Book 2 of the Queen’s Thief series, following The Thief. This one is told with several viewpoint characters, and features Eugenides’ interactions with the Queen of Attolia, who had to learn to rule with an iron fist in order to secure her kingdom. Something pretty traumatic happens right off the bat to Eugenides, who (deservedly) spends a good part of the book coming to terms with it while politics in the world around him become increasingly fraught. I loved the thoughtful, detailed, and believable sketches of the political situation and the characters caught up in it; the eventual love story fit in like a perfect puzzle piece, allowing the characters to escape the tightening plot without sacrificing their essential natures. I did not, however, love the ending given the events that kicked off the story initially. Extremely mixed feelings about this one.