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A Pyradisté Adventure #4
The Fiend Queen
Within the walls of her palace, Princess Katya’s best friend lies at her feet, close to death. Her pyradisté is overwhelmed by some mysterious power, and her former lady-in-waiting has stabbed her in the back. Wounded and nearly alone, Katya must find a way to sabotage the magic of her Fiendish uncle Roland, or those who fight for the capitol will be overwhelmed by hypnotized guards and Fiend-filled corpses.
Starbride’s pain is nearly overwhelming. The agony inside her only lessens when she satisfies a strange new desire to hurt those around her. She may hold the key to banishing Fiendish power from Farraday, but only by using it herself. Together, Katya and Starbride must make a final desperate push to take back the kingdom, but even if they survive, can the strength of their love keep them from madness? After all, fighting evil with evil has its consequences.
Starbride’s pain is nearly overwhelming. The agony inside her only lessens when she satisfies a strange new desire to hurt those around her. She may hold the key to banishing Fiendish power from Farraday, but only by using it herself. Together, Katya and Starbride must make a final desperate push to take back the kingdom, but even if they survive, can the strength of their love keep them from madness? After all, fighting evil with evil has its consequences.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 19, 2015
10 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Ann Wright
24 books195 followersBarbara Ann Wright writes fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories when not adding to her enormous book collection or ranting on her blog. Her short fiction has appeared twice in Crossed Genres Magazine and once made Tangent Online's recommended reading list. Her first novel, The Pyramid Waltz, was one of Tor.com's Reviewer's Choice books of 2012 and was a 2012 Foreword Review Book of the Year Award Finalist as well as a Golden Crown Award finalist. It won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best Lesbian Fantasy and made BookRiot's 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi Fantasy Novels By Female Authors. She's won five Rainbow Awards total, and Coils was a finalist in the 2017 Lambda Awards.
Her writing career can be boiled down to two points: when her mother bought her a typewriter in the sixth grade and when she took second place in the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing in 2004. One gave her the means to write and the other gave her the confidence to keep going. Believing in oneself, in her opinion, is the most important thing a person can do.
Visit her Bold Strokes page for more information.
Her writing career can be boiled down to two points: when her mother bought her a typewriter in the sixth grade and when she took second place in the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing in 2004. One gave her the means to write and the other gave her the confidence to keep going. Believing in oneself, in her opinion, is the most important thing a person can do.
Visit her Bold Strokes page for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 18, 2020
Damn this book. It's just amazing. So many plot twists such tension, funny scenes. I recommend.
May 23, 2015
The Fiend Queen es la última parte de la serie Katya & Starbride (también conocidas como Scoundrel y Miss Meringue) y debo decir que es algo triste llegar al final. Si bien tuve algunos problemas con ciertas partes, disfruté mucho todos los libros y la relación tan bien escrita de las protagonistas. Con respecto a este aún no estoy muy segura de cómo me siento... Tal vez esperaba un poquito más, tratándose de la última entrega.
Uno de mis problemas, y esto se aplica especialmente a este y al anterior, es con respecto a la cronología. Que si desde tal evento han pasado "meses", desde este otro "semanas"... y no parece creíble, porque la trama parecía seguir un orden secuencial y si me están diciendo que han pasado muchos "meses", 'detrás de escena', entonces algo de la trama ha tenido que quedar por fuera y nunca dio la impresión de que así fuera. En otras palabras, los personajes dicen que ha pasado mucho tiempo, pero nada en la narración me hizo creer eso. La misma Starbride reconoce en este libro que ella y Katya no tienen ni un año conociéndose. En fin, la cronología me confundió.
También está el comportamiento de Starbride. Desde el libro anterior se notaban ciertos cambios en su personalidad y, en cierto modo, pude entenderlo. Pero por otra parte se me hizo muy difícil creer que la dulce Starbride cambiara tan drásticamente.
Y por último:
No sé si soy más crítica de este libro por ser el último, sin embargo, y a pesar de que le bajé una estrella, debo decir que sí me gustó, sí disfruté muchas partes (y un gran punto a favor es la continuidad: fue muy agradable leer pequeñas referencias a libros pasados), los personajes me parecieron muy bien desarrollados, las escenas de acción bien escritas, momentos desgarradores, otros más graciosos, la trama -que fue complicándose más con cada libro- se mantuvo siempre interesante y es un buen final para una serie que me sorprendió mucho, pues resultó ser mucho más de lo que esperaba inicialmente. Voy a extrañar mucho a Katya, Starbride, Freddie, Maia... ♥♥
() Como nota final, me parece muy gracioso cuando a pesar de que me están diciendo cómo luce un personaje, por sus otras descripciones lo imagino completamente diferente. Es el caso de Brutal, siempre se menciona su "baby face" y lo joven que es, pero nunca pude dejar de imaginarlo como un hombre casi en sus 30s y de aspecto más rudo. x)
Citas:
"The faith in his eyes made her want to weep anew, and she could almost her the echo of unspoken words: he knew she would come back, but he might not be alive to greet her."
Uno de mis problemas, y esto se aplica especialmente a este y al anterior, es con respecto a la cronología. Que si desde tal evento han pasado "meses", desde este otro "semanas"... y no parece creíble, porque la trama parecía seguir un orden secuencial y si me están diciendo que han pasado muchos "meses", 'detrás de escena', entonces algo de la trama ha tenido que quedar por fuera y nunca dio la impresión de que así fuera. En otras palabras, los personajes dicen que ha pasado mucho tiempo, pero nada en la narración me hizo creer eso. La misma Starbride reconoce en este libro que ella y Katya no tienen ni un año conociéndose. En fin, la cronología me confundió.
También está el comportamiento de Starbride. Desde el libro anterior se notaban ciertos cambios en su personalidad y, en cierto modo, pude entenderlo. Pero por otra parte se me hizo muy difícil creer que la dulce Starbride cambiara tan drásticamente.
Y por último:
No sé si soy más crítica de este libro por ser el último, sin embargo, y a pesar de que le bajé una estrella, debo decir que sí me gustó, sí disfruté muchas partes (y un gran punto a favor es la continuidad: fue muy agradable leer pequeñas referencias a libros pasados), los personajes me parecieron muy bien desarrollados, las escenas de acción bien escritas, momentos desgarradores, otros más graciosos, la trama -que fue complicándose más con cada libro- se mantuvo siempre interesante y es un buen final para una serie que me sorprendió mucho, pues resultó ser mucho más de lo que esperaba inicialmente. Voy a extrañar mucho a Katya, Starbride, Freddie, Maia... ♥♥
() Como nota final, me parece muy gracioso cuando a pesar de que me están diciendo cómo luce un personaje, por sus otras descripciones lo imagino completamente diferente. Es el caso de Brutal, siempre se menciona su "baby face" y lo joven que es, pero nunca pude dejar de imaginarlo como un hombre casi en sus 30s y de aspecto más rudo. x)
Citas:
"The faith in his eyes made her want to weep anew, and she could almost her the echo of unspoken words: he knew she would come back, but he might not be alive to greet her."
January 17, 2015
Urg.
I thought long and hard about the final installment of the Katya and Starbride series. The first two books were amazing; I had some issues with the third and I must admit: I'm not sure about The Fiend Queen.
When I first saw that title, I thought I had an idea how it was going to end. And I was wrong. In fact, the title confuses me, as there is no Fiend Queen. I can't say much more without this review getting riddled with spoiler tags.
At the start of the book, Katya and Starbride are still seperated, each locked into the battles of their lives, but they find eachother soon enough, only to find them once again split up after they fight Roland in dark tunnels. It gets a bit hazy there, as Katya finds herself in an unknown underground complex where she finds clues that will change the people of Farraday and Allusia forever; Starbride however is forced to make a monumental decision that might end the war, but can possibly destroy her.
The Katya parts have an interesting, almost retro-active worldbuilding. Starbride undergoes a massive change. She discovers the origins of the Fiends, but is that knowledge helping her? The change is so massive and abrupt, it's almost unnerving. One moment I was rooting for her and then within a chapter, I was almost fearing her.
Lucky for me, most everyone else in the book shares that sentiment, and just as one war ends, the next starts.
It was well-written, with a lot of drama, death and destruction. Kudos to the author for having the guts to kill off major characters. But I was missing something. I expected more on the matter of the differences between Adsnzi and Pyrdystés. Sure, Redtrue has to make a difficult decision, but there's nothing about the conseqeunces. I expected more about getting rid of the Fiend. I expected more on the aftermath.
What Katya wanted as soon as the Starbride became consort was, in my opinion, glossed over.
I said in my comment when I started to read I hoped I wasn't being disappointed. And I can't shake the feeling that I am. The series as a whole gets 5 stars from me (the first two being classics in my opinion). But I wouldn't be honest to myself if I gave The Fiend Queen more that 3 stars. I'm sorry.
I thought long and hard about the final installment of the Katya and Starbride series. The first two books were amazing; I had some issues with the third and I must admit: I'm not sure about The Fiend Queen.
When I first saw that title, I thought I had an idea how it was going to end. And I was wrong. In fact, the title confuses me, as there is no Fiend Queen. I can't say much more without this review getting riddled with spoiler tags.
At the start of the book, Katya and Starbride are still seperated, each locked into the battles of their lives, but they find eachother soon enough, only to find them once again split up after they fight Roland in dark tunnels. It gets a bit hazy there, as Katya finds herself in an unknown underground complex where she finds clues that will change the people of Farraday and Allusia forever; Starbride however is forced to make a monumental decision that might end the war, but can possibly destroy her.
The Katya parts have an interesting, almost retro-active worldbuilding. Starbride undergoes a massive change. She discovers the origins of the Fiends, but is that knowledge helping her? The change is so massive and abrupt, it's almost unnerving. One moment I was rooting for her and then within a chapter, I was almost fearing her.
Lucky for me, most everyone else in the book shares that sentiment, and just as one war ends, the next starts.
It was well-written, with a lot of drama, death and destruction. Kudos to the author for having the guts to kill off major characters. But I was missing something. I expected more on the matter of the differences between Adsnzi and Pyrdystés. Sure, Redtrue has to make a difficult decision, but there's nothing about the conseqeunces. I expected more about getting rid of the Fiend. I expected more on the aftermath.
What Katya wanted as soon as the Starbride became consort was, in my opinion, glossed over.
I said in my comment when I started to read I hoped I wasn't being disappointed. And I can't shake the feeling that I am. The series as a whole gets 5 stars from me (the first two being classics in my opinion). But I wouldn't be honest to myself if I gave The Fiend Queen more that 3 stars. I'm sorry.
April 22, 2016
OH MY GOD I AM SO MAD. okay so for a hot minute it looked like starbride had uncovered the true history of farradain colonization AND that she was a descendent of the ancient colonized people of farraday AND that she was gonna end up the rightful queen after merging with one of her ancient ancestors, and THAT WOULD HAVE RULED. this story could have been a literally decolonial love story where she regained the throne and redistributed farradain wealth, land, and property with the support of the former ruling monarchy that she married into, and reestablished respect and honour for allusion adsnazi magic &c &c, and IT IS SO INFURIATING AND FUCKED that decolonial logic was deployed for half a second only to lead to the conclusion that in fact the originally colonized people and their magic WERE evil and the farradian conquerers still deserved the throne and instead she would just marry the crown princess as planned and then go to law school the help the exploited allusians stop getting fucked by trade deals like UGH so insufficient and disappointing.
and i'm still furious that in the final battle wright made redtrue sacrifice her principles and her ENTIRE learning & spiritual community at the crown princess's orders like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK no.
fuck this noise.
and i'm still furious that in the final battle wright made redtrue sacrifice her principles and her ENTIRE learning & spiritual community at the crown princess's orders like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK no.
fuck this noise.
January 30, 2015
Excellent ending to an excellent series.
This series has been one of my favorite fantasy series, and it's got a lesbian main pairing to boot!
What really amazes me about this series and this author is that she manages to write such an excellent lesbian romance that doesn't feel like it's the soul purpose of the books, or shoehorned in. It feels organic as any romance in any story. And this, as the final installment to the series, was an overall excellent ending.
Thank you, Mrs. Wright, for an excellent ride. The whole series will remain on my "Favorite Series" Shelf, and I will always think fondly on Katya and Starbride. They're one of my favorite pairings, and I love you writing. I hope to read more awesome series of yours soon!
This series has been one of my favorite fantasy series, and it's got a lesbian main pairing to boot!
What really amazes me about this series and this author is that she manages to write such an excellent lesbian romance that doesn't feel like it's the soul purpose of the books, or shoehorned in. It feels organic as any romance in any story. And this, as the final installment to the series, was an overall excellent ending.
Thank you, Mrs. Wright, for an excellent ride. The whole series will remain on my "Favorite Series" Shelf, and I will always think fondly on Katya and Starbride. They're one of my favorite pairings, and I love you writing. I hope to read more awesome series of yours soon!
June 10, 2015
The series as a whole was awesome. But to me Books 1 and 2 captivated me more than 3 and 4. All were well written, and I read them like they were going out of style, but to me only 1 and 2 are re-read worthy.
February 11, 2015
A nice finish with an unexpected twist in history and for the main characters.
December 5, 2021
Well, finally finished this series, I've been putting off cause I didn't wanna end but now that I have I don't know how to feel. I've loved the series as a whole and the verse and the different people and cultures. The characters were also very lovable and I'm always down for found family and strong female characters but this book had a lot of twists that didn't feel like they were completely explored and the consequences of the 'evil/bad' things the characters did were pretty mild or non existent. I don't know, I guess I expected more from this last book. Especially from Starbride powers and her losing herself. I personally didn't like that in the end they all just didn't have their powers and were just going to be "ordinary" royals. A lot of what got me into the story was exactly the fact that they had powers that mixed and worked together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2020
It was a good story!! It could have been better by fleshing out everything they added onto the last book. The villain would have been more interesting and starbride too if it was less of a possession and MORE of a moral battle. Like it was a cop out for the guilt they were feeling and to make it a happier ending for sure. By absolving starbride of the guilt they also did it to Roland when we could’ve had a genuinely evil character rather than an easy forgiveness. Overall the series is good, worth the read in order to open up the conversation about how the author could have handled colonizing (she touched upon good points with Redtrue) and how history is repeated incorrectly. The world building and background though is really fantastic and gives you more to build upon. Awesome characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2024
4.5 stars
I couldn’t decide between 4 or 5 stars, but eventually rounded up because of the Fiend lore, which wound up being very interesting and the part I liked best. All my questions were answered plus a few I didn’t know I had. The pacing kept me flipping the pages, but the almost non-stop action did get a bit exhausting at times. The secondary characters were as likable as in the other books and Katya and Starbride kept being good protagonists. Their romance isn’t among my favourites, but it was nice enough. I’ve noticed that I’m less interested in the romances written by Barbara Ann Wright than I am in her worlds, which can be extremely inventive and fascinating.
All in all, a quite enjoyable series.
I couldn’t decide between 4 or 5 stars, but eventually rounded up because of the Fiend lore, which wound up being very interesting and the part I liked best. All my questions were answered plus a few I didn’t know I had. The pacing kept me flipping the pages, but the almost non-stop action did get a bit exhausting at times. The secondary characters were as likable as in the other books and Katya and Starbride kept being good protagonists. Their romance isn’t among my favourites, but it was nice enough. I’ve noticed that I’m less interested in the romances written by Barbara Ann Wright than I am in her worlds, which can be extremely inventive and fascinating.
All in all, a quite enjoyable series.
June 19, 2017
As a conclusion to this series, all I can say is wow! I missed feeling this exhilaration, of not being able to put my kindle down at night before I went to sleep, saying, one more chapter and then I will go to bed which turned into hours. Everyone else will give you the short version of what happens with or without spoilers, I will not! I urge you to read. The blurb was all I needed to start reading it and what a ride it has been. Again, I urge you to start reading it, no matter what genre you are into. Diversity is what humans need! Stories hold a lot of power and wisdom. Just read it already!!! :)))
December 1, 2020
This was a fitting end to the series. It was a very busy read as there was a lot to bring to a head and plenty of loose ends to tie up. I didn't quite buy Starbride's corruption though... we'd spent three books essentially learning how pure of heart she was and then... Well, you'll have to read it. Still, it was a fast paced read with plenty of action and perhaps just a slightly too sweet/cheesy HEA. It would be interesting to read a spin off series with the adsnazi and the North. I recommend the series.
August 9, 2018
I loved this series of books. I loved the characters and the storyline. I'm definitely going to be reading them again.
June 26, 2021
Great ending to a great series!
November 18, 2016
Everything was wonderful until the end :(
May 19, 2016
This book gets the third star mainly because I still like the series as a whole (and the characters have grown on me) and because I really hate the main trope that is used here but don't think that it's a bad trope generally. There are probably people who enjoy reading about it. But I don't. Really. Not at all.
I'm talking about corrupted by power/demonic possession. Yeah, that thing that is neither really and both a bit. I'm all over corrupted by power, especially, when, like in this book it's connected with questions like How evil do you have to become to fight evil? How far can you go before you just fuck up things differently than the previous bad guy?
I'm less fond of possession but can still cope with it but the combination of both always feels like a cop-out to me. You see: it wasn't really her doing the bad things! The demon made her do it. Sort of. Mostly.
Additionally, the POV chapters of a corrupted-possessed person are just very tedious reading. In the middle, there are several chapters that are mostly the same: her friends try to reach her, she begins to have doubts, the demon interferes and plays on her insecurities, she believes him, back to square one. (The playing on the insecurities-bit was something I actually quite enjoyed since it gave her better reasons for listening to the demon than 'wants power and revenge') After a few times that got very boring.
The end managed to tie up some ends very neatly and leave others too open for the final book in a series. I don't need to know everything about all the characters at the end but I'd like to have an idea of where they're going.
I'm talking about corrupted by power/demonic possession. Yeah, that thing that is neither really and both a bit. I'm all over corrupted by power, especially, when, like in this book it's connected with questions like How evil do you have to become to fight evil? How far can you go before you just fuck up things differently than the previous bad guy?
I'm less fond of possession but can still cope with it but the combination of both always feels like a cop-out to me. You see: it wasn't really her doing the bad things! The demon made her do it. Sort of. Mostly.
Additionally, the POV chapters of a corrupted-possessed person are just very tedious reading. In the middle, there are several chapters that are mostly the same: her friends try to reach her, she begins to have doubts, the demon interferes and plays on her insecurities, she believes him, back to square one. (The playing on the insecurities-bit was something I actually quite enjoyed since it gave her better reasons for listening to the demon than 'wants power and revenge') After a few times that got very boring.
The end managed to tie up some ends very neatly and leave others too open for the final book in a series. I don't need to know everything about all the characters at the end but I'd like to have an idea of where they're going.
December 20, 2015
Ehh. Look, it's not a bad book, not by any means. But it's not as good as the previous three. It relies on a trope that I really don't like (the whole "beloved protagonist is now the villain and must be stopped and/or saved" thing really grates on my nerves) and the backstory we're given is sloppy. We had no hint about the spirits' connection to the Fiends or about the dead city in any of the previous books. They're slapped on to, what, add more drama? Was there not enough material to make a full novel so something had to be made up on the fly? It wasn't uninteresting, but it didn't feel like it connected to the larger story, and it wasn't fleshed out enough to stand on its own.
On the upside, it gives full Katya and Starbride full closure and a happy ending, which I enjoyed. I want a spinoff story about Brutal/Maia and how they handle running the Order while being parents, though. I would also like a spinoff about Freddie/Hugo and what adventures they get up to after leaving. These are fun characters and I'd love to read more about them!
On the upside, it gives full Katya and Starbride full closure and a happy ending, which I enjoyed. I want a spinoff story about Brutal/Maia and how they handle running the Order while being parents, though. I would also like a spinoff about Freddie/Hugo and what adventures they get up to after leaving. These are fun characters and I'd love to read more about them!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2016
My reading marathon has eventually ended with much regrets. The final battle - this time an inner one, is full of emotional turmoil, obviously inevitable when a creepy haft-male-haft-female creature namely Yanchasa lurking around in your head. The bastard ranks as my second most despited villain in this series, just after Darren. Even Roland I can still spare him some pity in the end, but the Great Fiend deserves to burn in hell for eternity. Lucky for everyone, the fight is beautifully won over by the combined strength of Katya & Starbride with their friends' aid. The good defeats the bad, a big fat wedding for our love birds and they live happily ever after. What more can one hope, right?
February 1, 2016
I'm doubly furious because a) I didn't realize there were 4 books and b) I had to actually BUY THIS ONE. I guess the upside is that my needing it accidentally coincided with the book's release, because I probably would have been even MORE furious if I had to wait for the book to come out. So I had to buy this one for $10 because my library doesn't have it yet. WOW, YAWN. So much of the ~dramatic storyline about Starbride becoming powerful was SO TEDIOUS. This book was very tedious. Yawn. Also still a total fucking mess a lot of the time, where is the editor??
April 23, 2015
An outright excellent book. There were a few points in it where I thought to myself "I hope this is going somewhere good," but it sooooo was. It was only the (well done) suspense talking. I wouldn't say it was the best or most fun in the series, but it was still very good, and had an excellent ending that left few, if any, loose ends to wonder over. A definite recommend.
May 10, 2015
I'd rate this as 4.5 stars. I thought long and hard about getting this after being a little disappointed with #3, but and glad I went through with it. It was a roller coaster ride of action and the story arc went in a direction that I totally did not expect going in. I cried, I laughed... Loved it!
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March 28, 2025This was an enjoyable end to the series. A few things that I didn't like: Starbride got off way to easy for what happened and it made things at the end wrap up a little too nicely, also the lack of interrogation of the whole servant caste thing. Otherwise it was enjoyable.
February 27, 2017
I enjoyed the first three books in this series and this book isn’t a bad read but I’m afraid I hate stories which are based on one of the main characters being possessed. I’m sure if this isn’t one of your pet hates you will enjoy this book.
March 12, 2016
Separated by war and magic, the two lovers struggle to save their city--without losing any of their friends. But a power darker than anything they know is arising.
This was a perfect end to an amazing series!
This was a perfect end to an amazing series!
December 16, 2015
The Fiend Queen by Barbara Ann Wright: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwid... 2015 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
November 9, 2016
This was a wonderful series with fully fleshed out characters and surprising twists. Bravo!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews