Right off the bat, I have to say that I definitely went into reading with Broken Throne with a great deal of excitement and anticipation, and I’m thrilled to say that I absolutely loved this book for the most part. Since Broken Throne is a collection of novellas and various other content, I decided to approach reviewing this book by commenting on each novella and section, give each section their own individual score, and my overall score for Broken Throne will be the average of my scores for each individual section of the book; similar to how I approached reviewing Sarah J. Maas’ book of Throne of Glass novellas, The Assassin’s Blade. That being said, here are my thoughts on Broken Throne.
Julian’s Notes
I thought that this section was a very interesting and great way to start Broken Throne, because I felt like Julian’s notes to Cal about the timeline of Norta’s history once again really added to the world building aspect of the Red Queen series; which is something that I’ve always thought that Victoria Aveyard did a great job of executing throughout the course of the series. That being said, I did think that Aveyard’s writing for this particular section of the book was a little dry, and I also felt like she kind of broke the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing with her writing for this part of the book. That being said, I do think that the slightly dry tone of Aveyard’s writing for Julian’s notes to Cal did a pretty good job of adding a sense of authenticity to the idea that this section of the book is supposed to be focused on Julian telling Cal details about the history of Norta, though. Honestly, I wish that this section of Broken Throne had been a little longer, because I really enjoyed it; and it once again added to the aspects of the Red Queen series that played a big part in what made me fall in love with the series, and become low-key obsessed with the series in the first place when I read the book, Red Queen, for the very first time back in November/December of 2018.
My Score: 9 out of 10.
Monarchs of House Calore
I absolutely loved this section of Broken Throne for the most part. I thought that this section of the book definitely added a lot to the history and worldbuilding aspect of the Red Queen series, which is something that I think Aveyard has always done a great job of executing throughout the course of the series. This section of the book and the way it’s executed also reminded me a lot of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book, Fire & Blood; which was all about the history of the Targaryen family, and it was a book that I also really enjoyed. It felt very fitting to me that Aveyard essentially wrote this section as if it was a brief record of the Calore family that was written by Julian Jacos for Cal to have, especially given Julian’s love of books. I was also rather amused by the note that Julian had written to Cal at the beginning of this section. That being said, I definitely think that this section of the book left a lot of room to be expanded upon, because the life of each person in the Calore family was pretty much summed up in just one long paragraph; and in the case of several of the people that were mentioned in this section, only a few sentences.
With that being said, I’m going to use this part of my review of Broken Throne to say that one of the biggest complaints that I have about this book is the fact that Aveyard included the novellas Queen Song and Steel Scar in this book, which she had already previously published together in the book Cruel Crown. Personally, I think it was a tad shady of her to do that, and I feel like by including Queen Song and Steel Scar in this book, Aveyard is essentially double dipping in terms of trying to make money off of those novellas, when it comes to fans of the Red Queen series, like me, who also own a copy of Cruel Crown; and therefore already own a copy of those novellas.
Personally, I would much rather have preferred that Aveyard not include Queen Song and Steel Scar in Broken Throne, and that she would have written one or two more new novellas for the book instead. If Aveyard felt like she didn’t have any good ideas for an additional new novella or two to include in this book, then I definitely think that this is a section of the book that she could have expanded upon, and that she could have gone into more detail about the lives of some, if not all, of the members of the Calore family that were mentioned in this part of the book. Ranting aside, one of the things that I really appreciate about Broken Throne is the way that the book is organized, and the fact that the book opens with content related to events that occurred prior to the start of the series.
My Score: 8 out of 10.
Queen Song
I want to start off this section of my review for Broken Throne by mentioning that the reason why I never wrote a review for Cruel Crown when I read the book for the first time is because, at the time, I felt like aside from saying which of the two novellas, Queen Song and Steel Scar, I liked the most, and a brief commentary on what I thought of both of them; originally, I felt like I didn’t have enough to say about either of the novellas to warrant writing a full review for Cruel Crown. For the record, thinking of Queen Song and Steel Scar in terms of them being published together in Cruel Crown, I’ve always considered Queen Song to be my favorite of the two novellas. After reading Cruel Crown twice, and reading Broken Throne, I’ve now read Queen Song three times, and I can honestly say that I love this particular novella more and more each time I read it.
I’ve always felt like Queen Song contributed a lot to the history and world building aspect of the Red Queen series by having Cal’s mother, Coriane, be the protagonist of Queen Song, and by having part of this novella’s plot focusing on Coriane and Tibe’s relationship; showing how they met and fall in love, as well as getting a glimpse of what Cal was like as a baby. Coriane is definitely a very interesting and complex character. I found her interest in engineering, as well as building and repairing things all rather interesting. I also love what we saw of the brother and sister relationship between Julian and Coriane in Queen Song.
Aveyard does an excellent job of showing throughout the course of Queen Song that life among the royals in Norta has been filled with a lot of treachery and danger since long before the events that take place at the beginning of series. There’s no denying that Coriane’s life is ultimately rather tragic, especially when it comes to the way this novella ends. There are definitely a lot of people in Coriane’s life who are very critical of her; especially her cousin, Jessamine, who was trying to teach her about royal social etiquette, and was just not a nice person at all. Her father appeared to be rather dismissive and unsupportive of her interests in building and fixing things, except for whenever he needed her to fix something for him.
As far as I’m concerned, Elara was definitely the most ruthless, devious, and damaging person in Coriane’s life. The fact that Coriane knew that Elara has mind control abilities is what ultimately caused her to become increasingly paranoid throughout the course of Queen Song. It’s established in this novella that Coriane had three miscarriages before she gave birth to Cal, and after she had become pregnant with Cal, she was so worried that Elara had been using her mind control abilities to turn Coriane’s own body against her, and had possibly caused her to have the three miscarriages that she had had; that she not only didn’t tell Tibe, or anybody else that she was pregnant, she also didn’t allow herself to even think about the baby that she was carrying (Cal). Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how Coriane could have possibly pulled off not only hiding the fact that she was pregnant from everybody in her life, but also not even allowing herself to think about Cal throughout the entire time that she was pregnant with him.
Even though I know that Queen Song is a novella, and that novellas are supposed to be relatively short, I definitely think that Aveyard should have expanded upon what being pregnant with Cal was like, and what it was like for Coriane to keep her pregnancy a secret from everybody was like for her. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea how Coriane, or any woman for that matter, could possibly go their entire pregnancy without thinking about their unborn child out of fear of being mentally manipulated by someone like Elara. That just sounds completely impossible to pull off, and I think it would have been incredibly compelling to read about what that was like for her in more detail.
Considering the extensive role that Elara played in Coriane’s gradual descent into madness throughout the course of Queen Song, and the fact that she drove Coriane to commit suicide, there’s no denying that Elara is a horrible, horrible, horrible person. That being said, as horrible as Elara is, the fact that the Red Queen series is a YA fantasy series featuring characters like Elara and Maven, who do truly villainous things, but are ultimately incredibly compelling characters is a big part of what has caused me to fall in love with the series as much as I have. The fact that Aveyard definitely doesn’t play it safe in terms of the writing for the villains that are featured throughout the course of the series, particularly Maven and Elara, and their actions is definitely one of things that I’ve come to love and appreciate the most about the Red Queen series. Ultimately, Queen Song truly is a novella that I definitely love and enjoy more and more each time I read it!
My Score: 8 out of 10.
Julian’s Scarlet Guard Research
While I really enjoyed the fact that Julian talked about the importance of trying to get more than one prospective on historical events, which is something that I think is very true and relatable when it comes to real life, and he therefore tried to get a Red perspective on the world; I ultimately found this part of the book rather average and a little boring. However, I did like the fact that Julian mentioned that he had a difficult time finding information about the history of the Reds. I’ve oftentimes enjoyed stories that tell a story by being written in interview format, but in this case, Aveyard taking this approach to show Julian having done research on the history of Reds and the Scarlet Guard just didn’t work very well, as far as I’m concerned.
My Score: 5 out of 10.
Steel Scars
While I really appreciate the fact that Aveyard was trying to give some insight and backstory into the Scarlet Guard in Steel Scars, I’ve never been all that crazy about this particular novella for a variety of reasons. For starters, the more I think about the series, and my thoughts on all of the characters that are featured throughout the course of the Red Queen series, the more I realize that I’m not all that crazy about the character, Diana Farley; so I’ve never been all that crazy about her being the protagonist of Steel Scars. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Farley, I just have ultimately come to have a very mixed and “meh” reaction to her as a character. Personally, I really think that Shade should have been the protagonist of Steel Scars, since he’s Mare’s brother, and it would have been great to get some material for the Red Queen series that was written from Shade’s point of view before he really dies in Glass Sword. Plus, I think that Shade is a very likable and interesting character. That being said, while I definitely have rather mixed feelings about Farley, as a character, I did love the relationship between her and Shade throughout the course of this novella. I especially loved actually getting to see how Farley and Shade met each other for the very first time. Aside from my thoughts on the characters that are featured in Steel Scars, I honestly found the overall plot of this novella rather boring.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve always listened to Steel Scars on audiobook, rather than read a physical copy of this particular novella, but I’ve always found the frequent use of the word “Redacted” during the parts of the novella that featured transmitted messages between members of the Scarlet Guard rather annoying and overdone. For what it’s worth, I do think that Aveyard’s writing for the Scarlet Guard’s messages felt very authentic, but I still found her constant usage of the word “Redacted” incredibly annoying. Trust me, you definitely don’t want to make a drinking game out of how often the word “Redacted” is used throughout the course of Steel Scars; unless it’s your goal to die of alcohol poisoning. Ultimately, while I do think that Steel Scars does provide some pretty interesting insight into the Scarlet Guard, and how Shade became involved with them; as a whole, I simply think that this novella is rather mediocre.
My Score: 4 out of 10.
Visual Content (Maps, Family Trees, Notes, etc.):
As someone who’s obsessed with maps that are featured in fantasy novels, I absolutely loved all of the maps that were featured in Broken Throne. I also loved all of the family trees, and the notes talking about a variety of things such as the Lakelands, Montfort, and various other places within the Red Queen “universe” that are included throughout the book. They definitely added a lot to the worldbuilding element of the Red Queen series, and these aspects of Broken Throne really enhanced my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
Prior to Broken Throne’s release, I definitely wasn’t expecting Aveyard to have the book feature any major twists or reveals that would radically change the way I view the Red Queen series as a whole, and the world that the series is set in. I was just expecting this book to be a nice epilogue to the series that would hopefully wrap up the remaining loose ends from the end of War Storm. That being said, I absolutely love the whole reveal that the kingdom of Norta and the various other kingdoms that make up the setting of the Red Queen series is actually the same land that makes up the United States of America several hundred years into the future. The main reason why I love that twist is due the fact that I’ve become so used to the settings that are featured in fantasy series or fantasy books being completely unrelated to the countries that exist in the real world; so Aveyard having the setting of the Red Queen series be the land that makes up the USA several hundred into the future is definitely something different that I’m not used to seeing in fantasy books. Personally, I think it would be really cool if Aveyard were to write a prequel book or series about how the USA went from being the country it is now to being the world that the Red Queen series is set in.
My Score: 10 out of 10.
World Behind
When it comes to the novella World Behind, I definitely have somewhat mixed feelings about this novella. On the positive side of things, it was definitely really interesting, and kind of fun, to read a novella that focuses on characters that are completely separate from the main characters in the Red Queen series, and to get the prospective of outsiders when it comes to things that have happened throughout the course of the series; with the events that take place in this novella taking place during the events that occur in War Storm. Ashe and Lyrisa were both very interesting characters that definitely showed hints of the same kind of complexity that Mare, Cal, Maven, and all of the other characters that are featured throughout the course of the Red Queen series demonstrate. That being said, Ashe and Lyrisa ultimately both came across as being somewhat underdeveloped since we, the readers, don’t get to spend a lot of time with these characters. Plus, while I found the overall plot of World Behind pretty interesting, I also thought that this whole novella was rather pointless; because at the end of the day, I’m guessing that we’ll most likely never see any of the characters that were featured in this novella again. There’s definitely a big part of me that can’t help but question Aveyard’s decision to include a novella in Broken Throne that focuses on completely new characters; instead of having all of the novellas in the book revolve around the main characters in the Red Queen series.
My Score: 7 out of 10.
Iron Heart
Prior to Broken Throne’s release, my biggest hope for the book, and the thing that I wanted to see be featured in the book the most was definitely a novella focusing on Maven and Thomas’ relationship. However, Iron Heart ultimately proved to be the thing that I didn’t know that I wanted, or needed, to be included in Broken Throne until I actually started reading the book; much I like hadn’t known that I wanted to get Evangeline’s point of view in the series until I read King’s Cage. Iron Heart definitely serves as a truly awesome epilogue to Evangeline’s storyline and her relationship with Elane in War Storm. Aveyard does an excellent job of reinforcing all of the character development that Evangeline had undergone throughout the course of the Red Queen series in Iron Heart, especially when it comes to how this novella ends. I’ve always loved the way that Aveyard has portrayed the sibling relationship between Evangeline, and her brother, Ptolemus, throughout the course of the series; and not only does this novella have some great writing for Evangeline and Elane’s relationship, it also features some great interactions between Evangeline and Ptolemus as well.
It was definitely really interesting to get Elane’s prospective on her relationship with Evangeline, and the things that happened throughout the course of this novella. I also thought that Aveyard did a really great job of using Elane’s P.O.V. chapters as an opportunity to flesh her out more as a character. Personally, I really love and appreciate the fact that Aveyard briefly touches upon the subject of gay marriage at one point in the novella when Ptolemus mentions the idea of Evangeline marrying Elane to her; especially since the Red Queen series has already been a series that has featured a variety of gay and bisexual characters. While I absolutely love the fact that Iron Heart primarily focuses on Evangeline and Elane, I also love how this novella ends with both Evangeline and Ptolemus walking away from their mother once and for all, because I thought that it was a really great and powerful moment for both of them. All in all, Iron Heart really does a truly awesome job of serving as an epilogue to Evangeline’s character arc throughout the course of the Red Queen series, and it ultimately proved to be one of the biggest highlights of Broken Throne for me personally.
My Score: 10 out of 10.
Fire Light
For the most part, I really loved the novella, Fire Light. Fire Light featured a lot of the elements that have made me fall in love with the Red Queen series as a whole, especially when it comes to the political parts of this novella’s plot. While I was glad that Mare and Cal went off in their own separate directions in War Storm, instead of them ending up together, I really enjoyed the parts of Fire Light that focused on their relationship, and the angst that exists between them. I also really enjoyed the parts of the novella where Mare and her family were all interacting with each other. That being said, pretty much the only genuine complaint that I have about Fire Light is that I felt like the overall plot of this novella was somewhat lacking in focus, and that Aveyard was trying to do too much in what is a relatively short novella. I think that Fire Light could have definitely benefitted from being a little bit longer, so Aveyard could flesh out either the parts of the novella focusing on Mare and Cal’s relationship, or the political aspects of this novella. Hopefully, by doing that, Aveyard could have avoided having Fire Light come across as if she was trying to do way too much in a relatively short novella. That being said, despite the issues that I have with Fire Light, I still loved it.
My Score: 8 out of 10.
Farewell
Right off the bat, I have to say that while I enjoyed all of the new novellas that are featured in Broken Throne, Farewell is definitely my favorite out of all of the new novellas in this book for many, many, many reasons. Prior to Broken Throne’s release, one of the things that I was hoping for the most in terms of what I wanted to see in this book was a novella about Maven and Thomas’ relationship. While the relationship between Maven and Thomas isn’t the main focus of this novella, I’m thrilled that Aveyard still touched upon their relationship in this novella; with Cal coming to the conclusion at the end of the novella that Thomas would probably have been enough to keep Maven from becoming as evil and bad as he ultimately became, if Thomas hadn’t died.
Personally, I’m really glad that Cal ultimately decided that his and Maven’s mother, Elara, was the true villain in the situation due to all of the ways that she had manipulated Maven using her powers while she was still alive. I thought that it was rather compelling writing on Aveyard’s part to have Cal try to give Maven a proper and nice resting place by marking his grave with the words, “MAVEN CALORE Beloved son, beloved brother. Let no one follow.” Personally, I felt like that was an incredibly touching moment. Honestly, I’m really glad that he left Elara’s grave blank. After all of the horrible things that she did throughout her lifetime, I think that Elara deserves to have her grave left blank, so people won’t be able to know that it’s her grave, or be able to go visit her grave. As horrible as this might sound, I don’t think that Elara deserves to be mourned at all. She truly was a horrible person.
Considering the fact that I loved Maven’s P.O.V. chapters in War Storm, and I also felt like Aveyard was rather vague on the details regarding Maven’s death, I’m thrilled that Maven had a P.O.V. chapter in this novella that takes place during the same period of time that he was being held prisoner in War Storm. I really loved Aveyard’s writing for that chapter.
Since I’m a big fan of the novella Queen Song, I also loved the part of Farewell that featured entries from Cal’s diary where it’s established that Julian had given him a diary; just like he had given Cal’s mother, Coriane, a diary when she was alive. That being said, I thought that it was a tad ridiculous that Cal kind of came across as being an emo teen in his diary entries.
Ultimately, Farewell really is the best novella in Broken Throne as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know if Victoria Aveyard is open to writing more material for the Red Queen series at some point in the future, or if Broken Throne was her way of wrapping up the remaining story threads in the series, and saying “Farewell” to the Red Queen series before she truly moves on to writing more books in the future; but either way, I thought that both the novella Farewell and Broken Throne as a whole, were a great way to end the Red Queen series.
My Score: 10 out of 10.
All things considered; Broken Throne really is a great book for the most part. While I didn’t love the novella World Behind, I still really liked it, and I loved all of the other new novellas that Victoria Aveyard wrote for this book. As I said earlier, Farewell is definitely my favorite out of all the new novellas that were featured in Broken Throne. However, I also really loved Iron Heart as well. All of the other content that was featured throughout the book was a lot of fun, but I especially loved all of the maps of the various locations that were featured throughout the course of the Red Queen series; because I’m absolutely OBSESSED with maps that are featured in fantasy books. As a whole, Broken Throne serves as a great epilogue to the Red Queen series, which is definitely a series that I’ve really come to love a great deal.
Since this is the last book in the Red Queen series, I would like to end this review by briefly discussing my thoughts on the series as a whole. All things considered, there’s no denying that the Red Queen series has definitely become one of my all-time top favorite YA fantasy series. As far as I’m concerned, the series has a very intriguing premise with ambitious worldbuilding that Victoria Aveyard does a fantastic job of executing. Mare is definitely a great protagonist, and despite the fact that I’ve always had VERY mixed feelings about romance in YA books, I’ve always loved the romance between Mare and Cal throughout the course of the series. While I definitely liked and enjoyed all of the characters to some extent throughout the course of the series, Maven definitely stands out as my personal favorite character, and the true MVP of the Red Queen series. If I had to rank each of the books in the Red Queen series from my favorite to my least favorite, I would rank them as followed: King’s Cage, Red Queen, Broken Throne, War Storm, Glass Sword, Cruel Crown. Ultimately, after reading the entire Red Queen series, there’s no denying that I’m a huge fan of Victoria Aveyard’s writing now, and I’m extremely excited to see what she comes up with next as she writes more books in the future.
My Overall Score For Broken Throne: 8 out of 10.
My Overall Score For The Red Queen Series As A Whole: 8 out of 10.
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