The Gray Wolf Throne (edition 2012)

Raisa is fighting for her life literally as she races back to be with her mother, only to get there too late. She is conflicted with her duty to the throne and her heart, she wonders if leaving the past year was worth all the deaths. Han feels betrayed by the girl Rebekah Morley, who he finds out is actually the heir to the throne Princess Raisa. Harboring secrets of his own, he plots to have it all. Nobody ever said he wasn't ambitious. I must say that I am really intrigued by this series. I was not able to put this but down, nor did I want to. I must say Chima, you left me hanging but I will patiently await the next installment. ( )

We pick up the story a month after the battle between the troops of Gerard Montaigne and the soldiers of the kingdom of Tamron where Raisa almost got captured. Raisa’s been staying in a tavern in Fetters Ford for over a month now, in the hope that someone will come to take her home, but at the same time terrified that the assassins will find her. Her pseudonym Rebecca Morley is useless and she has to take on a new, unknown identity to survive. The Crown Princess is particularly worried that she will not make it back home in time and that her mother will make her younger sister Mellony the new heir to the throne.
At the same time Han Allister is traveling on the same route back to the Fells, summoned by the clans to get ready for a fight against the magicians at court. Everywhere Han asks about the fate of his good friend Rebecca, who has become more than just a friend. Still in the dark about her true identity, Han gets a few tip that might lead to her. What happened to her? Was she really taken by Micah Bayar like Amon says?

Ultimately, the two meet again in a predicament that could mean the death of one of them. Will both survive? And how many attempts on her life can Raisa survive?
The political intrigue is reaching a climax in this third book of the Seven Realms series which, like its predecessors is a fantastic book that is very difficult to put aside. A large part of the book goes deeper into the emotions of Han and Raisa, the uncertainties for the future and the constant fear because death awaits them around every corner.

It's nice to see that after a series of 3 books the story is still on a very high level and knows to deliver and doesn’t get boring. It happens far too often that a story makes too many detours to drag it out over as many books as possible.
Seven Realms never gets boring and makes you long for the next book that will be published in the autumn (October) and will be called "The Crimson Crown". ( )

Very few people enjoy whiny characters. Very few authors are successful financially when writing whiny characters (exceptions include Stephanie Meyer and Cassandra Clare, though that is because fan-people made it a success, not through any amazing writing by the author). Cinda Williams Chima made me enjoy this story despite all the ridiculous "I should not love you because you are too royal blah blah blah" nonsense liberally spread throughout the novel.

(I do wish Captain Edon Byrne's death had been a little more poignant)

Oh and If I were a girl I would definitely sigh dreamily about Han Alister. Just sayin' ( )

As some reviewers have noted, there's not a lot of action here as regards with whom Raisa will romantically partner, but the point of this penultimate volume is not to resolve that tension but to increase it. From a mechanistic plot perspective, Chima has to get Raisa from the Borderlands to Fellsmarch, move her friends and enemies into place for the finale, and provide both some resolutions and some complications to keep the reader engaged and guessing.

It's interesting to compare this series to [a:George R.R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1195658637p2/346732.jpg]'s A Song of Ice and Fire series. The struggle for the throne, the political intrigues and machinations, the wolves, the female warriors, and the land with dragons across the sea, though muted. Chima foregrounds the shifts in narrative perspective, the romantic dilemmas, the magic, and identification with characters. While some of these are staples of the genre, Martin and Chima's choices may provide examples of how those components are pitched to the particular audiences of their subgenres. ( )

The third book in the Seven Realms series and there is more than one attempt on Raisa's life, the latest one leaving her seriously injured as the tip of a poison arrow lodges itself in her side. Han Alister fights to save her, at grave cost to himself. Still thinking she is Rebecca Morley, he has a hard time accepting that she is actually Raisa ana'Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells.

Raisa is a reliliant character, doing her best to fulfill her duty and responsibilities. Chima's writing keeps improving on every book. A great read. ( )