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The Queen's Rising  By  cover art

The Queen's Rising

By: Rebecca Ross
Narrated by: Suzanne Elise Freeman
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Publisher's summary

In this epic debut fantasy, inspired by Renaissance France, an outcast finds herself bound to a disgraced lord and entangled in his plot to overthrow the king. Perfect for fans of Grave Mercy and Red Queen!

Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Growing up in Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her. While some are born with a talent for one of the five passions - art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge - Brienna struggled to find hers until she chose knowledge. However, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true: she is left without a patron.

Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, she reluctantly accepts. But there is much more to his story, for there is a dangerous plot to overthrow the king of Maevana - the rival kingdom of Valenia - and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the throne.

With war brewing, Brienna must choose which side she will remain loyal to: passion or blood.

©2018 Rebecca Ross LLC (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Queen's Rising

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Mary Sue

For the first time ever I will compare this to a popular series. Twilight, every single person is in love with Breanna, wants to be with her, be her. Oh sorry except for one girl jealous of her because their master is in love with Breanna and not her. This story had a lot of potential, but I found myself disliking Breanna more and more every time she opened her mouth. She assumes sooo much of everyone, is normally wrong and yet she HAS to be right & keeps on making assumptions. The other thing that bothers me is this is a sheltered girl who knows only of knowledge, for the last 7 years she’s been at all all girls school learning knowledge and Few other “arts”. She hasn’t been trained in a lot of hand to hand combat, maybe a weeks worth at best, but now she’s going to go into battle sword held high and will probably even kill the king. (I don’t know the ending, I didn’t finish it with an hour left I just can’t anymore) all so she can put a girl in the throne because we should only have queens on the throne, no kings. Kings are evil.

Don’t get me wrong I love girl power. Hunger hames and Katniss YES PLEASE! Among so many many others. But this just didn’t do it for me. There was never any good reason as to why there should only be a queen on the throne. Just that there was, everyone who was smart believed it and it MUST happen again.

I’m sure lots of people will disagree with Me & love it. This one just didn’t work for me.

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24 people found this helpful

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great then boring

I really enjoyed probably the first half and it had a fun set up but then all that was abandoned and it felt cheesey to me.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Marvelous

I Love this book! The bonds of Sisterhood and loyalty are wonderful! These young women all discovering who they are and finding their paths, their friendships and bonds help each other rise in their own discovery. Iron sharpens Iron!

This story drew me in from the beginning. As Brienna accepts the challenges laid before her and has difficult decisions to make, I found myself totally rallying for her! Cheering for her as she finds her strength and discovers herself!

It's totally Marvelous!!

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6 people found this helpful

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captivating story with amazing narrator

at first I was a little hesitant in this story. But as the story progressed I found myself wanting to listen more and more. I am excited to see if there will be another book although I'm happy with how it ended.

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4 people found this helpful

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good story

I enjoyed the performance a lot. the story line was interesting but predictable. The use of extreme description became tiresome and felt like I was lead through the story instead of being allowed to experience it. I would recommend this book to friends because it is enjoyable over all.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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An OK Title

Overall, the plot was cliche and quite predictable. There could have been a little more meat character development-wise too, the MC was rather dull and lacked personality. The narrator was awful, just droning. I had to speed her up! So, if you all want to listen to the book, speed her by 1.25x.

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2 people found this helpful

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Highly Recommend!

An epic adventure featuring a strong female protagonist - I really enjoyed this read. Brienna has never known her father. Her mother died when she was young and her protective grandfather hid her away with in a passion house to keep her safe from the father she never knew.

As Brienna cycles through the different passions, failing at all, she finally settles on knowledge. But as her classmates find patrons and leave her, Brienna is left at the passion house until ... her mistress discovers that Brienna is the key to the return of the ruling Queens to Maevana, a land that has suffered through King's rule for generations. While Brienna does not possess magical royal blood, her role in the return of female rule to her father's land is integral.

This book has everything: a strong protagonist that you can't help loving, a wide array of side characters, adventure, mystery, romance, and danger. And the bonus is that the story ends beautifully with real closure. Highly recommend!

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable but predictable

I had a hard time with this one. The writing was so over the top and the narration was so emotionless that the combination drove me batty. I almost gave up three or four times. I'm glad I held on to the end though, because the story did get better eventually. There were no big surprises or plot twists, everything was predictable but I enjoyed the world. My biggest fault with this book was the relationships, Ross didn't show any development for the relationships. They were just there. One stranger meets another and then BAM they are worth dying or killing or being fired over out of no where. I pretty much live for character development, and the lack there of almost made me give the whole thing two stars. But I liked the concepts of the world so I decided on 3. I probably would have enjoyed this book more had I read it and not listened to it though.

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2 people found this helpful

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Amazing story!

I was hooked. I wish it were a series so it would keep on going!

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Ummm the “love interest” is literally a groomer

(Spoilers). Was this written as a p*do fantasy? Just listen to “29” by Demi Lovato and you’ll get the gist of the plot… except it’s even worse.

I read Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross and was enamored and enchanted by her writing and characters, so I picked up this one hoping for more of the same.

I tried to make it through but I felt sick to my stomach every time Cartier flirted with Brienna. She never had a father figure, and always hungered for Cartier’s approval (daddy issues he is happy to exploit). It’s giving Errol Musk and Jana Bezuidenhout.

Brienna meets Cartier when she is TEN years old and he is presumably at least 19-20. He then is an instructor at her school and then her personal instructor until she is 17. (She literally calls him Master most of the book.) And then he waits until she’s “of age” to kiss her - it just feels so icky.

He’s literally a p*dofile, and gives signs of having feelings for her before she even turns 17. I would still be weirded out but I would mind a lot less if Brienna met some 27 yr old on her adventures after she’s 18, but Cartier literally spent the majority of his waking time with her since she was 14, and he’s known her since she was 10. It’s like someone’s middle school teacher then high school teacher marries them at 18.

That’s not consent, folks. I like my romances consensual and between actual, you know, adults. Worst part is I’m afraid to even recommend Divine Rivals, because who the heck is this author, and what other weird shiz is she going to write?

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1 person found this helpful