A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

I had this Thicc Queen (800 pages) on my to-be-read shelf for about 3 years. I initially was impressed by its length and the promise of both dragons and a feminist fantasy with a sapphic relationship, so I bought it, along with a few other books, when I was really getting back into reading. However, its length also intimidated me, so on my shelf it sat. One day it did not intimidate me anymore. I don’t know what drew me to it so strongly, I just knew I wanted a substantial book. I wanted thick and juicy story I could sink my teeth into and savor. It not only delivered on all of these things, but it also gave me a feeling reminiscent of reading during my childhood again; all wonder and joy and saying “that is so bad ass” out loud. And it kept me so engaged that I read it quicker than I’ve read some 400-page books.

There were so many interesting things about the world building that are revealed to you as the book progresses and you find more out about the history of each country and culture, you’re separating the myths and legends from the reality of their queendoms and kingdoms. You learn a lot of the world’s lore but it never feels overwhelming or overly complicated. Religion and politics and history are all intertwined in ways unique to each region across this world that overlap and conflict, creating mystery and tension as you read on to discover what history is right and what’s wrong and what’s worth fighting over. It never felt like it was too much to grasp but it also felt really unique and exciting to me.

If anything, my only “complaint” about this book is that it could be even longer. I would read more about these characters, with the exception of maybe one (Niclays) but even his story and perspective were crucial and had a satisfying arc. Specifically with Tane’ though, I think I could have read much more of her perspective than we actually got. I adored the dragon riding side of the story, it gave me everything I wanted from Forth Wing that Forth Wing massively failed at. But I also enjoyed every perspective I read and each characters’ storylines had enough going on throughout the whole book to keep me engaged and excited to put the pieces of this story together, and I wouldn’t have wanted to sacrifice one story for the other. So is it really a complaint, or did I just never want this book to end? I guess the latter. I’m so glad Samantha Shannon decided to continue this world in the prequel A Day of Fallen Night and the upcoming Among the Burning Flowers. I will be eating them up expeditiously, and well as her other series The Bone Season.

I feel like I never know how to write a review for something I really love, like where is the line between a coherent review and a chance to gush about something I loved? So I’ll just summarize here in case it wasn’t clear: I loved it, I’m a huge fangirl, and I will be reading a lot more fantasy this year to chase this high.

(5 stars because I can’t give 6 stars on WordPress.)