The Traitor Queen – Danielle L Jensen is the second book of The Bridge Kingdom series. We meet the same three characters: the King Silas of Maridrina, Lara, the Queen of Ithacana now, and Aren, the King of Ithacana.
King Silas of Maridrina manages to conquer the bridge and capture Aren, the King of Ithacana.
Lara, princess of Maridrina, Aren’s wife now and the Queen of Ithacana starts a journey full of adventures and adrenaline. The goal is to save Aren from her father’s hands and freeing Ithacana.
Aren, the King of Ithacana, now King’s Silas prisoner, is condemned to watch his friends tortured by Serin and rotting on the castle walls.
Although it looks like a simple and predictable plot, Danielle L. Jensen manages to create profound characters, revealing them layer by layer and impressing us with their power and uniqueness.
The story
King Silas uses Aren to bait his daughter Lara in Vensia to kill her. Aren is going back and forth between guilt and love. The woman who has stolen his heart also has stolen his kingdom. The people loyal to Aren are trying repeatedly to free him and end up tortured and hung on Silas’s castle walls for birds to feast on them. Aren decides to take his own life to stop the endless deaths caused by the trials to get him free.
At this point, we have new characters entering the picture: Kerris, Zarrah, and the multiple wives of Silas. Even though it seems difficult to understand, all the separate actions of the characters have a common goal: to get Aren free. But every participant has a different motif to see this plan succeed.
Lara, the fugitive queen, a woman in love and a soul destroyed by lies, manipulation, and betrayal, has but one goal in life. To amend for betraying Aren and Ithacana no matter what.
When you use your daughters to make them formidable assassins and spies, you cannot complain when they form a feared army. Lara reuseste sa isi regaseasca surorile, si sa le spuna adevarul despre manipularea si minciunile lui Silas si despre tradarea ei. So Lara’s mission becomes her sister’s mission.
We are at the beginning of a path full of adventures and twists, Lara and Aren save each other from various situations. Aren is hard set to sacrifice his feelings for Lara by choosing to save his kingdom. Lara has also decided to fight till her last breath to free the bridge and return it under Ithacana and its king’s rule.
As I was saying, the story seems simple and predictable, but the way every character grows makes it a novel of achieving maturity. Aren has to admit to his feelings for Lara and choose between country and love. His self-sacrifice is overwhelming when he chooses his country. We witness an inside fight between feelings and patriotism that brings the character to a new level of complexity.
Lara proves a deep sense of loyalty and correctness. By accepting her guilt for betraying Ithacana and the man she loves, Lara assumes all the consequences of the fight needed to atone for her mistakes. She’s not looking for forgiveness or acceptance, all she wants is to right her father’s wrongs. So the cold-hearted killer becomes this complex, fully grown heroine, which bears on her shoulders the weight of the entire world of this series.
Silas receives what he deserves and brings us the great joy of dying 🙂
The Traitor Queen becomes the heroine queen, the savior queen of Ithacana and Aren.
What I liked
I loved the evolution of characters, that they got layers and depth. The story is fast-paced and spiced with good humor. This is a book where life is a tapestry of pain, love, powerlessness, and sacrifice. In the first book of the series, we have witnessed a love born from an imposed situation, in this book, we see the birth of a deep and complex love based on respect, sacrifice, and truth. The couple Aren/Lara become powerful and indestructible together, we witness a mature, complete, and forever love.
What I didn’t like
I have nothing to say!
Yes, yes, yes it is a second book that keeps you hooked from beginning to end, a very good fit for the world of sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, and enemy-to-lover romance. I highly recommend it to everybody.
