Lara has only one thought when her husband is taken prisoner: I will do whatever it takes to set you free.

A queen now in exile as a traitor, Lara has watched Ithicana be conquered by her own father, helpless to do anything to stop the destruction. But when she learns her husband, Aren, has been captured in battle, Lara knows there is only one reason her father is keeping him alive: as bait for his traitorous daughter.

And it is bait she fully intends to take.

Risking her life to the Tempest Seas, Lara returns to Ithicana with a plan not only to free its king, but for liberating the Bridge Kingdom from her father's clutches using his own weapons: the sisters whose lives she spared.

But as Lara and her companions formulate a plan to free Aren from her father's palace, they soon discover that while it is easy to get in, it will be quite another thing to get Aren, and themselves, back out. Not only is the palace inescapable, there are more players in the game than Lara ever realized, enemies and allies switching sides in the fight for crowns, kingdoms, and bridges. But her greatest adversary of all might be the very man she's trying to free - the husband she betrayed.

With everything she loves in jeopardy, Lara must decide who - and what - she is fighting for: her kingdom, her husband, or for herself.

The Traitor Queen is the second book in Danielle L. Jensen‘s The Bridge Kingdom series. It picks up shortly after where The Bridge Kingdom, book 1, ends. While I am not a stickler for reading in order, I do believe you need to read The Bridge Kingdom before picking this up.

Lara is a trained assassin who was raised for one purpose..to infiltrate and bring down Ithicana, The Bridge Kingdom, from the inside. Though she came to realize she’d been fed nothing but lies by her father over the course of her life, she still betrays Ithicana and her father is able to take the Bridge. Now she’s an outcast, living on the run and trying to overcome her guilt for the part she played in Ithicana’s downfall…until she learns Aren has been captured by her father. She knows it’s a trap to draw her out, but she knows she’s their best chance of saving him…so long as she can convince the rest of the country.

This book was all action. I love how fast-paced it was. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how the conflict between Aren and Lara would be resolved. Hers was not a simple mistake, and I wondered how Aren would overcome it, and more importantly, how their people – who had suffered so much because of her actions – would be able to accept her again. Though I was satisfied that she and Aren would be able to come together, I do wish we’d had more resolution with the Ithicanians themselves. That’s really my only complaint with this book. From page one there was non-stop action. I truly believed in Lara by the end, and I appreciated Aren’s emotional roller coaster. He loved Lara, but she betrayed him and his people. It was so easy to understand the choices they both made, and how they had to suffer the consequences. I would have liked to see another chapter or two in the aftermath, but I understand there may be more book set in this world, so I’ll try to be patient.

The Traitor Queen is an action-packed tale full of heartbreak and loss….and hope. Jensen delivered.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The Bridge Kingdom