The Queen's Triumph

Rogue Queen Series, Book 3

By: Jessie Mihalik

Narrated by: Rachel Dulude

Queen Samara Rani knows she's likely walking into a trap, but agreeing to meet with Commander Adams is the fastest way to get within striking distance of the Quint Confederacy's biggest traitor and her sworn enemy. Adams attacked her home and destroyed her ship, and if he's not stopped, he will ruin the tentative peace between the Kos Empire and the Quint Confederacy - and Samara's chance at future with Emperor Valentin Kos.

Samara is determined to serve up some well-deserved payback, but she is no longer a lone assassin, and despite her protests, her friends and allies refuse to let her undertake such a perilous mission without them. Even Valentin, usually the voice of reason, refuses to stay behind. Samara is loath to put her friends in danger, and taking a team carries its own risks, so she makes plans to keep them safe, no matter what the cost.

When Adams threatens that safety, and everything she holds dear, Samara vows to show him exactly how she earned her deadly reputation - and why one should never cross the Rogue Queen.

©2020 Jessie Mihalik (P)2021 Tantor

Another Winner

Like its predecessors in this trilogy, this had good action and scene -setting to keep me interested all the way through. Also like its predecessors, it slowed sometimes with too many planning details and the attack on the bridge dragged too long, but these are minor problems. I'd like to have seen Samara do the proposing or something dual, but it was still a good scene.

Uneven and bland

Unsurprisingly, Samara and Valentine find their HEA here. What was surprising was the four times they had sex. Sure, they were tame, but there were enough details to talk about her going down on him.
With the previous books having nothing more than a kiss, I was expecting more of a fade to black thing.

My bigger issue is I never bought into the romance. There was zero chemistry. Between the voicing and his hacker enhancements, King Valentine came off like a geeky teenager. For her part, Samara was awkwardly written as both a girl whose stomach flutters every time he smolders at her and also a legendary, lethal vigilante leader.

Apart from the romance, the intrigue side was uneven and underwhelming. This seemed to be trying to be something like the shows Firefly or Killjoys, with killer action and quippy banter. There’s even the introduction of a kind of warlord similar to Killjoy’s Pree in Saura, who goes by the pronoun they. Unfortunately, not enough personality was injected into the new or older characters to make this more than two stars okay.

F bombs get dropped with greater frequency and some of the named characters get hurt.
But, is there even the slightest doubt that all of the named good guys will come out of this okay?
No, no doubt whatsoever. The lack of suspense and one note bad guy led to a ho-hum predictable ending.