Do you ever get so mad at how a book ends that you refuse to finish the series? Apparently, that's me.

I remembered very little about Kingsbane going into my second read-through, but then I read one review, and it spoiled literally everything. Still, I want to actually finish this trilogy so I read this book anyway and somehow missed entire romantic subplots the first time...
Both of the storylines in this book were a bit underwhelming, in my opinion. I understand the parallels between Rielle and Elian's journeys, but it felt really repetitive. Rielle is navigating a world where she is now the Sun Queen and Eliana is navigating a world where everyone believes she's the Sun Queen. Both are searching for ways to control their powers, both are having issues with betrayal from close friends, and both intend to refuse their destinies. As I said before, we know how Rielle's arc ends, so her story itself is my least favorite of the two. Eliana's arc intrigues me, but the last chapter from her POV infuriates me for a wide variety of reasons, and it's why I never came back to this series the first time.
None of my opinions on the characters really changed. Rielle is probably my least favorite character because her two traits are horny and indecisive. She kisses three different people and mentions wanting a threesome with the two who are related...I didn't pick up on the incest the first time, I guess. Audric is still boring, Lu is...weird, and Corien just gets on my nerves. Eliana is more enjoyable to read about, but I don't really find her story that intriguing. Simon gave me the ick a lot, and Remy was really the only person worth reading about, although I didn't mind Harkan in the end. I'm also mildly disappointed that despite both protagonists being bi women, they both end up with men.
I still intend to read book three, but Kingsbane is the sequel to Furyborn and promises an interesting finale to a trilogy about what it means to defy fate.

3.25/5