Week 52 Review: The Princess Knight

From Goodreads:

In New York Times bestselling author G.A. Aiken's gripping new fantasy romance series, the Blacksmith Queen must confront armies and pretenders desperate to take her new-won crown. But with the Princess Knight at her side and a centaur warrior clan at her back, she'll risk everything for victory . . .

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

Gemma Smythe dedicated her life to the glory of battle. With her fellow War Monks, she worshipped the war gods, rained destruction on her enemies, and raised the dead when the fancy took her. Until her sister Keeley became the prophesied Blacksmith Queen, and Gemma broke faith with her order to journey to the Amichai Mountain and fight by Keeley's side.

The Amichai warriors are an unruly, never-to-be-tamed lot, especially their leader-in-waiting, Quinn. But when the War Monks declare support for Gemma's ruthless younger sister Beatrix, the immaturity of her key ally is the least of Gemma's problems. She has to get to the grand masters, dispel their grudge against her, and persuade them to fight for Keeley and justice. If her conviction can't sway them, perhaps Quinn's irritating, irreverent, clearly unhinged, ferocity will win the day . . . 

My Review:
Oh, man, this book was just fantastic! Of course it's got G.A. Aiken (or Shelly Laurenston's) crazy over the top action and humour, as well as being in this excellent world that I'm enjoying learning more about. And we get to be with Gemma, cousin of the female lead for the first book, so that was really great! I don't know why, but I was thinking that Gemma was Keeley's cousin. But it's right there in the synopsis that she's her sister. Bah! My weird head! 

I remembered that Gemma was a War Monk, but in this book, we did get to see more of it, given that she's a lead character. This was a great part of the world to explore! Plus her group backing her awful, betraying sister was a big chunk of this book. And combined with the fact that it takes place after Keeley has had time to settle in as Queen, there was plenty to do in this book! 

Behind the scenes, really, was a relationship being created and developing into a romance. There was so much else going on with the politics of the remaining heirs of the other kingdom, as well as the Beatrix, that the relationship between Gemma and Quinn quickly snuck up on me. Sneaky sneak! 

 But that ending? I totally didn't expect it to go in that direction, it was totally wild and it really has me wanting to continue the Dragon Kin series, which chronologically takes place first. I just can't wait to see where it goes from here! 

This book was an excellent read, and I can't wait to continue the series! 

Author: G.A. Aiken 
Series: The Scarred Earth Saga #2
Read: December 19th, 2020
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2020 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: November 24th 2020

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars