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prashiie's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"We destroy. We rebuild. We destroy again. It is the constant of our kind. We are all a god's chosen, and we are all a god's cursed."
I liked how this book is bundled. On one hand we have several short stories and on the other hand Julian’s journal where he talks about the history of this world.
Queen Song is about Cal’s mother and focuses on how she meets Cal’s father and how she deals with Elara. I thought this story was particularly sad, because we see more and more signs of Elara messing with her mind as the story proceeds. Tiberias VI even knows about this!
"Speaking of punishment—if Elara whispers to you again, you show her the same courtesy."
"She knows, as everyone else knows, that my father will call for Queenstrial soon. I don't doubt she's wriggled into every maiden's head, to learn her enemies and her prey."
And to think that Tiberias VI eventually ends up marrying Elara is very disturbing and it shows how devastating Elara’s powers really are.
I liked how this book is bundled. On one hand we have several short stories and on the other hand Julian’s journal where he talks about the history of this world.
Queen Song is about Cal’s mother and focuses on how she meets Cal’s father and how she deals with Elara. I thought this story was particularly sad,
"Speaking of punishment—if Elara whispers to you again, you show her the same courtesy."
"She knows, as everyone else knows, that my father will call for Queenstrial soon. I don't doubt she's wriggled into every maiden's head, to learn her enemies and her prey."
And to think that Tiberias VI eventually ends up marrying Elara is very disturbing and it shows how devastating Elara’s powers really are.
There were of course more short stories! I was very happy to read the stories about Evangeline, Cal, Maven and Mare even though Mare was sometimes frustrating. Give Cal a break, jeez…
And Maven’s final conversion with Cal made me very emotional.
And Maven’s final conversion with Cal made me very emotional.
In short, I’m happy to have read the Red Queen series but I’m sad to let it go now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, War, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia
frantically's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Let's be real — we are all only here for Mare and Cal and some Evangeline action. Thus, it was a bit of a pain to get through all the other stories but the last ones do deliver.
You can tell Aveyard is immensely invested in this world and manages to finally answer some questions about it's history in a way that doesn't seem forced. It was a good recap of the last books, so you could really easily get into the story again.
I really enjoyed Elane finally learning how to stand up for herself against Evangeline and her scenes with the Samos siblings were great fun. While I'm still unsure whether this book was really needed, it is fascinating to see the aftermath of a "usual" YA war in a last book — because it certainly isn't over after that last fight. Evangeline still has to come to terms with no longer being royal while also learning to appreciate the life she's now able to live. We get similar thoughts in Cal's chapters but they feel more refined for Evangeline.
It isn't easy for Cal and Mare to get back together and in the end, everything isn't solved either. They have work to do but it was nice to at least know there is something to work toward instead of them leaving each other at the end of War Storm.
The ending is satisfying for the series and the book is certainly a nice add-on for Red Queen fans but not a necessity, if that makes sense. Good for history buffs such as myself, though 😉
You can tell Aveyard is immensely invested in this world and manages to finally answer some questions about it's history in a way that doesn't seem forced. It was a good recap of the last books, so you could really easily get into the story again.
I really enjoyed Elane finally learning how to stand up for herself against Evangeline and her scenes with the Samos siblings were great fun. While I'm still unsure whether this book was really needed, it is fascinating to see the aftermath of a "usual" YA war in a last book — because it certainly isn't over after that last fight. Evangeline still has to come to terms with no longer being royal while also learning to appreciate the life she's now able to live. We get similar thoughts in Cal's chapters but they feel more refined for Evangeline.
It isn't easy for Cal and Mare to get back together and in the end, everything isn't solved either. They have work to do but it was nice to at least know there is something to work toward instead of them leaving each other at the end of War Storm.
The ending is satisfying for the series and the book is certainly a nice add-on for Red Queen fans but not a necessity, if that makes sense. Good for history buffs such as myself, though 😉
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and War
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Miscarriage, Blood, and Homophobia
psliz's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
- queen song: heartbreaking
- steel scars: heartbreaking
- world behind: romantically optimistic
- iron heart: an elane pov!
- fire light: ship satisfied
- fare well: made me more of a maven-sympathizer and i don't like that
- the artifacts: loved the historian pov and the different sources of material!
- steel scars: heartbreaking
- world behind: romantically optimistic
- iron heart: an elane pov!
- fire light: ship satisfied
- fare well: made me more of a maven-sympathizer and i don't like that
- the artifacts: loved the historian pov and the different sources of material!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, War, Suicide, Death, and Murder
kingspite618's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
not to be dramatic but the Farewell chapter has shaped me as a person in utterly fucked up ways and also rearranged my brain chemicals and perception of brotherhood forever thanks a lot! aside from that, this book ate and left no crumbs (which is no easy thing to do for a series' sequel)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Miscarriage, Classism, Violence, War, Death, and Suicidal thoughts
claire_fitzgibbon13's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The perfect endings for all of the characters and I loved reading Julians research, the end where we found out what happened when they grew up and the summaries. I’m actually devastated to be done with this series. I’ve loved it so much ❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Miscarriage
readwithde's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death, Dysphoria, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, and Sexual harassment
jessicaludden's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
*4.5*
I loved reading this. Some of the novellas were slower than others but I enjoyed them all regardless and I even enjoyed all the historical timeline explanation stuff. My favorites were probably World Behind and Firelight, but I’ll give my thoughts on each novella.
Queen Song made me so sad for Cal just because I really wish he knew his Mom. I hate Elara for what she did and it was so tragic to read about Coriane slowly going insane. Her relationship with Cal’s Dad was not what I thought it was going to be, but it was interesting.
I loved Steel Scars and getting to see how Farley and Shade met. I’m so mad we didn’t get to see a lot of their relationship in the actual series because they’re really cute. I liked getting to read Farley’s POV and just seeing how much of a badass she is and how she’s willing to do anything for what she believes in.
I really really liked the characters in World Behind and I was so mad at Victoria for only giving us a tease of Ashe and Lyrisa. I went into it not knowing a single thing about it and as I pieced it together I loved it so much and just the whole dynamic between the characters. It had real found family and enemies to lovers potential.
Iron Heart was good even though Evangeline isn’t necessarily my favorite character I still liked getting to see how she ended up. I liked that it wasn’t an easy transition to Montfort for her. It made it very realistic to me and of course I’m happy that she’s with Elane and happy.
And then of course I loved Firelight and getting to see how Cal and Mare end up because I simply do not accept the ending of War Storm. It was really funny as most interactions between Cal and Mare are. I like that they got back together in kind of the same environment they met each other in. It made it feel very full circle and I like the whole we’re happy together and we’ll just see how it goes ending. As long as they’re together I’m happy.
Fare Well hurt me. I’ll take any Maven content I can get, but seeing him and Cal’s last goodbye and seeing how he still cared for his brother even in his twisted way made me so sad. Then to top it off we get Cal at Maven’s freaking grave wondering about how things could’ve been and making me cry.
Lastly, I like that it included a description of what happened with the rest of the war and the characters. Kilorn being Premier of Montfort made me laugh. Of course we gotta name some kids after some dead people, but I did like that they also abdicated the throne. And Clara has Shade’s powers 🥺.
Overall I really enjoyed this series and I loved getting to read about where these characters ended up with these novellas.
I loved reading this. Some of the novellas were slower than others but I enjoyed them all regardless and I even enjoyed all the historical timeline explanation stuff. My favorites were probably World Behind and Firelight, but I’ll give my thoughts on each novella.
Queen Song made me so sad for Cal just because I really wish he knew his Mom. I hate Elara for what she did and it was so tragic to read about Coriane slowly going insane. Her relationship with Cal’s Dad was not what I thought it was going to be, but it was interesting.
I loved Steel Scars and getting to see how Farley and Shade met. I’m so mad we didn’t get to see a lot of their relationship in the actual series because they’re really cute. I liked getting to read Farley’s POV and just seeing how much of a badass she is and how she’s willing to do anything for what she believes in.
I really really liked the characters in World Behind and I was so mad at Victoria for only giving us a tease of Ashe and Lyrisa. I went into it not knowing a single thing about it and as I pieced it together I loved it so much and just the whole dynamic between the characters. It had real found family and enemies to lovers potential.
Iron Heart was good even though Evangeline isn’t necessarily my favorite character I still liked getting to see how she ended up. I liked that it wasn’t an easy transition to Montfort for her. It made it very realistic to me and of course I’m happy that she’s with Elane and happy.
And then of course I loved Firelight and getting to see how Cal and Mare end up because I simply do not accept the ending of War Storm. It was really funny as most interactions between Cal and Mare are. I like that they got back together in kind of the same environment they met each other in. It made it feel very full circle and I like the whole we’re happy together and we’ll just see how it goes ending. As long as they’re together I’m happy.
Fare Well hurt me. I’ll take any Maven content I can get, but seeing him and Cal’s last goodbye and seeing how he still cared for his brother even in his twisted way made me so sad. Then to top it off we get Cal at Maven’s freaking grave wondering about how things could’ve been and making me cry.
Lastly, I like that it included a description of what happened with the rest of the war and the characters. Kilorn being Premier of Montfort made me laugh. Of course we gotta name some kids after some dead people, but I did like that they also abdicated the throne. And Clara has Shade’s powers 🥺.
Overall I really enjoyed this series and I loved getting to read about where these characters ended up with these novellas.
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Death, and Murder
hmimoso06's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Violence
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