Review: The Traitor Queen

Book: The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 4/5

๐Ÿ…ฝ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…พ๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†‚๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ฟ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…พ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ธ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ป๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ๐Ÿ†๏ธŽ๐Ÿ†‚๏ธŽ
๐”ป๐•–๐•ฅ๐•’๐•š๐•๐•–๐•• ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ ๐• ๐•—- The Traitor Queen

โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค-
๐Ÿ—ฃ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5 (out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐Ÿ“š ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.25 / 5
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐ŸŒถ/ 5
โ™Ÿ๏ธ๐——๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—น- >>>โš”๏ธ<<<
๐ŸŽƒ: ๐ถ๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐ŸŒ‘: ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฆ โš”๏ธ: แต’แต’แต’สฐสฐสฐ หขแต—แตƒแต‡แต‡สธ แต–แต‰แต’แต–หกแต‰โ€ขโ€ขโ€ข ๐Ÿ’€: ๐‘…๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ MฬถEฬถNฬถUฬถ ๐Ÿ˜ณ -๐‘– ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘‡๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ !!
โ˜ ๏ธ: PอŸIอŸTอŸCอŸHอŸ FอŸCอŸuอŸKอŸIอŸNอŸGอŸ BอŸLอŸAอŸCอŸKอŸ!

๐•‚๐•–๐•ช ๐•€๐•Ÿ๐•—๐• :
โ€ข๐Ÿ“–# 334๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€
๐ŸŽง# 10๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€ 13๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ (I ๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š˜๐š— 1.45 ๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š) Narrated by Lauren fortgang , and James Patrick Cronin
โ€ข๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜? 1 DAY
โ€ข# DUAL ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฉ / #๐š๐šž๐šŠ๐š• ๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐šŽ ๐š—๐šŠ๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—
โ€ข๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ-08 September 2022
โ€ข๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ or ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ driven? A mix
โ€ข๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ & ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ- BOOK 2 the Bridge Kingdom
โ€ข๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ on ๐—ž๐—จ? ๐Ÿšซ
โ€ข๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ- a little up and down
โ€ข๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ?๐Ÿšซ
โ€ข๐—”๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...) ๐Ÿšซ
โ€ข๐— ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜€; ๐‘จ๐’…๐’—๐’†๐’๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘ฌ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐‘–๐’๐’๐’‚๐’, ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’…, ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’š, ๐‘ท๐’“๐’†๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’• ๐’”๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’”๐’‡๐’š๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ช๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ป๐’˜๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’š, ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’†๐’ƒ๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ

โ—๐•‹โ„๐•†โ„™๐”ผ๐•Š
๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐•Š๐•–๐•”๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค & ๐”น๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ฃ๐•’๐•ช๐•’๐•๐•ค
๐ŸชงPแดสŸษชแด›ษชแด„แด€สŸ Iษดแด›ส€ษชษขแดœแด‡
๐Ÿ‘‘โ„›โ„ด๐“Ž๐’ถ๐“ โ„๐“ƒ๐“‰๐“‡๐’พ๐“ฐ๐“Šโ„ฏ
๐Ÿงธ๐น๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฆ
๐ŸŒก๐•๐•–๐•’๐•ฃ๐•Ÿ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐”ธ๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค๐•ฅ, ๐•‹๐•–๐•Ÿ๐•ค๐•š๐• ๐•Ÿ
๐Ÿงฉ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“๐’„๐’†๐’… ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’™๐’Š๐’Ž๐’Š๐’•๐’š
๐Ÿ’ˆ แ—ทแ—ฉแ‘ŽTแ—ดแ–‡
โ˜ ๏ธ๐•‹๐• ๐•ฆ๐•”๐•™ ๐•™๐•–๐•ฃ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐••...
๐Ÿน๐๐š๐ ๐€๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐…๐Œ๐‚
โœ… โ€œI hate that I still love youโ€
โœ… Romance
โœ… Action and fighting
โœ… Scheming and life-threatening situations

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐‘น๐‘ฌ๐‘จ๐‘ซ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’๐’“, ๐‘ณ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘ต ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’•?
(๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก- ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘œ?)
I think the audio would be the way to go, the pacing was up and down so Iโ€™m glad of the enthusiasm the narrators offered to their characters.

๐”ธ๐•ฆ๐••๐•š๐•  ๐”น๐• ๐• ๐•œ โ„๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ:
I managed to listen to this Audio in just one day as it was insanely addictive.

๐ŸŒ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฃ๐•๐•• ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•š๐•๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐•จ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜:
โ€œTrusting you was my mistake. Loving you was my mistake.โ€

The Traitor Queen picks up a few months after the end of The Bridge Kingdom .
The plot and sub plots were great, and it was very easy to get absorbed into this adventure. There is still a strong political aspect weaved into the book, but itโ€™s more about war and fighting rather than spying. I enjoyed watching Lara restore her name and claw her way back to be able to help her people.
The relationship aspect also takes a lot of room with Aren trying, but failing, to hate Lara, and Lara hating herself and trying to right her wrongs.

One thing that I disliked was the constant time jumps in the first half of the book. What feels like a few days are weeks, and what feels like weeks are months, it got confusing and I had to go over some parts to be clear.
For example, while reading I thought Aren spent a few weeks in captivity, but he spent months being a prisoner, the traveling in the desert part also feels like it happens in a few days, but it takes them weeks to reach their destination.

I enjoyed it and I understand why the story had to be what it was, but it just wasn't as addictive or enjoyable as book one! I did like it, it was quite captivating and foreboding.
the war and the secrets adding tension to the already intense story. I will also admit that my eyes prickled with tears as the plot unfolded before me.
Now I think about it - the only reason it wasn't as enjoyable as the previous book was probably because of the amount of detailed plot development and the seriousness of its nature.

๐Ÿงโ€โ™‚๏ธ โ„‚๐•™๐•’๐•ฃ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ฃ๐•ค:
Aren, while being amazing (and gorgeous), annoyed me a little in this book. I understand why he feels the way he does but it got a little odd in this book, choosing his very new wife over his country just felt odd.

โ€œYou are my goddamned damnation, but there will never be anyone but you.โ€

Lara is still feisty and driven, but she is also full of self-loathing in this book, watching her fight, tooth and claw for everybody else was a joy to read/ listen too.

I really adore the new characters we meet in this book! I love the quantity and quality of all of these AMAZING secondary characters. Lara's sisters were incredible, so varied in personality, ruthless and strong but empathetic, and I really hope to see more of them all in the next books. It is nice to see how they helped and protected each other despite their competitive and tortured upbringing and everything else that happened between them. Itโ€™s another show of muscle flexing by the author as we sit back and watch the character growth and plot develpment, and not forgetting all the intriguing sub plots!

And I really appreciated getting to know more about the harem.

๐Ÿ˜ฅ ๐•Ž๐•™๐•ช ๐•Ÿ๐•  ๐•—๐•š๐•ง๐•– ๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•’๐•ฃ๐•ค?
There was a ton of action in this one but I didnโ€™t like the main plot of her betraying everyone.

๐Ÿชง๐”ฝ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’๐• ๐•ฅ๐•™๐• ๐•ฆ๐•˜๐•™๐•ฅ๐•ค:
This was action packed, full of truths, fight, war and secrets. Really detailed sub plots and great side characters lifted this book. Not as good as book 1 but still pretty great.

๐น๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ;

๐•‹๐•š๐•œ๐•‹๐• ๐•œ
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*

๐•„๐•ช โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•Š๐•ช๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ž๐•ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!

๐Ÿ”ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!

SPICE SCALE:
๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ segsual language and a little on-page action

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities.

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