Book Review: The Traitor Queen

The Traitor Queen is the second book in The Bridge Kingdom series by Danielle L. Jensen and I absolutely loved it. Even more than the first book!

I don’t want to spoil the book so I’ll keep the review brief, but there will be spoilers for book 1 so if you haven’t read The Bridge Kingdom and don’t want to read any spoilers, turn away now!

The Traitor Queen picks up around the time The Bridge Kingdom ended – a few months after Lara and Aren had their big fall out. Lara had been off on her own and came back to Eranahl to apologize again for the role she played in Maridrina overrunning Ithicana and taking the Bridge. She also explains that she hates her father even more than they do and she wants him to pay for everything he’s done. She also learns that Aren has been captured by her father and is a prisoner in Maridrina. Ahnna, Aren’s sister, finally agrees to hear her out and they form a plan. First, Lara will go searching for her sisters who owe her a debt. And she believes they will want to get revenge on their father too. Then they will work together to rescue Aren. Meanwhile, Aren is captive in Maridrina and needs to find a way to escape and save his people.

The rescue is part of the story and the other part of the story is fighting Maridrina, taking back the Bridge, and saving the Ithicana people. The people of Ithicana need Lara but they also don’t trust her and are furious over the people they’ve lost because of Lara’s betrayal. Lara doesn’t expect the people to forgive her, but she won’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t free Ithicana from Maridrina’s clutches. They and Aren may hate her, but she will do anything to save them.

Lara and Aren both love each other, but have such complicated feelings and situations. Aren shouldn’t love Lara after her betrayal, but he can’t help it. But, he’s also king and his people would be furious if he took back the woman responsible for the situation they find themselves in. Lara loves Aren, but knows they can’t be together because he will and should put Ithicana first and she doesn’t expect him to forgive her betrayal. Can they work through their feelings for each other? Can they defeat Lara’s father?

The book was so good! I couldn’t put it down! It was the perfect balance of action and romance/emotions. The angst and heart ache was real in this book. I love books that tie your stomach up in knots and kind of hurts in your chest. This was that book! I can’t wait to read the third book. The fourth book will be out this fall!

If you’ve read this before, what did you think?

*This post contains affiliate links.*