The Bridge Kingdom
The Bridge Kingdom, Book One
by Danielle L. Jensen
A warrior princess trained in isolation, Lara is driven by two certainties. The first is that King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy. And the second is that she’ll be the one to bring him to his knees. The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara's homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king. Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save… and which kingdom she’ll destroy.
Alright. As part of The Project, as well as wanting to continue this series but remembering almost nothing, I decided to re-read this book.
Basically the only thing I remembered from my first read in 2021 was that it’s about an arranged marriage, and features a stupid fucking betrayal/misunderstanding plot that made me pause the book for about 3 months in frustration. Despite this, I ended up giving the book 4 stars, and even 5 stars to book 2, The Traitor Queen (and I could tell you literally 0 about the plot in that one). So I was both excited and a bit apprehensive going into this.
And it wasn’t so bad. Resigned to eventually encounter my least favourite plot element, I tried to focus on the other parts of the book, which I actually thought were super well done.
The setting was fantastic and really stood out to me: the storm-battered islands, the deep jungle, and of course the looming bridge itself all gave Ithicana a very strong identity. I was equally intrigued by the political layers within Ithicana itself and the main conflict with Lara’s home country Maridrina — but also the effects and influence of the other surrounding kingdoms and allies.
The supporting cast was really strong and did a lot of work. Ahnna in particular brings a lot to the story, acting as both Aren's closest ally and Lara's harshest critics. Her distrust of Lara feels entirely justified, which makes the tension between them much more interesting than if she were simply being antagonistic for the sake of it.
While very deliberately quirky, I actually think I would have liked a bit more of Aren’s grandmother. I could see the potential of her character and whilst I love a tough old lady, it’s also so common at this point that it it needs work to stand out. As-is, she came off a bit random and gimmick-y. Obviously Lara stayed with her for a reason — to give her a chance to explore a bit more and investigate the bridge without Aren lurking around. And also to bond with Taryn, to make her death at the end hit a bit harder.
And Taryn was great, but despite not remembering her (I swear!), I did get a feeling early on that she might not last, so I didn’t dare get too attached. She was just likable enough and prominent enough without being a massive character, that her death was perfect as a consequence of Lara’s betrayal.
Then there were the glimpses we got of Ithicana’s villages, which helped make the country feel like more than just a bunch of rocky islands. We met villagers both in raids and a couple of everyday scenes, serving to make Lara see that her own people would not be the only ones affected by her actions.
Then we have our MMC, Aren. He's competent, protective of his people, and refreshingly unwilling to put Lara above his responsibilities as king. If anything, I occasionally wished we'd spent more time in his head. His POV chapters often feel more like brief reactions to Lara’s, or intermissions rather than fully developed scenes, and I think a little more insight into his thoughts and relationships would have strengthened both the romance and the political conflict.
This time, I never became fully invested in Lara and Aren as a couple despite liking them both individually. Part of that was probably because I spent so much of the book bracing for the inevitable betrayal that I never fully relaxed into the romance. There are some genuinely sweet moments between them, but I found myself more invested in the politics and Lara's shifting loyalties than in the love story itself.
Despite her horrible decision-making, I found Lara pretty compelling. Even after she realizes that much of what she's been taught about Ithicana is a lie, she doesn't immediately abandon her mission or switch loyalties. Her father may be a monster, but her people are still starving, and she genuinely believes she's acting in their best interests. So even when her choices got super frustrating at times, at least they were understandable… For the most part.
The problem is that the book leans heavily on a betrayal plot that often feels artificially prolonged. So many of the later conflicts hinge on information Lara simply doesn't share when she has every opportunity to do so. And the time that really stands out we can’t even give kudos to her love of her people — it was purely selfish fear, which was extra infuriating since Aren already knew all about her spying at that point. If she’d told him that she wrote the letters before knowing the truth it would still be a betrayal, but not much more than he already believed she’d done, and stoppable at that point. This candid conversation would actually have been the PERFECT point to tell him. Gaah!
But then, at the very end, something changed for me.
After being banished for her betrayal, Lara is drowning her sorrows in a tavern abroad when she overhears that Aren’s been taken captive by her father. She goes back to Ithicana and Ahnna to insert herself into the rescue mission, finally also revealing her combat skills, showing she’s more than a seductress.
What I really liked about this is that I assumed The Traitor Queen would be about Aren hunting down Lara after (somehow) defeating Maridrina — and I didn’t like that idea. If that would have been the case, and they worked things through 100 miles away and just showed up back in Ithicana, I couldn’t imagine Lara would ever be forgiven or accepted again. And while still a bit of a stretch after these massive consequences, at least now she gets to sort of prove herself to the Ithicanians before even seeing Aren again, so she can slowly win back their trust and resepct. I’m assuming regaining Aren’s will be an entirely different battle.
It was really the only way to end this.
Spending the entire book bracing for the betrayal plot and then being annoyed the whole bit after definitely dragged down the experience for me — despite the fact that I liked the story as a whole and loved the worldbuilding as well as most of the characters. But then the ending completely won me back. I honestly think the final chapter alone bumped the rating up from 3 stars to 4.
Needless to say, I’m now very excited to start The Traitor Queen.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌶️🌶️🌶️
~🖤~ FAVOURITE QUOTES ~🖤~ |
“Since the moment I set eyes on you in Southwatch, there's been no one but you. Even if I'm a goddamned fool for it, there will never be anyone but you." You are a fool, she thought as darkness took her. And that made two of them. |
“Alive isn’t living.” |
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