Instead, Kozloff misses this opportunity further explore our protagonist’s internal conflicts, choosing to follow different characters for most of the book, so that Cérulia’s tale is almost relegated to the backburner. If only this novel’s focus had been more on Cérulia and her journey to physical and mental recovery, I think I would have felt a deeper connection to the story. Her connection to her talent, the power to speak with animals, has also been affected when she was grievously injured, so she must learn to feel comfortable using her abilities again. But first, she’ll need to retain her strength and muster up her resources and allies. Cérulia realizes now that her fate lies back home in Weirandale, where she is meant to retake her mother’s stolen throne. Still, while her quest for revenge may have almost gotten her killed, it did provide her with a new sense of clarity. Unfortunately though, the damage has been done, and Cérulia’s trauma is more than just the physical, as this setback has also demoralized her and made her doubt her purpose. Luckily for her, she is rescued by a group of travelers, who take her to be healed and nursed back to health. After the epic battle, Cérulia is left beaten, burned and, well…broken. The Broken Queen by Sarah Kozloff picks up not long after the end of the previous book, The Queen of Raiders. Pacing also took a hit as the author was clearly pulling things back, rearranging the stage in preparation for the next book, the conclusion. This one was still good but not my favorite, given the shift away from our main character to focus on some others.

To start, I have to say I’m a little disappointed with this installment, considering how strong the first two were. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and a shifting menagerie of pets, who mistakenly believe they are suitable replacements for grown sons. All four books, A Queen in Hiding, The Queen of Raiders, A Broken Queen, and The Cerulean Queen, came out from January through April 2020. Her epic fantasy quartet, The Nine Realms, was published by TOR on a rapid publications schedule. She didn’t know then that this leap into creative writing would spark a new career. That summer, she grabbed her laptop and started imagining a world that awaited the return of the queen. In 2012, while teaching a senior seminar on American Women Directors, she realized that neither the books nor films of Lord of the Rings could pass the Bechdel Test. from an interdisciplinary program at Stanford University, joining the Film Department of Vassar College in 1988. Sarah has spent her life immersed in literature, narrative, and film.Īfter a degree in English at Dartmouth she worked in film production in NYC.

A Broken Queen by Sarah Kozloff