Review: The Queens of Fennbirn

The Queens of Fennbirn
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Uncover the sisters’ origins, dive deep into the catastrophic reign of the Oracle Queen, and reveal layers of Fennbirn’s past, hidden until now.

The Young Queens

Get a glimpse of triplet queens Mirabella, Arsinoe, and Katharine during a short period of time when they protected and loved one another. From birth until their claiming ceremonies, this is the story of the three sisters’ lives…before they were at stake.

The Oracle Queen

Everyone knows the legend of Elsabet, the Oracle Queen. The one who went mad. The one who orchestrated a senseless, horrific slaying of three entire houses. But what really happened? Discover the true story behind the queen who could foresee the future…just not her own downfall. 

I have been so ready for this novella bind up to flesh things out some more and just take me back to the world of the series while I wait for the next book! For those of you who don't know, this book is two novella's in one and I'm gonna review each one individually! 

The Young Queens
This is a prequel of sorts, and I'm guessing the main purpose of it was to flesh out some of what we already know! For instance, we get to see the Queens when they where younger and find out more about their backgrounds, as well as certain...events that are fleshed out more. I feel like Camille is more real for me after reading this, and I feel like the world has been expanded upon a bit more! This novella basically provides more detail for us, and things we've been curious about. 

We follow the same narrative style as the other books, so we switch POV's between different characters which I actually really liked because it kept it fresh and helped you delve in to each of the characters. Of course we get to discover more about Jules and her younger self too, not just the Queens, we get to see how she met her familiar and what happened when she first met Arsinoe. And speaking of the Queens....seeing how they interacted as girls together, before being separated, was actually really interesting. 

This one is actually kind of heart breaking, because there's always been this question of how exactly did Arsinoe and Katharine get switched, and this novella answers that and it was actually quite a sad opening scene with Queen Camille. 

Interestingly we get to see some of the injustices of the Poisoner's being in power for so long. I have to say...Natalia really does intrigue me, and I really can't quite bring myself to dislike her (I have written down in my notes before I read the second novella). We also get to see some more of Madrigal, who I didn't really care for after what she did in the first book, and this novella serves to make me like her even less. 

Oh, we meet Willa in this novella too, which I really loved because I'd been super curious about who raised the girls until they left and got separated and so on and I was really invested in her POV and her story. 

Overall, we get to see the girls at various different intervals, how they grew up and we get more depth to events that have been mentioned...as well as having a mystery solved! It's a nice addition to the canon to flesh out the world and the characters a bit more! 

The Oracle Queen
Okay, so the Oracle Queen has been mentioned multiple times throughout the main series and I don't know about you guys, but I've always been super curious about her and felt like her story had to be told at some point...and here we are. I think this is my favourite of the two novellas. I got so invested in to it, and it made me so ragey. 

We meet Queen Elsabet, the last Seer Queen...the rhyme about her is even mentioned in the previous novella. There's so much deceit and backstabbing in this tiny, tiny little novella, not to mention all the politics and the general shadiness between the different groups. It was interesting to see how the different groups interacted with each other though. 

I have to say...I knew Gilbert was shady AF right from the start, I don't know if that makes me jaded or what, but I didn't trust him further than I could throw him. I was disappointed but not at all surprised in him. William I just didn't like at all. Sorry dude. It reached a point in this novella when I was kind of wary of Bess and Jonathan too which they didn't really deserve. 

This volume we meet Natalia's ancestor....Francesca. Oh how I hated her. This novella made me so sad, I could see in my minds eye what was going to happen and how they'd twist things. It was like being on a rollercoaster and anticipating the drop. You knew it was coming, and you're speeding towards it but you can't do anything about it other than brace. I felt so damn bad for Elsabet and Rosamund and Bess.....and I felt so much rage towards Francesca and the Arrens. I feel like this novella has changed how I look at the Arrens for now. I kinda want them to suffer. 

Considering the behaviour of certain male characters in the main series, I could see what was going on with Francesca and the Consort a mile off. Again....disappointed but not surprised. I think because I kind of like Natalia, I was like...Francesca can't be that bad. Oh how wrong I was. 

For a novella, it really painted the character of Elsabet perfectly...even if she herself wasn't quite the perfect Queen. You got to know her really well and despite her faults you could empathise with her. It was a wild ride, filled with politics and betrayal and treachery and it was actually quite juicy, let's be real!