In Steel Scars we get to know more about Farley and her motivations for not only for the Scarlet Guard but also for Mare. I kept hoping that there would be some kind of happy ending but knowing there would not. From the very beginning there is a sense of foreboding since we know from Red Queen that she is dead and is believed by suicide. She believes that Elara is behind it and ultimately she is right but no way to prove it. She suffers many miscarriages until Cal is born. She’s been accused of tricking the Prince into marrying her. Over the course of the story Corianne falls deeper and deeper into paranoia and sadness. She’s a powerful mind reader but the extant of her power is not truly revealed until the end. Among those helping her feel that way is rival Elara, who would become Tiberius’s second wife and Maven’s mother. She finds an equally lonely person to commiserate and love but never really gets over the feeling of being weak and useless. When she meets Prince Tiberius things start to open up for her. She’s a feisty and curious girl, who is interested in mechanics and how things work but in a world where her only role is to be married off her dreams will never happen. It follows their courtship, their short marriage and her eventual death. She catches the eye of Prince Tiberius, Cal’s and Maven’s father. She’s the only daughter of a once great house that is down on their luck. It follows Queen Corianne before she became queen. Of the two stories I liked Queen Song the best. They will still be able to the novels without missing anything.

If readers don’t read them, it’s no big deal.

They also usually focus on supporting or minor characters instead of the protagonists in attempt to flesh out the world a little bit but usually they are of little importance. Sometimes they are just filler but other times they serve the purpose of filling in wholes that didn’t have time to get to in the narratives. I’ve written in the past about how it’s trendy for YA authors to write novellas or short stories that take place in between books or prequels. That’s what kind of great but these little novella’s. Since Red Queen is told from Mare’s point of view, things like how the silver hierarchy is set up and how the Scarlet Guard works isn’t give much detail because Mare doesn’t know these things in much detail. Giving more insight into world the books take place.

The other is Steel Scars that follows Farley as she leads the Scarlet Guard into Norta. The first novella is Queen Song where we get the backstory of Cal’s mother and what really happened to her. Cruel Crown is the collection of two prequel novellas to Red Queen.

Red queen steel scars