Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

Kingsbane is the second novel in the Empirium series by Claire Legrand. You may remember when Furyborn came out last year. It caused quite the commotion in the young adult and fantasy communities. People just fell in love with it.

The second novel in the series continues the journey of both Rielle and Eliana. Two Queens of the same blood, but that is all they seem to have in common. The prophecy foretold that one would become the Sun Queen and the other the Blood Queen.

Kingsbane removes all doubt about which queen is which, pushing the plot of their plots forward. That makes this novel sound so straightforward when it’s anything but.

Writing

Kingsbane had a lot of pressure on it. It had to live up to the hopes of the fans, as well as the sales of Furyborn. Overall, I’d say it managed to hit the mark. However, I will confess that I didn’t like it quite as much as Furyborn. Regardless, it was still a brilliant and page-turning read.

One thing that surprised me, both about Furyborn and again with Kingsbane – is how long she kept up the split perspective. The beginning of Furyborn led me to believe that we wouldn’t be allowed to get to know one of the characters. I was wrong. Still, because of that introduction, I knew there was a finite amount of time to spend here. And yet, Legrand has managed to fit so much into that relatively small period.

The split perspectives allowed for a lot of good storytelling moments. Legrand could even out the pacing by jumping back and forth in time. She was also able to build the tension more. Even though we know the fate of one of the queens, there’s still this sliver of hope that things will change (you never know!).

Development

Both of the main characters in this series were given ample opportunity to develop. Rielle and Eliana have had to face this prophecy of theirs for a while now and thus have had some time to grow into the idea of it. That doesn’t mean that they’re happy about their roles – they’re not. But they are starting to come into their powers.

Rielle probably saw the most change during this novel. Her character arc took her down a different path, forcing her to face challenges and temptations. Overall, I think Legrand did a decent job with Rielle’s character. I can see her thought process (I think) and the reasoning behind a lot of what was shown and done.

If I had to guess, I would say that the next novel will show us Elaine having a dramatic development. But I’m basing that partially on the way things left off here.

There were so many twists and turns in this novel. Some of them we could see coming. Those also made a lot of sense, given what we already know about the characters and the world. Some of them were total surprises, though. And I’ll be honest – I’m still processing some of the revelations made in the final scene. I’m unsure if that is a good or bad thing.

Conclusion

Kingsbane had a lot to live up to, and while it didn’t quite manage to hit the same level as Furyborn, it was still a solid read. If Kingsbane did one thing better, it increased the emotional reactions it solicited.

In a way, it’s hard to believe that there’s only one novel left in this series. The third novel doesn’t yet have a title, but I expect it will soon. Based on what we’ve seen so far, I think Kingsbane will be a vital stepping stone for the finale.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks | Quirky Cat’s Comics | The Book Review Crew | Monkeys Fighting Robots | Storygraph | Bookhype | Bookstagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Reedsy