3.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from O'Brien Press in exchange for an honest review.

Princess Aurelia is now a Queen and she employs lesser noblewoman Xania to be her new spymaster after witnessing the younger woman's bravery and stealth. As Xania fits into her new role, Lia must learn how to rule her kingdom whilst also keeping all sides happy - as well as avoiding assassination attempts and choosing a husband despite her eye constantly being drawn to her new Mistress of Whispers, Xania.

This is a really well-written YA fantasy novel, that follows two women as they try and shape their own future and the future of their beloved country for the better, while also tip-toeing around each other because of their beating feelings. Lia and Xania are both very different but also seem to fit perfectly into each other, and their romance was a joy to read about, and one that made me squeal with mutual embarrassment when they tripped up over each other as well as sigh lovingly when they eventually took the right steps.

There are a lot of great female characters in this book too with a majority of Lia's court being full of powerful women, and a few interesting men. The women are definitely the main players in this royal courtroom/chessboard though!

There's a lot of political intrigue in this book with Lia having a Parliament of nobles to placate while also trying to feed her people who face starvation because of failing grain fields. She also needs to figure out alliances with her neighbouring countries that include royal visits, and possible engagements. And her awful cousin Rassa who has a claim to her throne, and could step in neatly if she was conveniently taken out of his way. I thought this was all really well written and I loved that Lia's country felt very fully realised and detailed - there was a history, a history of a royal family and parliament, as well as trade agreements already in place.

I definitely think I enjoyed Lia more than Xania. I think her journey as Queen just intrigued me more - especially because I feel we lost a lot of Xania's own journey as it all seemed to happen off page which was disappointing. If you're looking for the evolution of a spy master, you don't really get it as for some reason Xania already seems to know what she's doing, and I don't know how.

I loved that Lia stepped into the novel on the first page already a queen - there was no moments of confusion and being led in baby steps around her own palace like you see in a lot of other YA fantasy when a character suddenly becomes royal (for example Queen of the Tearling). It felt believable that Lia could step into her palace and onto her throne with confidence because it's what she had been trained to do for her whole life.

One of my gripes about this book is that so much happened off page, and I really wanted to see everything! I couldn't understand how Xania just fit into her role as Whispers so easily when she hadn't been trained to do so. I also failed to see her as a threat - she didn't appear to have much fighting skills (though she did, of course, have stealth skills already). She knew how to wield a knife and that was about it - I would have liked to have seen her do more training. I also would have liked to have seen her initial struggle as Whispers before she became used to the role - we saw none of that. Only found out months later about the agents and spies she had employed and bribed.

The ending of this book also felt a bit rushed and I really strongly feel this book could have been split into two. The moment Lia

abdicated her throne and was drugged by Rassa

, the first book could have ended on a really good cliff hanger. And Book 2 could have been Matthias and Xania's journey following that to help Lia. That journey took two months, and longer on the way back - yet it was all conveniently wrapped up in a couple of pages and I felt really dissatisfied with that. We also saw none of Lia's perspective in those months either which was a real shame. I loved this world enough that I wasn't ready to leave it there, and I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity not splitting Lia and Xania's adventure into two. It also meant we missed EVERYTHING going on in court

during Rassa's two-month reign. Another book could have meant getting a POV from someone like Zola or Isra in Rassa's court and it could have been sooo good

.

I really enjoyed this book but I also feel sad at some of the things I feel like I missed out on. I do hope there are other books written in this world because I think it's great and I just want more!