keep them spoiler free. This review is more of a stream of consciousness than anything, but I hope you enjoy!