Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Queen Demon by Martha Wells Narrator: Eric Mok
Series: The Rising World #2
Published by Dreamscape Media on October 7, 2025
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Length: 15 hours, 29 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
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Dahin believes he has clues to the location of the Hierarchs' Well, and the Witch King Kai, along with his companions Ziede and Tahren, knowing there's something he isn't telling them, travel with him to the rebuilt university of Ancartre, which may be dangerously close to finding the Well itself.
Can Kai stop the rise of a new Hierarch?
And can he trust his companions to do what’s right?
Martha Wells is a great writer, I enjoyed her Murderbot series and have tried a few of her fantasies. While they don’t seem to hold the same magic for me, they are well written and will scratch the itch of most readers. Queen Demon, the second book of The Rising World series picks up not long after the events of Witch King. I had forgotten many of the people and events from the first story and so struggled to connect until I went back to Witch King to get my bearings.
The dual PoV past and present story-telling returns in Queen Demon. Historically that has meant I like one storyline more than the other and that was the case again in this book. Kia’s past as he works with General Bashasa and some of the other characters from the first book to gather an army and fight against the Hierarchs and their minions captured my imagination and was so interesting. But all of the present day stuff struggled to hold my attention. It felt like a lot of talking and then a trip to a place for an unknown reason because one of the gang wants to go there but doesn’t want to say why. The past held action and intrigue, although not a lot of suspense since we know the characters are in the future but still it was engaging. The present chapters were hard for me to get into and I struggled through them until all the action happens in the last 10% of the book.
I can’t really put my finger on what is different for me between the writing in the Murderbot diaries and The Rising World but there is something about the way I haven’t connected with the MC Kia in the same way and so I just don’t feel as invested in the story. I read a lot of fantasy and can generally immerse myself in the world quite easily but for this story I have struggled to find my way into the world, the setting and the plot to be super engaged.
Queen Demon is a solid follow up to the Witch King but is still carrying all of the issues I had to connect to characters. Kia’s history is extremely interesting but his present struggles to capture this reader’s imagination in full. If you enjoyed the Witch King, there is nothing indicating this will not also work well for you. But if you had some issues with plot and pacing, I think those will carry over into this book as well.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: none
Erik Mok is a good fit for the story. I found his voice to fit the overall feel and air of the story. His performance is strong and gives us the emotion of the moment. I had a hard time telling some of the characters apart, not specifically because of the narration but just because it was hard to keep track of the number of characters in past and present and sometimes they became a bit distorted in my head. Narration voice was strong.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Martha Wells
Martha Wells has written many fantasy novels, including The Books of the Raksura series (beginning with The Cloud Roads), the Ile-Rien series (including The Death of the Necromancer) as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, media tie-ins (for Star Wars and Stargate: Atlantis), and non-fiction. Her most recent fantasy novel is The Harbors of the Sun in 2017, the final novel in The Books of the Raksura series. She has a new series of SF novellas, The Murderbot Diaries, published by Tor.com in 2017 and 2018. She was also the lead writer for the story team of Magic: the Gathering’s Dominaria expansion in 2018. She has won a Nebula Award, an ALA/YALSA Alex Award, a Locus Award, and her work has appeared on the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Award ballots, the USA Today Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. Her books have been published in eleven languages.
She has had short stories in the magazines Black Gate, Realms of Fantasy, Lone Star Stories, Lightspeed Magazine, and Stargate Magazine, and in the Tsunami Relief anthology Elemental, The Other Half of the Sky, Tales of the Emerald Serpent, Mech: Age of Steel, and The Gods of Lovecraft.
She has essays in the nonfiction anthologies Farscape Forever, Mapping the World of Harry Potter, Chicks Unravel Time, and The Kobold Guide to Magic.
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I’ll probably like this one then, since I enjoyed the first one. It was detailed or complex but I still liked it.
Yes. If you enjoyed the first one this follows very well.
Bummer you couldn’t connect with the characters. I feel like her fantasies overwhelm me with words- descriptions of setting, culture, characters. This is all good usually, but was hard going for me, too.
I also like her Sci Fi more than Fantasy. They are both well written but one resonates with me more.
I’m intrigued. I read the Murderbot series as well….so maybe.
I think if I read less Fantasy this would work better for me, but since 70% of what I read is fantasy I appreciate the writing the story doesn’t captivate me as much. Love the past sections of the story though.