The Queen of Sorrow by Sarah Beth Durst

The Queen of Sorrow (Queens of Renthia, #3)

by Sarah Beth Durst

The battle between vicious spirits and strong-willed queens that started in the award-winning The Queen of Blood and continued in the stunning The Reluctant Queen comes to a gripping conclusion in the final volume of Sarah Beth Durst's Queens of Renthia trilogy . . .

Queen Daleina has yearned to bring peace and prosperity to her beloved forest home-a hope that seemed doomed when neighboring forces invaded Aratay. Now, with the powerful Queen Naelin ruling by her side, Daleina believes that her dream of ushering in a new era can be realized, even in a land plagued by malevolent nature spirits who thirst for the end of human life.

But then Naelin's children are kidnapped by spirits.

Naelin would rather watch the world burn than see her children harmed-and she is ready to start a war with the north to secure their return.

But defeated Queen Merecot of Semo has grander plans than a bloody battle with her southern neighbors. Taking the children is merely one step in a plot to change the future of all Renthia, either by ending the threat of spirits once and for all . . . or by plunging the world into chaos.

Reviewed by HekArtemis on

4 of 5 stars

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A good conclusion to the trilogy. In the second book I loved the addition of an older mother protagonist, but in this one I started to get really frustrated with the way she was portrayed. Throughout she is shown as being too stubborn and set in her ways to learn new ways of thinking and doing - old dog, no new tricks, I really hate that idea. A lot of the time she was just super unreasonable, selfish, and thoughtless, which just strikes me as odd considering her motivations. She also is really good at acting like a stubborn toddler who will tantrum badly if she doesn't get her own way. Ehhhh. Honestly it's all a bit insulting, the mother protagonist is one a lot of us can relate to, but done in this way it's just, ugh! stop.
Other than that, I was happy with the story over all. The addition to the world building was great, love the history and "mythology" and,

The wolf had never, not once, wanted to eat the queen's children, even on the day when Llor tried to ride him like a pony and Erian (unintentionally) shot the tip of his tail with an arrow. He did, however, want to eat their picnic lunch.


How can you not love Bayn, the super wolf? It's impossible.

The super brief look at the other queendoms makes me want to read more about them, I hope some books are written about those. I have read The Deepest Blue and love it, Belene is great, which makes me all the more eager for the other queendoms. Here's hoping.

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  • 11 August, 2019: Reviewed