I am a little unsure about this rating because it's Melina Marchetta - how can her books be anything less than five stars? She's the queen of young adult who can jump across genres and still create something spectacular. But, though I really enjoyed Quintana of Charyn, I liked it significantly less than the other books in this series (particularly Froi of the Exiles) and I think I can quite easily pinpoint the main problem: the plot. Or lack thereof. Where I think Froi of the Exiles could easily be read and enjoyed without reading the first book, this installment was far from the same. In fact, this book is an entirely different creature; brilliant, in its own way, but still not as strong, in my opinion.

Froi of the Exiles was a brilliantly complex novel that took us into the heart of Charyn and introduced us to life and politics within its borders. It was such a fantastic novel that I remembered exactly what happened in it without needing a recap, and it also made me completely fall in love with Froi. And he is still my favourite character after finishing this novel because of his many sides, his issues and his complicated background. The road for him has been difficult and he's done many bad things on his way to where he is now... and yet he has earned redemption - in my eyes, anyway. But Quintana of Charyn is a far less plot-focused story, no more main characters are introduced and the story progresses only slightly from where it's prequel finished.

In this book, Marchetta focuses on what she already has and builds on it. Relationships are developed and explored, loyalty is questioned, opinions of certain people start to change. Almost everyone is challenged mentally and physically in this book and the characters experience a very emotional journey. It is, for me, Marchetta's most romantic novel to date. And the one with the most sex scenes. When it comes to Marchetta, neither of these is a complaint because she handles them masterfully, depicting love and sexual relationships in a very honest way that I really appreciate. The saucy scenes include bathtubs and a "game" between Finnikin and Isaboe - you know you're curious.

Quintana of Charyn wraps things up well but I think the land of Lumatere (and all the Skuldenore lands) still has a lot more stories to tell and I hope Marchetta will return to this beautiful story. One of my biggest complaints about this book is that the title character doesn't appear in it anywhere near as much as I'd like. Quintana really interests me and the glimpses of her character just made me more curious; I think if this book was told mostly from her point of view, then she could have been a character I loved even more. But I understand that Marchetta had many different stories to address about many different people in this novel.

Marchetta has definitely not let me down, even though I couldn't love it as much as Froi of the Exiles. This woman is truly amazing and I cannot wait to see what she produces in the future. Bye bye, Lumatere *sob*