Strong women rise and fall amid more pop-culture memes and references as the "smirking patriarchy" strikes back in this follow-up to 2021's The Queen Will Betray You. Aftershocks of the previous episode's ending still resounding, tempestuous 16-year-old Queen Amarande calls fellow monarchs of Sand and Sky together to make a new "modern and exciting" alliance--only to have infuriatingly condescending challenges to her legitimacy threaten to rob her of throne, power, and even her heart's companion and sword practice partner, Luca. Meanwhile, not only is her murderous mother still on the loose, but Renard, crown prince of Pyrenee and the literally rotten ex-fiance she fatally knifed at the altar, has miraculously returned from the dead (shades of Jon Snow!) bent on vengeance. Fair doses of steamy snogging, savage combat during which there always seems to be time for tart exchanges--"Your black wolf is dead, boy, and you will be, too!" (yes, even the dog dies)--and furious expostulations about misogynistic gender expectations later, Amarande leaves her more strategically astute but less idealistic foes spitted and has taken definitive action to "build the Sand and Sky back better than before" …clearing the decks for a final exchange of vows uninterrupted by knives or poisons. The cast is predominantly White. A score-settling third volume that really sticks it to, and in, the man. (kingdom guide) (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.