The True Queen - Sarah Fine

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Now that Ansa knows she is the destined queen of Kupari, she is desperate to find a permanent home for her people, the Kriegere, in the Kupari lands. But as the small band of warriors crosses into the foreign territory, Ansa loses her fragile grip on her newly-acquired—and violent—fire and ice magic and puts everyone, including her love Thyra, in danger.

Inside the walls of Kupari, Elli maintains the facade that she is the magical queen, with her secret—that she has no magic at all—on the brink of exposure every day. But as she tries to prepare the citizens to protect themselves from another invasion, unrest spreads as wielders like her beloved Oskar begin to lose control of their powers.

As Kupari grows increasingly unstable, with the land literally crumbling beneath their feet, and a common enemy once again threatening everything, these two young women on a collision course with destiny must find a way to save the realm and their people from total destruction.In this epic conclusion to the Impostor Queen series, Sarah Fine’s sweeping tale of two fierce leaders imbued with unimaginable power and called to unthinkable sacrifice finally answers the question: who has the strength to be the True Queen?"

OMFG you guys, I posted my First Page Friday for this book and said it was weird reviewing this one since I hadn't reviewed the first two of the series, and then I went back to look through my old reviews, and I did review the first one! HA! How did I forget? And why did I review the first and decide to review the third, but I never reviewed the second? (Honestly...because I read the second book on a plane flying home from Italy, and that flight destroyed me.) I don't want to leave the second book out, so I'm going to turn this into a two-fer.

So...The Cursed Queen is the second book in this series, and it follows Ansa, who was stolen from her people by the Krigere, a warrior clan, as a small child. After a run-in with the Kupari's Valtia during a battle on the water, Ansa is imbued with the Valtia's powers over fire and ice. The young warrior believes herself to have been cursed by the Kupari leader, and, fearful of witchcraft, she struggles to hide and control her new powers. Gradually, she learns the true meaning of her powers, and as she gains knowledge about her past and future, she struggles to determine who she can trust. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Ansa's journey was stressful and terrifying at times, and while I was pretty sure I knew who she could trust, there were definitely times where I, like Ansa, was terrified that she couldn't trust anyone. I also felt her powerlessness in the moments where she couldn't figure out how to control the fire and ice, and whew...this book was equal parts stressful and awesome.

The True Queen picks up with Ansa preparing to follow Thyra and her people into Kupari, to remove the person she believes to be a false queen from her throne and create a new home for the Krigere. It alternates between Ansa and her journey and Elli, who is struggling to lead the Kupari people as the land around them revolts, causing terrible earthquakes and, worse, weakening magic-wielders and causing some to lose control of their magic. Ansa must avoid falling under control of the evil elders who were responsible for the deaths of the Valtias before her while also harnessing her seemingly uncontrollable powers before they destroy her, and Elli must find a way to hold her people together and stop the earth itself from shaking apart so she can unite with her Valtia and, together, lead their people. I enjoyed parts of the third book in this trilogy, but I didn't feel the story was as compelling or as strong as the first two books. Much of the first two-thirds or so felt repetitive. The first two books were action-packed, while this third installment primarily featured Ansa wandering in the woods at the Kupari border and Elli wringing her hands about how to stop the earthquakes. I wish things had moved more quickly in the beginning so we could have had more action in the end. Overall, though, it was a great trilogy, and I enjoyed it!