Book Review of The Queen of Izmoroz by Jon/Kelley Skovron

Name of Book: The Queen of Izmoroz

Author:  Jon/Kelley Skovron

ISBN: 9780356514864

Publisher: Orbit 

Part of a Series: The Goddess War 

Type of book: Fantasy, adventure, taking stock, siblings, relationships, political manipulation, Izmoroz, Raiz, Aureum, Kante, world based on ours, actions 

Year it was published: 2021 

Summary:

Sonya has brought a foreign army to free her country from imperial rule, but her allies may have other goals in the second book of this thrilling epic fantasy trilogy from Jon Skovron.

The first battle is over, but war yet looms on the horizon. Sonya and her allies--the foreign Uaine and their armies of the undead--have beaten back the imperial soldiers from the capital city. Now they have the rest of the country to free.

Meanwhile, her brother the famed wizard Sebastian has retreated with the imperial forces to regroup and lick his wounds. Betrayed by his sister and his wife, the beautiful noblewoman Galina, he will regain control of his life and his country at any cost.

Characters:

There are at least four main characters: Sonya, a Ranger of Marzanna who is half Auremian and half Izmorozian. She is best described as someone who has devil may care attitude and often rebels against peoples expectations of her. She is well liked and quite often doesn't see the bigger picture. Sebastian is Sonyas younger brother, a talented mage and a tortured soul of sorts. He is seen as naive when it comes social interactions and unfortunately people often take advantage of him. He is quite close to his mother, Irina. Irina is the siblings mother  and is very savvy as well as practical. She is not attached to anything with borders nor is she loyal to anything or anyone. She enjoys political manipulation and spying. Jorge is from Raiz and comes from one of the great families. He desires to do apothecary work but lately has lost passion for it. He tends to question himself a lot and there are certain things he needs to examine and accept about himself. 

Theme:

It's important to grow and gain understanding of self. 

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative from everyone's points of view. Everyone would be Sonya, Sebastian, Irina, Galina and Jorge. Interspersed between different parts we get glimpses of a game/war between goddess sisters Marzanna and Zivenna. While the previous novel seemed to be full of of speed, this one shifts focus away from action and goes behind scenes and forces a lot of characters to take stock of their actions and personalities. Irina, Sonyas and Sebastians proper and practical mother uses a lot of political maneuvering to try to protect herself; Sonya is asked to examine and understand herself in terms of a bigger picture, while Sebastian has to take stock of what his gift has cost him. The reader also meets Jorges family and also meets the empress of Aureum.  

 
Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A
Opinion:

This novel differs a lot from its predecessor, THE RANGER OF MARZANNA. While in the first one the cultures of Uaine and Izmoroz are explored, the second one focuses on Raiz and Aureum while also introducing the readers to fearsome Marzanna and her sister Zivenna. For the curious readers, Raiz is quite similar to Spain while Aureum is perhaps Italy. Hints of two more cultures, namely of Kante and Victasha are introduced. Also the story heavily focuses on character growth of our heroes, as well as taking stock of what was gained and lost during tumultuous times. Although the book is named after a character, there isn't a lot of her storyline here, but instead Sonyas and Sebastians mother figures heavily into the story, along with Jorge.  All in all, a wonderful story and lesson of slowing down and breathing. 

This was given for review 

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)