Review – The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom, Book 2) by Danielle L. Jensen, Narrated by Lauren Fortgang, James Patrick Cronin (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 10 hours and 13 minutes
Publisher: Audible Originals
Release Date: February 27, 2020
ASIN: B0846211D5
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Bridge Kingdom series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Lara has only one thought when her husband is taken prisoner: I will do whatever it takes to set you free.

A queen now in exile as a traitor, Lara has watched Ithicana be conquered by her own father, helpless to do anything to stop the destruction. But when she learns her husband, Aren, has been captured in battle, Lara knows there is only one reason her father is keeping him alive: as bait for his traitorous daughter.

And it is bait she fully intends to take.

Risking her life to the Tempest Seas, Lara returns to Ithicana with a plan not only to free its king, but for liberating the Bridge Kingdom from her father’s clutches using his own weapons: the sisters whose lives she spared.

But as Lara and her companions formulate a plan to free Aren from her father’s palace, they soon discover that while it is easy to get in, it will be quite another thing to get Aren, and themselves, back out. Not only is the palace inescapable, there are more players in the game than Lara ever realized, enemies and allies switching sides in the fight for crowns, kingdoms, and bridges. But her greatest adversary of all might be the very man she’s trying to free – the husband she betrayed.

With everything she loves in jeopardy, Lara must decide who – and what – she is fighting for: her kingdom, her husband, or for herself. ”

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Bridge Kingdom series. I borrowed this as an audiobook through Audible Escapes

Audiobook Quality (4/5): This was a well done audiobook. I enjoyed the two narrators and thought they both did a good job.

Story (4/5): This was a good continuation of this series, although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book. This book is mainly a quest to rescue Aren and then one long battle between Ithicana and Lara’s home kingdom. There are a lot of scenes between Aren and Lara as they try to mend the trust in their relationship. Lara runs herself ragged constantly making it through one deadly situation after another, which got to be a bit much.

Characters (3/5): Both Aren and Lara fell a bit flat for me this time around. Aren spent much of the book helplessly captured, which didn’t match the resourcefulness he’s shown previously. Lara lost all personality and was replaced with a blind drive to rescue Aren and kill her father. Lara was just plunged into one life threatening situation after another which left very little time for any character development. The two still have good chemistry together, but the intimate scenes between them seemed a bit awkward. The side characters were flat-out poorly developed.

Setting (4/5): The setting takes place back and forth between the two kingdoms. It’s a decent fantasy setting and well thought-out. We don’t get to spend much time on the bridge and I missed that.

Writing Style (3/5): Despite how fast-paced this was the whole story felt kind of tired. More like we were just watching the characters play out what they needed to do to get to the next point in the story, rather than actually watching them make the story. I think it was just a bit too non-stop and rushed with very little time for us to get to know the characters better and understand them. This book just didn’t grab and engage me like the first one, I kind of felt like “Eh, okay that’s done”.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was well done but missing some of the wonder and adventure that was present in the first book in the series. Things are decently tied up here as well. While I enjoyed this okay, I didn’t love it like I did the first book. I would still tentatively recommend it to those who enjoy fantasy with a lot of politics, war, and some romance.