Publication Date: February 16th, 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Retelling
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD
Synopsis: Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.
In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.
But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.
My Rating
3/5 stars
My Review
I've always loved retellings, and I haven't read one about Snow White before. The Shadow Queen had so much potential, but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations.
Lorelai Diederich had everything taken from him. Queen Irina stole her father, her people and her kingdom. Lorelai and her brother are forced to hide out until Lorelai gains enough strength and learns to control her magic so she can kill Queen Irina once and for all. In the land of dragons, Prince Kol becomes King after the tragic death of his parents and older brother. The only way he can protect his kingdom from the invading ogres is to align with Queen Irina so she can use her magic against the ogres, but Queen Irina forces Kol to track down Lorelai and bring her her heart.
Magic, dragons, and a princess going on a mission to defend her kingdom. Doesn't that just sound wonderful? Well it really would have been if it wasn't for the boring plot, lame characters and a romance that was okay, but you'd never ship.
Lorelai definitely had potential of being a good main character, she's determined and kind. Unfortunately I grew really tired of dialogue and actions very fast. She's not the brightest and continues to repeat her mistakes. After a while, her story just became very boring. I didn't want to read from her perspective because I knew exactly what she was going to say and do. There was no excitement and nothing that made me want to keep reading.
Kol was actually a really good main character. I loved reading about him in his dragon form and how he's trying his best to lead his kingdom even though he didn't have a clue how to do it. I really admired him in the beginning, it wasn't until his romance with Lorelai started developing where he became very predictable and downright boring.
I listened to the audiobook, and there was a point in the story where I actually fell asleep and missed a good half hour, I didn't even go back to re-listen, I just continued because I knew it was going to be a boring part anyways and I'd rather just do my best to finish this book.
While this book had a very cute ending, it left me with a bunch of questions at the end and a feeling of "this is highly unlikely to work out."
I really wanted to like this book more than I did, maybe my expectations were too high. I would only recommend this book if you're a huge fan of retellings and you don't mind predictability and boring plot. I hope you guys like this one more than I did.
Happy Reading,
Aneta
Lorelai Diederich had everything taken from him. Queen Irina stole her father, her people and her kingdom. Lorelai and her brother are forced to hide out until Lorelai gains enough strength and learns to control her magic so she can kill Queen Irina once and for all. In the land of dragons, Prince Kol becomes King after the tragic death of his parents and older brother. The only way he can protect his kingdom from the invading ogres is to align with Queen Irina so she can use her magic against the ogres, but Queen Irina forces Kol to track down Lorelai and bring her her heart.
Magic, dragons, and a princess going on a mission to defend her kingdom. Doesn't that just sound wonderful? Well it really would have been if it wasn't for the boring plot, lame characters and a romance that was okay, but you'd never ship.
Lorelai definitely had potential of being a good main character, she's determined and kind. Unfortunately I grew really tired of dialogue and actions very fast. She's not the brightest and continues to repeat her mistakes. After a while, her story just became very boring. I didn't want to read from her perspective because I knew exactly what she was going to say and do. There was no excitement and nothing that made me want to keep reading.
Kol was actually a really good main character. I loved reading about him in his dragon form and how he's trying his best to lead his kingdom even though he didn't have a clue how to do it. I really admired him in the beginning, it wasn't until his romance with Lorelai started developing where he became very predictable and downright boring.
I listened to the audiobook, and there was a point in the story where I actually fell asleep and missed a good half hour, I didn't even go back to re-listen, I just continued because I knew it was going to be a boring part anyways and I'd rather just do my best to finish this book.
While this book had a very cute ending, it left me with a bunch of questions at the end and a feeling of "this is highly unlikely to work out."
I really wanted to like this book more than I did, maybe my expectations were too high. I would only recommend this book if you're a huge fan of retellings and you don't mind predictability and boring plot. I hope you guys like this one more than I did.
Happy Reading,
Aneta
I recently added this one to my TBR - maybe I won't be hurrying to get to it now, though...
ReplyDeleteSorry. Maybe you'll like it way more than I did.
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