Note: I know the author of this book socially.
This is the sequel to The Half-Drowned King and the middle book of a trilogy, and it definitely has the job most middle books do of joining together the narrative that was begun in the first book through the overarching story. One of the results of that is a fair number of characters making choices that you wish they wouldn't, but that feel extremely realistic. After marrying Solvi and having a son, Svanhild is the titular Sea Queen, but constant conflict with her husband and a complicated voyage to Iceland leave her marriage in a difficult place. When her son dies and she leaves Solvi, I was genuinely upset, because that was the relationship of the first book that I had been rooting for. You understand why, after returning to Norway, she becomes one of King Harald's wives, but I wanted better options for her, and for her to be the Sea Queen independent of either man.
Her brother Ragnvald is dealing with his own difficulties, mostly in the form of his relatives making questionable choices and the sons and brothers of kings continuously warring with him. It is never easy being known so firmly as the king's man as when the king makes extremely short-sighted decisions constantly.
In many ways I'm glad I waited to read this until the third book was also out, because I think many of the narrative threads that I found frustrating in this book are dealt with and resolved in the third book in really satisfying fashion, and you feel their necessity and how right they are. You might wish the characters could make different decisions, but you never doubt that these are the ones they had to.
Grade: A
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