Review: A lot happens in this novel but I'm going to avoid any major spoilers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2011
First and foremost, if you are just finding this series, do not start with this novel.  Far too much has happened in the previous five for this one to make any sense and it is highly unlikely you would find this one very enjoyable as a standalone.  It would be best to go to the first one, Blood Wager, and begin from there.  For everyone else, I will do my best to not reveal any spoilers in this review.Blood Queen begins right after the final scene in Blood Royal.  Lissa is taken by her father, Griffin, to the planet Kifirin three hundred years into the future where a battle is taking place.  She sees that many of the Comesuli are dying and those defending the planet are heavily outnumbered against their enemies.  As is her nature, she jumps right into the battle against the Ra'Ak taking them down as fast she can, but still many are dying since she can't reach them all at once.  The outcome of that battle reveals devastating losses and shapes the course of events that happen after.I won't go any further.  To say any more will spoil the book.  Unfortunately I saw some of the other reviews prior to reading Blood Queen and realized a few gave away far more than I had wanted to know.  It took away a lot of the suspense I would have otherwise felt.  So I'm going to do my best to not do that to others.  I will say this, it was a very intense beginning and you really wonder how things go from that point forward.  The rest of the novel pretty much involves dealing with the fallout from that opening battle and succeeding events that change the way life on many planets goes on.Something should also be said about Lissa's love life.  Prior to this novel, you could already see it coming that she would not be a one-man kind of girl.  In this one that becomes even more obvious since many more come out of the woodwork.  She is rather reluctant to deal with so much attention, but can't exactly get around it since the M'Fiyahs make that rather difficult.  She does learn some surprising details on how they come about that were not known before, along with some other important parts of her past that have shaped who she is.  There is an increase of her powers that some will find difficult to believe, but I think they were necessary for the role she has to play.  It didn't bother me, but some may find that aspect hard to believe.I will say overall that this novel is intense and particularly emotional toward the beginning.  If you have read all the previous books, this is not one you want to miss.  There are a lot of the pieces of the puzzle that finally get revealed and many questions answered.  The one unfortunate thing is that the number of characters in this one, even with the author having reduced them during revisions, is still staggering.  Nearly everyone that has been seen in the previous books is either seen or mentioned, along with many new ones.  It got rather confusing for me, I will admit.  I began to wish I had jotted down a list of characters while reading the series just so I could refer to it for this one (and add all the new guys and gals to keep them straight).  Despite this, you can muddle your way through it and still enjoy the story.  There are a few typos here and there as well, but those weren't too distracting so they didn't bother me much.  I still loved every minute of reading this novel and craved more after it was over.  Though I'm not sure where it could go from here.I must say this series has become one of my favorites for the paranormal genre, and I guess you could say sci-fi romance.  It doesn't get too heavy on the sex scenes but does give a taste.  Every character seems to have their own unique flavor.  There is no other story-line like this making it really stand out from all the rest.  I think the heroine, Lissa, is amazing and likeable.  Someone you can really relate to in a lot of ways.  The men in the book aren't anything to sneeze at either!  So if you are on the fence about picking up this latest book, I would say go for it.  I'm not sorry I did and will look forward to future work by this author.  Blood Queen turned out to be another intense book, like its predecessors, that will leave the reader turning the pages to find out what happens next!