The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima

The Exiled Queen started off where The Demon King left off. Han Alister has recently lost everything keeping him in Ragmarket. The Bayars have not forgotten Han, nor have they forgiven him. They will attempt anything to get back the amulet Han took from them. Danger does not only come from the Bayar family. Han and Dancer are now journeying south to begin their schooling at Mystwerk House in Oden's Ford. Mystwerk is the school specifically for wizards. Once at school, Han meets a strange man in an unlikely place. This man, Crow, begins tutoring Han in the darker parts of magic... but there's always a cost.


Princess Raisa ana'Marianna is leaving the Fells, running from a forced marriage to the High Wizard's son, Micah. Traveling with her is her friend, Corporal Amon Byrne. He and his triple of cadets are returning to Oden's Ford to continue their cadet schooling at Wein House, located across the river from Mystwerk. What better place for Raisa to go and be kept safe? Little does she know, some of the people she is running away from have a way of turning up where she least expects them.

This story has the usual characters: Han, Raisa, Amon, Dancer and then some.

I am very much enjoying the Seven Realms series. As with Demon King, Exiled Queen is written following both the main characters, their parallel journeys to and continuing at Oden's Ford. While this story tended to focus on Han a little more than Raisa, the characters were very well developed. At times I felt like I was attending school with these two. Some unlikely characters came into play in this story, and created twists and turns that kept the story going. The ending of the book was not quite what I expected, but I am looking forward to continuing the story. Unfortunately when starting a new series, I realize too late that I have to wait until next year to read the next book. BOO!

The one thing I did not like about this book was the back and forth "I love this person" then "I love that person" followed by "I enjoy kissing this person" but when I see someone else I can't stop thinking "I want to kiss that person"... Man, no one could make up their mind about who they really liked and I don't want to know what it was like for each of the 12 (ok, over-exaggerated) people you've made out with.

4/5