Bel, the main character, becomes an accidental princess after all of the heirs in her family are slaughtered by an alien race in conflict with what seems the entire universe. To make matters worse for Bel, she can no longer be what she wants to be-a pilot for the sake of her people-whom she never had to serve in such a way before.

To make matters worse, Bel has googly eyes for her commanding officer, Shae, who is now her Captain of the Guard. After a slew of assassination attempts, Bel finally makes it to Anthaeus, where even more assassination attempts disrupt the royal wedding plans and the ride to the wedding gets even bumpier.

Despite the promise of a pretty cover and an enticing synopsis, this novel felt like it could not decide whether to be an epic space fantasy with space blaster fights and X-Wing/TIE fighter fights, a court intrigue/romance, or a post-apocalyptic battle narrative. While all of those are my kind of story, and a book with all three would be awesome, this book was all three separately but not together. It felt terribly disjointed because of the lack of cohesion of all of those elements. Bel never really flew very much in the story, and when the titular moment happens in the book (to avoid spoilers), it does not feel as pivotal a moment to epitomize the theme of the book.

I liked the concept, and the blurb was enticing. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment.

I was quite excited about this book but I must admit I don't think it was quite for me. Bel is very likeable as a character but I didn't quite get the world that was being portrayed. Some of it was just quite unbelievable.

In saying this the writing style was quite good it just wasn't the story for me.

I really wanted to like this book...I just could not get past the world that the author was trying to portray. I felt confused the entire time (especially with the Rondet) and there were certain parts that just seemed to drag on and on. I actually did like the heroine but the two male leads were pretty dull and I didn't see why Con was so special. All in all, not a horrible read but it just wasn't for me.

ARC provided by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I would give this book 6 stars if it would let me. I LOVED it.
I have spent years reading sci fi and fantasy, and the world building in The Queen's Wing is second to none. I could see the worlds as I read. I was totally involved in them. The story is adventure and romance and thriller, all rolled into one, with an added bonus of..... OK, no spoilers here but the last couple of chapters... Wow!!
Bel is a brilliant hero - she is smart and strong and vulnerable and brave and I was with her right from the first page. I may be just a little in love with Con - he is the perfect partner for Bel. And then there's.... wait. No spoilers.
I just want to say - go and get this book and read it. It is possibly the best book I have read this year.
Full disclosure here - I do know the author, but that's not why I wrote this review. I wrote this review because this book is AWESOME!!!!!!!
(Too many !! No - not at all.)

Okay... where to begin?

This book really exceeded my expectations. Right now, I'm going to go ahead and give it a solid four stars. I think it's probably more like three and a half, but I really did enjoy reading it.

After a very cheesy cover and title, that probably wasn't hard to do - but the book was actually a fun, engaging read from start to finish. Both the title and the description (and even the cover) are pretty misleading. The Queen's Wing is an intergalactic adventure fraught with politics, conflict, and mystery. Our main character, Belengaria, better known as Bel, is suddenly thrust into a political marriage when the entire royal family of her planet, Varian, is murdered, leaving her family the only survivors among the nobility. Forced to take the place of her princess cousin as a bride on a far-off planet whose customs and culture are completely foreign to her, Bel does her best to assert herself and her warrior nature. Honestly, this book was like a mashup of Avatar, Star Wars, and your classic political marriage storyline. There's romance, of course, and a love triangle, because without them this wouldn't be a YA novel. But there are some really interesting, unique elements to this book - the mythologies and 'religious beliefs' (loosely used term here) of the different planets and peoples. And then there's the mysterious Empress hovering over it all.

Thorne really did a good job keeping me engaged, and this book is packed with action from assassination attempts, to raids, to full scale alien invasions. I tore through it in less than 24 hours, which is rare for me with any book during an active semester, so I'm impressed. I would definitely have picked a different title for the book, as the 'wing' is featured much less prominently than you'd assume from the title.

The Plot: I've more or less given details on the plot above. The author mentions it was inspired by Star Wars and medieval queens, and I'd say that's a pretty accurate description. Thorne gives away just enough of the mysterious information to keep the worldbuilding going, but leaves enough to be revealed in the next book, particularly about the empire. It also deals with some interesting themes, and features aliens, so basically all-around fun! One of the only downsides was it felt as if the author was trying to jump from action-packed scene to action-packed scene, and neglected some background storytelling, even on the worlds and people we do know about. This happened in particular when we're learning about the planet on which most of the story occurs - Thorne hypes up all this mystery surrounding it, and then reveals maybe 1/3 of the information promised as expected, and the rest is sort of pushed to the side as if we as the reader will guess the rest. I would have liked her to show me a lot more of the mysteries of the planet, give more backstory on the 'dragonflies' and on the Rodnet.

The Characters:
Bel: in the first chapter, she comes off as your average royal girl who is looking for adventure, but her story quickly turns into one about duty and sacrifice. Thorne writes her with realistic and accurate emotions, especially as she's pushed into a whole new realm she never imagined she would become involved with. Throughout the book, her overpowering trait is her sense of duty to her people, her family and justice. I really loved her relationship to her family and her people, and her determination. She's not an all-around amazing heroine, but she's a great character to read about and I'm excited to see what comes next for her.

Con: Con was a surprise. I knew who he was the minute Thorne began to describe events in the book, but I really had not expected prince charming to be, well, so nerdy. Con is basically a smol Thomas Edison with a hero complex and lots of emotional baggage. And a widower at, what, 19? His age isn't specified, but Bel is 17 and she mentions he's barely older than she is. He was a really, really fun love interest. I do wish there'd been more about him - this is one of the points where this book didn't quite deliver in terms of background. I'd have loved to know more about his relationship with Mathilde, with Jondar, and with his people.

Shae: We don't actually get to know much of Shae, even though he's an important part of the love triangle. Unfortunately, he serves mostly as Bel's crush and then as a super-awful plot twist.

Supporting characters: There were some really great supporting characters in this book. Bel's dad, who I would have loved to see more of. I really liked Jondar, and how we got to know him throughout the book all the way through learning about his greatest secret. I also really appreciated Elara, and wish we had gotten more of her in this book too, since she and her outsized personality definitely deserved it. I loved Petra, and Thom, both of whom were absolute badasses. I'd have liked to see Bel's relationships with her brothers, and Con's relationships with his dead wife's family too. But this book really did have a lot of good supporting characters, many of whom could have been developed more and featured more prominently in the book.

My only large criticism of this book is of the villain, or rather the villainous race of people who feature as the antagonist throughout. While we do get a little bit of information on them, like their obsession with their goddess, their only motivation being 'resource hungry' is a little flat. I understand there's a whole lot of colonization and conquering dynamics here, but even the Spaniards and the English had a little bit more of a well-rounded motive for wiping out entire peoples. Perhaps the religious motive will be explored more in the sequel.

As a last point, I really loved the use of technology in this book and wish it had been explored a bit more. One of my favorite parts of this book was learning about the big ship that travels faster than the speed of light, how it works and how the travel feels.

So, I really wanted to love this book. And for the first half, I did. But then it started to drop off pretty quickly. I’m not sure exactly what it was but the first half of the story almost didn’t seem connected to the second half.

I think my biggest struggle with this book is that while I loved the space fantasy feel to it, and the world the author is trying to have us imagine seems really cool, I struggled to actually imagine it. In the beginning the writing was phenomenal, and the author has skill describing places and atmosphere with a poetic elegance. I could picture the landscapes, the planets, the starships and buildings but when it came to the people, they were much more one-dimensional. If the whole book had just been about the world, that would have been great. With the exception of the Rondet, because to be perfectly honest I think that whole aspect of the book ruined it for me. I know they’re supposed to be the ancestors of the whole society but it was just creepy and weird. *spoiler* Trying to imagine large, flying crystal dragonflies that aren’t supposed to look silly, are super powerful but somehow get blown-up by one grenade, just felt like too much of a stretch to me…*spoiler* I think the author could’ve been just fine without the Rondet, or just maybe a different version of them.

As far as the characters being one-dimensional, by the end of the book I still felt like I hadn’t connected to any of them. Bel was a hard heroine to really like sometimes, her changing personality made her difficult to relate to. She was so unwilling to emotionally attach to anyone except for her clinginess with Shae that it made me as a reader distant from all the other characters too. Plus, she acted like she was this big warrior the entire book even though she kept having to be rescued by other people. Con was one of my favorites but even he seemed to change personality from kind and eccentric to crazed and mercurial throughout the book. Shae was just annoying with his gruffness and he was supposed to be this amazing warrior but we never really got to see any of that demonstrated. The whole side plot with Jondar was just unnecessary politically correct filler, it didn’t seem to actually fit to me. I would’ve liked to see his character utilized some other way. Like with his swordsmanship abilities, it could have been interesting to see him teach Bel how to use older weaponry. A character that suprised me was Elara. Ironically I think I started liking her more than Bel there for a little bit, so I was disappointed to see where her story went at the end of the book.

The romance between Bel and Con was good, but it came across as undeveloped. I’m a sucker for political marriage turned romance, but this one never really lived up to its immense potential. There were some great moments between the two characters, like the ballroom scene (it would’ve been great to push off the reveal of Con being the lion to a later point in the book, that way it could’ve been more romantic when she found it was him and not so bleh), that could’ve really made their relationship more believable, but in the end their moments were just too brief and moments that might’ve been great never happened, like Con saying he would take Bel to see the mechanical horses. He had an entire kingdom and they never explored it, they were hardly even together and then when they were they were either arguing, with the Rondet or in peril so there just isn’t enough time in the book for what moments they do have to breathe. Too much explanation not enough of them just interacting. By the end I was still questioning if she actually loved Con, which I don’t think I was supposed to be. Plus the old flames between them did just make things awkward, and not in a way that created better resolution.

There’s a lot of potential in this series. I just came away from this book feeling like I had been dropped into a world that, while interesting, was pieced together and not completely finished. Maybe it’s supposed to be that way and we’re learning more of the world’s history with Bel as she goes along, but that’s more difficult if you can’t even identify with the heroine herself. I just feel like the promise I started out with in the first half is not what I ended up with. There was more drama, romance and intrigue in the first half where the second felt rushed and disconnected. I’m hoping maybe the second will be better. I hope that with the way the book ended romance-wise for Con and Bel that things can only go up from here but you never know. Overall the writing in this book was captivating even if it did seem like it didn’t flow together sometimes. I enjoyed the world, I wish I knew the characters better because I feel like if I did this series would be a real knockout.

I have to admit, this book was so much more than what I was expecting! Jessica Thorne has given us some new and unique characters and experiences for Bel that I have not ever read about before and I have read lots of books! The characters are well developed and draw you in to the story from the very beginning. Bel is not your typical princess girly, girl. I think that is what I liked about her most of all.

Belengaria (Bel) of Vairian is a pilot and thinks that that is her calling in life, to fly her wasp and do it to the best of her ability. While Bel is out one day flying, the unimaginable happens and the whole royal family that is in charge at the time is whipped out by the Gravians (the enemy). Bel ends up having some trouble with her wasp and crashes. When Shea comes to help Bel, he informs her that she is now a princess. Her father who is the grandson of the Vairian King is now in charge as well. This is so hard for Bel to wrap her mind around, but she has to quickly do so in order to give orders that need to be followed. Bel giving orders?? This is insane!

Once things sort of settle down, Bel learns that she is going to be betrothed to Conleith of Anthaem. There is nothing Bel can do to change this situation, so she just hopes that he is someone that she can get along with. Bel has had a crush on Shae forever, which now is her in charge bodyguard.

Bel has a lot to learn about Anthaem and the people there are not fond of her because she is an outsider. As time goes on and Con and Bel get to know each other a little more, Bel also falls in love with Anthaem. Bel is determined to do her part and make everyone proud of her. This story was really well thought out and put together. I am excited for the next book in the series and to see what all is next for Bel. Great read!

An intriguing and promising concept, but the writing style was too dry and the author shared lots of background and history of the different warring planets all at once in the beginning. There is action and a forbidden romance, but they seem to hide between large sections of info-dumps.

I loved that story, the setting was really well done and once i started it i couldn't put it down !
The pacing was great and the book touched different subjects. The characters were well made and i really want to know what happens next in the story !

When I first read the synopsis for the book I had a different idea of what this book was going to be. Instead it surprised me by being different from the Selection. While I enjoyed Con and Bell I did not enjoy the long drawn out awkward romance with Shae. It felt like she was saying she loved him while not showing it.
All in all this was very different than what I was expecting but that made it into it's own story. Perfect for anyone who enjoys a love triangle that turns into true love.
Received an egalley from Netgalley.

This books is awesome.. is that kind of book you wish you can erase your memory so you can read it again and again.. And I have to be honest, when I pick it up, I imagined the book will be different, that maybe she flies, that she has some kind of power, well I find out that actually she flies a plane, a machine. So anyway I give it a chance..

And I completely love the book, you really get into the story.. At the beginning, I thought was a little bit similar with The Selection, with Shae and Bel, but then you keep reading and you realize that The Selection and The Queen´s Wing, don´t have anything in common.

The characters are awesome, Con is so sweet, so handsome, smart, mysterious and almost so perfect, I really love him. Then we have Bel, she is the princess, the future queen, but she is a warrior, she is brave, she doesn´t walk away of a battle field, just because she is the princess, she is loyal, strong, fearless. And in the secondary characters I love her bodyguards, omg they are so funny!! The bodyguards are the ones that make the book funny.

The way the author develops the book is perfect, she gives you the necessary info to keep you questioning and intrigued. She just knows the correct way to keep your attention. Also the idea of The Rondet, I love it, is unique. At the beginning I was like.. What in the World is that?? But oh, I love them!! And I´m really really want to see them again in the next book.

There are just one thing that I don´t like about the book, all the book, we read about, Bel being in love with Shae, we read that again and again, but it doesn´t look in that way. For example Bel was so willing to spend time with Con, also she said once something about never been alone with Con. And if she really is in love with Shae she will be happy that she doesn´t have to spend time with a man that she doesn´t love. So to be honest I really don´t buy the story about she been in love with him.

So because of that I will give to The Queen´s Wing a 4.5 stars, and by the way, I really really love when the name of the book connects with the story, and in this book, that part was so so epic!!

I got and Arc from netgalley in change of and honest review, everything in my review is my own opinion.

#TheQueensWing #NetGalley
I was born to fly,’ I told my brothers. But it isn’t true. I was born to be a pawn in the great game of royal houses, married to someone – anyone – my family deems suitable. If I’m lucky, he’ll be my own age and bearable. If I’m very lucky, he’ll be someone who understands my need to fight, and to fly...

Bel, born to nobility, would do anything to spend her days alongside her brothers – soaring through the heavens in her beloved flyer. She’s faster than any of them, but she knows her days in the skies are numbered.

When a surprise attack on the palace lands Bel’s father on the throne, her life is forever changed. In order to secure her father’s empire, Bel must travel to a distant land to marry the recently widowed young ruler, Conleith.

But Bel’s new home is less than welcoming: compared to the refined ladies at court, Bel seems like a wild woman, and assassination attempts, treason and mystery threaten her at every turn. With a growing attraction to Con, her life is further complicated by the attentive leader of her bodyguards – a warrior called Shae whom she has loved since childhood…

A heart-stoppingly magical new novel that will keep you turning the pages. Perfect for fans of The Selection, Bella Forrest and Sarah J. Maas.

This book was oh so hard to put down. Bel spent the book making Conleith, and his people and even the readers fall in love with her character. She was courageous, brave, strong, weak, loving, so many wonderful traits. I can't wait to read more in the series.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this wonderful book as an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

I requested this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I ended up loving this book so much. Jessica Thorne does a wonderful job of creating a world and characters that you can't help but fall in love with. There is so great tension between Bel and her male counterparts, Shae and Con. Shae is someone she has known forever and longed for that long too. However, when Con comes into her life in an unexpected way, she's surprised by the feelings she develops for him as well. While her emotions are struggling to find their path, alliances are waiting to be created...or destroyed.

This story is very Star Wars meets Avatar in a slight way. I also love that the main character, Bel, is a strong, fierce woman.

Great story, can't wait for the next one!

Once again, I need to pay attention to the synopsis when I request books. I actually expected this to be more of a fantasy. In my defense, the cover says 'A completely gripping fantasy romance.' Yes, it's definitely gripping, but the fantasy is actually more downplayed here. The book is in fact more Space Opera. And you know what? I would have read this book as soon as I got approved if I had paid more attention and saw that this was a Space Opera.

I loved this book. It wasn't what I'd call perfect, but it comes close. I was reading this during my midterms, which probably wasn't the best time, but I don't really care. The gripping part in the cover wasn't lying. I was absolutely sucked into this world and I also formed an attachment to the characters, especially, the protagonist, Bel. The story also took some twists and turns that I did not expect and I really enjoyed how it all played out.

As usual, I'm going to start with the world-building. I really liked the world-building in this book. At first, we are introduced to Belengaria (or Bel) in her homeworld of Vairian. Now, Vairian is more of a military society, so they were generally seen as kind of a barbaric people who live and thrive on war. Later on, we are introduced to Anthaeus, an entirely different planet which is populated by a people who are more courtly and "refined", a people who value beauty. I loved how both worlds were described, how Vairian may be more militaristic, but there's so much more to it. There's also beauty and culture in Vairian. Meanwhile, Anthaeus is strange and beautiful. There's a dreamy quality in the way the world was described. I imagined it as being colorful and soft, like it's just so beautifully described and I can see it in my mind's eye.

There's also a Galactic Empire ruled by an Empress, but it wasn't exactly fleshed out. I do hope that it plays a bigger role in future books in the series because I think that that particular aspect has a lot of potential.

As for the characters, I really enjoyed it. Bel is such a great main character. She doesn't exactly shy away from being feminine, although she is a warrior at heart. I loved how she was committed to flying, how much she wanted to be a pilot. The scenes where she fought and showed herself to be a very capable leader were definitely the highlights of the book. I was afraid at first because the synopsis and some reviews I read talked about a love triangle situation. There is one here but it's very muted, almost like it doesn't actually matter at all. I was surprised by what happened to one of them, Shae, later on in the story, but overall, the love triangle was a very minor part of the overall story. I wasn't a fan of the Anthaem, Con, at first, but he quickly grew on me. Especially that scene where Bel sees what he was trying to make for her as a wedding gift. That really made me smile, despite everything that was happening.

The plot is incredibly fast-paced. Like, the pace is breakneck and never really slows down. In fact, I can see how you can easily read this in one sitting. It's very much interesting and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was never really predictable. Like, all of a sudden there's this thing and that and it becomes a struggle for them to survive. I don't know why the synopsis chose to focus on the love triangle. It's by far the least interesting thing that happens in this book and I think it would be a shame if anyone passes up on reading this because they think it's focused on the love triangle or the romance. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but there's more going on here. There's political intrigue, machinations, fighting, attempted invasions. All of that combined to basically form this pretty good Space Opera tale.

Overall, I highly recommend The Queen's Wing. It's fun, unique, and I enjoyed every second of it. I'll be eagerly anticipating the release of the second book.

WOW! Thorne delivers a captivating, audacious, epically written fantasy novel. I could not put this book down for so many reasons. A true flyer since she was young, Bel takes on many qualities of her late mother who died in a Gravian battle for her planet long ago. Bel is in the midst of her invasion pretty quickly in the book which shatters her current path forward on her planet and in love. The intricacies of love, lust, lost, and determination for Bel are laced into every page of this novel. After an invasion, her father is pronounced King and Bel is sent to the Anthaese to marry their King, Con. I pictured Con as a Targaryen from Game of Thrones. The complexity of the relationship between Shae, Bel, Con, and even Jondar leave you wondering who will triumph at the end of this book. There was absolutely nothing that I did not like about this book. The plot moved quickly in the beginning to make for an exciting read. Thorne has a gift for creating a deep sense of feeling for each of her characters. I was devastated for some of the losses in this book, one in particular that left me crushed for Bel. Bel's feelings felt raw, real, and I could feel the lump in my throat every time she experienced them herself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the E-arc copy of this novel.
I enjoyed this novel it is wonderful series for young ladies who enjoy adventure and flying. The book is a good start to a interesting series about a young woman who wants to be a pilot and fly, but has obligations to her family. I liked the take on the this novel and hope to see the second book continue the story.

This book is so much more that described in the blurb. It touches the skies in a booming explosion, there is thrill, there is exhilaration, there is vengeance against the evil. There is romance, there is friendship, there is a commander, a strategist, and there is a Queen who loves to fly.

There are the ancients hidden deep below the earth, waiting for the right time to awaken. There is evil flying around the skies, hoping to annihilate the resources of the planet. There are those who are ready to defend, the Vairians. Then there is the Empire with its own alliances.

The story starts with Bel, a young 17 year old, with dreams in her eyes of flying her Wasp and with her best friend, Shae in her heart. An innocent girl starting her life. When suddenly evil Gravians attack, and her entire royal family is just vaporized. Her father becomes the King, and to maintain the powers, Bel becomes a pawn and is betrothed to Con, the Anthaem of a distant planet, Anthaeus. Soon on Anthaeus, Bel discovers more, a lot more, including herself and what she is meant to be.

This book by Jessica Thorne, is nothing but a joy to read, a celebration of a girl who metamorphoses into the Queen, who can lead the people to fight against the evil.

I love Bel, she is honest, she is clear, and she is daring. She is the perfect kickass heroine, who can fly and fight with the best of them. She is the heart and the soul of the book. Her sense of justice and her loyalty are a sight to behold. Jessica Thorne has portrayed her so lovingly, taking care that Bel is worthy of the respect. Every emotion is carefully written, without it overpowering the plot. Romance is subtly threaded, the pace is rocking, the battle lines are cutting, the entire book is breath taking. Literally

It took me some time to warm up to Bel, to understand the various political alignments, and the different characters. But once the initial foundation is laid, the pages virtually fly in turbulent air currents of a fabulous plot which made me long for book 2.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC.

This was a good book. I got me out of my reading slump so I'm very grateful to it.

I liked Bel. She was a strong female character. I love how torn she was between Shae and Con.

Con was an enigma to me for a while. I think that's because he was a bit of an enigma to Bel. I'm so glad that they are not together and happy. The warrior princess and the engineer!

I love the dragons in this book. Or the 'natives' as they call themselves. So cute and I love how they like Con and Bel to give them emotions. I was very surprised when Mathilde ended up being one of them and so sad when she died. Poor Con.

Speaking of people who were dead. Poor Elara and Shae!!! Both made into Mechas. I really hate these Gravians! -.-

I love the sci-fi elements in this book. I usually don't like sci-fi much but I was in the right mood for it.

The start of a strong series in the fantasy genre.

I liked the characters they had so much to offer but I still think they need time to properly grow. Once the series has more to it I think this will become one of the best fantasy books around.

This book was amazing! It was original. It was exciting! It was full of adventure! I just loved Bel! She’s so courageous. I can’t wait to read more of this series!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own