The Reluctant Queen – Sarah Beth Durst

This is the second books in the Queens of Renthia series. Delaina has come to the throne as the last survivor of all the heirs in Aratay. And while she is young and should have many years ahead of her to reign, she finds she has contracted the False Death. When she has spells, the Spirits of Aratay believe her to be dead, and it is only the power of the queen that keeps them from harming the people of Aratay, so she of all people cannot afford to be ill. Delaina sets her healers to find a cure, and her champions to find new heirs.

Finding heirs is a problem though – all of the experienced candidates were killed, except Delaina. Her champion, Ven, decides that he must pursue an alternate route to find a new candidate – look for women with power who never came to the academies. That’s how he finds Naelin. She’s probably more powerful than Delaina, but after watching her mother die when she summoned too many spirits to handle, she’s afraid to use her power. But she’s going to need to, because the queen of a neighboring kingdom has decided to invade Aratay, and Delaina can’t defend them alone.

I’m not sure quite sure what I thought about this book. I like the first one better. This one has a few too many elements in it that I can’t decide if they work or not. I think I need to read the third book before I’ll be able to say if this one worked or not.