In Kill the Queen Jennifer Estep introduced readers to a fantasy world that was immersive and blissfully lacking in info-dump. It featured female gladiators, political machinations, and an underdog heroine. I really enjoyed Kill the Queen, so I was delighted to find that I loved the sequel Protect the Prince even more. It’s a blend of fantasy-adventure, romance and mystery, and I devoured it in a single day. You do need to read Kill the Queen to understand the events of its sequel, so plan on picking up that book first.

This book opens immediately after the events of Kill the Queen. Our heroine, Everleigh Saffira Winter Blair, is now Queen of Bellona, having killed her traitorous cousin to gain the throne. Evie has Bellona’s best interests at heart, but her people have survived a bloody coup by her cousin, and are now facing a queen they hardly know. Her subjects are traumatized and suspicious of her, her nobles are fractious, and on top of that agents from the Kingdom of Morta keep trying to assassinate her.

Morta would love to invade Bellona and take over the continent, something Evie is determined to stop. So one of her first official acts as queen is to travel to the neighboring Kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a treaty uniting their nations against Morta.

One thing I loved was the fact that this book had a much stronger romantic arc than the first one. Evie’s will-they-won’t-they love interest from the previous book is Lucas Sullivan, the bastard son of the King of Andvari. Evie and Lucas share feelings for each other, but Lucas refuses to act on them knowing that now that she’s queen, Evie will need to marry for political advantage. When the King of Andvari agrees to an alliance only if Evie marries his legitimate son, the prospect of Evie and Lucas finding a happily ever after together seems even more bleak.

During their time in Andvari, Evie survives two more assassination attempts, and it’s apparent that someone close to her is a double-agent for Morta.

Protect the Prince stars Evie’s found family from the previous book, the ragtag group of friends she found while training with the Black Swan Gladiator Troupe. These people are now her friends, confidantes, and personal bodyguards. It was fun to check back in with them and see how they were adjusting to royal life. Evie’s bodyguard and friend, Paloma, for instance, is frustrated to learn that she’s not allowed to solve every problem by beating it to death with a mace.

While characters from the previous book do make appearances, most of the focus is on Evie, Lucas, and Lucas’ family. He’s the son of the King’s much beloved mistress and occupied an important place in the court. He fled Andvari when his own lover, Helene, left him for one of his legitimate, royal brothers. That heartbreak still stings, so the knowledge that Evie may need to marry his eldest brother, Dominic, is especially bitter.

Added to the political and romantic drama is the fact that Evie’s life is constantly in danger, which weaves a thread of delicious suspense through the entire novel. Evie is no stranger to people wanting to kill her, from her late cousin to the other gladiators she once faced in the ring, and she approaches this threat with the fearlessness of a warrior queen. There’s a lot of action in this book, and Evie isn’t afraid to do battle with anyone. She’s unapologetically badass.

For me that blend of action, suspense and romance really kept the novel moving with a superb pace. I’m not a fan of fantasy novels that rely mostly on political upheaval to create conflict, and while this book certainly had that element, it was balanced out by the romance and the constant threat of assassination, so it never felt slow or dry. I’ve also been invested in Evie and Lucas’ relationship since Kill the Queen so was I was here for the angst and eventual resolution of their UST.

If you liked Kill the Queen then you need to pick up Protect the Prince immediately. If you haven’t read either, set aside a weekend because these books will suck you in. My only complaint is that now I have to wait a year for the conclusion to the trilogy, Crush the King.