Broken Throne, the final book in the Red Queen series, follows many short stories instead of one story. Stories include a story about Cal’s mother, a Silver Princess running away, Evangiline dealing with the Samo’s household, and Mare learning how to live outside of war. There is also a transcript style story about Captain Farley and Shade. It also contains multiple in-universe texts written by Julian Jacos, which is a nice touch. The texts connect the Red Queen to our world, claiming to be an apocalyptic version of our world as opposed to a completely new, original world. Some stories are better than others.
So why do I dislike this book? The stories are too short to be impactful, and are either boring, or not well written. The princess story, for example, has an extremely disappointing climax, with much buildup and very little payoff. Mare and Evangiline’s stories are nothing to look forward to, being very bare bones and simple. It’s the same writing as the previous books in the series, which I am disappointed by, as I think the writing needs some work. I think it could have been an interesting joint book, made with two authors, but it isn't, and speculation won’t help. My favorite story involves Coriane, Cal’s mother, and her introduction to the royal family. It is interesting, and furthers past relationships that were once described, but not not elaborated on much within the books. The Farley and Shade story is a little meh, being written in a style similar to a play, with lots of military jargon that, unfortunately, is annoying to read through. It slightly expands on the Scarlet Guard, but not enough to do anything interesting, just shows how two characters met.
All in all, I definitely believe that this should have been worked on longer, because while it isn’t great, it did have potential. It isn’t the best written, but it’s not bad enough to be a turn off. I enjoyed some parts, and didn’t like others. The Red Queen series is fine without it, although I would say it helps further the series.
-Braden Carlson
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