Birdie's Books: Dual Review: Queen Song and Steel Scars by Victoria Aveyard

I thought that since these are both in the bind up, Cruel Crown, I'd review these together. I just recently read this because I'm currently rereading Red Queen and am about to pick up Glass Sword. Now I'm not the biggest fan of this series, I just want to put that out there right now. I did enjoy these novellas, though. I'll start this off by giving an overview and quick review for each novella, along with an average rating for both of these short stories and the novella bind up in case you don't want to read through this whole post.

Queen Song: 3.5/5
(Queen Elara must die.)

Steel Scars: 2.5/5
(The driving force that allowed me to finish this one in a timely manner was the addition of Shade Barrow.)

Average rating for bind-up: 3/5

Queen Song by Victoria Aveyard
(Red Queen Series #0.1)

I enjoyed this novella. It wasn't some revolutionary new story that revealed a mystery. It did add some mystery, in a way, to Queen Elara.

I enjoyed getting to learn more about Coriane and her backstory. Getting to see where she came from and what growing up for her was like was interesting. I enjoyed getting to see her with Julian when they were young. I don't think it added anything positive to my opinion of King Tiberias or Elara. I didn't really like Tiberias in this, and obviously I hated Elara.

I really liked getting to see Cal as a baby. Getting to see his mother's affections for him was really sweet and heartwarming.

Overall, this novella was just okay. I enjoyed being in Coriane's head, I found her downward spiral in health to be interesting in a way. I think it's good to read to gain some more background on the world and the Calore family and their history. My favourite of the two novellas.

Steel Scars by Victoria Aveyard
(Red Queen Series #0.2)

I didn't like being in Farley's head as much as I did Coriane's.

The ending of this novella is what made it for me. I was so bored throughout most of it. And as usual I found the 'twist' very predictable and obvious from the beginning.

I also didn't like the writing in this short story. I kept coming across the word 'albeit.' It was literally on almost every page. Everything had to be 'albeit;' it got to a point where I was so annoyed that I'd huff and skim read that page.

I do think this novella is of greater value if you're looking for more insight into the plot and story line. I felt like this one added a lot more to the world and story than Queen Song. A lot is revelaed about the Scarlet Guard in this because we get an inside look.

After reading this, I'm interested to re-read Red Queen and connect the dots of the newfound knowledge.

Overall, I didn't love this novella. I think it was a good addition to the series and suggest reading it if you want a more in-depth look at the world.