Call this a 3.5 star book which I'm rounding up because I'm feeling generous.

Kelsea has spent her 19 years living in isolation in the woods with a pair of kindly stepparents when a gang of armed knights show up and announce "You're the queen, it's time to take the crown, come with us. Also men are trying to kill you." What follows is a fairy-tale inspired fantasy romp with dark undertones. Kelsea's mother the queen was weak and feckless, and her uncle the regent worse. The people suffer and nobles prosper. Every kind of vice and corruption is endemic. And it all stretches back to an horrific treaty that promises 10,000 captives a year to an evil Sorcerer Queen. Fortunately Kelsea has enough loyal retainers, a 19 year old's arrogance and snark, and a magic necklace. She rights wrongs, kicks ass, and avoids dying.

There are some cool hints in the world-building that this might actually be a science-fiction story, that Tear and the other kingdoms are a spacefaring colony from Earth, and that magic is remnants of hidden technology. Or it could be standard fantasy magic. Regardless, in the first book it's just hints and not much to build on. The books are in a weird place. Fans of baroque politics and grim revenge a la A Game of Thones are going to be disappointed by a thin setting. Yet there's more rape and sex crimes than I'd feel comfortable going with in a YA book. And it commits my least favorite fantasy world sin, where the only Sane and Justice Person In The Room has 21st century values rather than something more appropriate, like "L'état, c'est moi."

Still, it moves, it's fun, and I don't regret the time spent.