Title: The Queen’s Resistance (The Queen’s Rising #2)
Author: Rebecca Ross
Rating: ★★★★

The Queen’s Rising was such a quietly impressive debut last year and so this book was one of the sequels I was most anticipating. Everything I loved about the first book was also present in The Queen’s Resistance: the visual writing, the lovely characters, and the compelling storytelling create such a marvelous and unique YA fantasy!

The biggest difference between this book and the first is that Ross adds a second character point of view. The probably that typically occurs when a POV is added in the middle of the series is that it does nothing to the story. However, I loved the inclusion of Cartier’s chapters. Not only was the addition of his POV expertly executed, but it really added to the narrative and helped move the plot along. 

Speaking of plot, there is so much more going on in this book! The Queen’s Resistance was a lot faster paced and it was very easy to find myself lost amongst the pages. I really loved the continued worldbuilding (especially all the Irish elements!) and the large focus on found families. Brienna continues to have a small spot in my heart – not only because her name is the closest any MC has had to mine – but also because she’s a wonderful, smart heroine you can’t help but to root for. 

The Queen’s Rising is a seriously underrated series that I cannot recommend enough! Rebecca Ross has a special way with words and the beautiful story she has created deserves much more hype.