Friday, March 2, 2018

Review: Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Series: The Queen of the Tearling #1
Publication Date: July 8th, 2014
Publisher: Harper
Genre: YA, Fantasy 
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ TBD

Synopsis: An untested young princess must claim her throne, learn to become a queen, and combat a malevolent sorceress in an epic battle between light and darkness in this spectacular debut—the first novel in a trilogy.

Young Kelsea Raleigh was raised in hiding after the death of her mother, Queen Elyssa, far from the intrigues of the royal Keep and in the care of two devoted servants who pledged their lives to protect her. Growing up in a cottage deep in the woods, Kelsea knows little of her kingdom's haunted past . . . or that its fate will soon rest in her hands.

Long ago, Kelsea's forefathers sailed away from a decaying world to establish a new land free of modern technology. Three hundred years later, this feudal society has divided into three fearful nations who pay duties to a fourth: the powerful Mortmesne, ruled by the cunning Red Queen. Now, on Kelsea's nineteenth birthday, the tattered remnants of the Queen's Guard—loyal soldiers who protect the throne—have appeared to escort the princess on a perilous journey to the capital to ascend to her rightful place as the new Queen of the Tearling.

Though born of royal blood and in possession of the Tear sapphire, a jewel of immense power and magic, Kelsea has never felt more uncertain of her ability to rule. But the shocking evil she discovers in the heart of her realm will precipitate an act of immense daring, throwing the entire kingdom into turmoil—and unleashing the Red Queen's vengeance. A cabal of enemies with an array of deadly weapons, from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic, plots to destroy her. But Kelsea is growing in strength and stealth, her steely resolve earning her loyal allies, including the Queen's Guard, led by the enigmatic Lazarus, and the intriguing outlaw known simply as "the Fetch."

Kelsea's quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun. Riddled with mysteries, betrayals, and treacherous battles, Kelsea's journey is a trial by fire that will either forge a legend . . . or destroy her.

My Rating
4/5 stars

My Review
“The future was only disasters of the past, waiting to happen anew.” 

Why is it that I've only read this book now? I feel like I should have read it a long time ago.

The Queen of the Tearling was fantastic. I was very skeptical at first, I almost gave up a few chapters in, but I'm so glad I kept going because I have a feeling that this will be one of my favourite series.

Kelsea was a very good main character. I loved how strong she was even though she had no idea what she was getting herself into as a Queen. She's not pretty, and she's definitely not skinny. Yet that doesn't stop her from doing the best she can to rule her country. She trains hard, studies hard, and she never gives up. I really loved that about her.

Surprisingly, even though I really liked Kelsea, I absolutely loved Mace. He was by far my favourite character. I just thought he was so funny, and smart. The scenes with him were just the best, and when he wasn't in the scene, I was waiting till he came back. I was a bit surprised that there was no romance between the characters (nothing really with The Fetch either). On one hand it was really good because we get to focus on Kelsea a lot more as a strong woman (and I get Mace to myself), but I felt like a little romance could have added a bit of a spark to this book.

I thought the plot of this book was very slow, especially in the beginning before Kelsea is crowned. There was a lot of unnecessary description, and what made me mad the most was the author including parts in the story about other characters like Javel. Maybe like a little half chapter about what was going on would have been okay, but his part, as well as some others were just way too long, I was desperate to get back to the main story and ended up skimming over those parts.

Honestly, even though I loved the characters, I was going to rate this book 3 stars until I read the ending. The ending of this book definitely made up for the slow beginning. It was action packed, and absolutely perfect. It definitely makes me desperate to read more.

Overall, I would recommend this to fans of Game of Thrones, so kind of the Medieval fantasy type with lots of long and boring descriptions, and to the type of readers that love strong female characters. I hope you enjoy this one.

Happy Reading,
Aneta 
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