I don't often write SH reviews, but I binged this, and no one else has reviewed yet, so...

I like the MC, which is notable because I rarely like the MC, especially having her contend for second place—first place has a clear frontrunner—but Valerie is just... damn likable. 

Queen Valerie isn't the most cunning: she makes choices, at first, that I'm putting down to her being understandably rattled, but are suboptimal, to say the least. She's naive but she's smart, and she's above all kind and determined. She's ruled for a handful of years since she turned 18, didn't go through a succession crisis, and her country doesn't seem all that powerful—but she loves her country, and has done her damnedest to do right by it—within the bounds of her comfort. But she is naive. Unlearned in some harsh realities of life. Vulnerable.

The country's structure is a little puzzling to me, but don't look too deep: that's not important. The heart and soul of this is the characters; there is still politics but typically on a smaller scale, like cliques, or when it goes big, only in broad strokes. 

This journey sees Valerie tempered, and the people who loved her tested—their yearnings, stories, and motivations unspooling as her beloved country strains in the middle of all their maneuvering.

SPAG's great, too. The prologue... is an interesting choice. But I'd recommend reading a few chapters past what the prologue covers in the story proper before deciding if this is a story for you. Oh, and it's multi-POV, if that bothers you, and some switches are mid-chapter.

I'm invested to see how the story resolves, and I am rooting for Queen Valerie, long may she reign.

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