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tstreet's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing! I love Kali and how she is determined to protect her friend from being claimed. I love that she endures the challenges despite everyone's attempts to murder her or harm her. I love that she falls in love with the Captain even though it is forbidden. I love that she wins the tournament and gets the first wife off her back. I love that she kills the man she is forced to marry in order to protect the people. I hate that her friend is killed but I'm glad she had a friend who was willing to die for her. I loved this book and can't wait to continue the series.
hopeykatt's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing
This book absolutely captured my attention and blew my mind. I loved it and can't wait until September for the sequel.
This book absolutely captured my attention and blew my mind. I loved it and can't wait until September for the sequel.
tazisbooked's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 ⭐-
I really wanted to love this book (a fantasy world inspired by South Asian culture?!?!). Ultimately, I feel this was a "meh" book. I think if you're in the mood for a trashy, instalove fantasy story, pick this one up. The character development was spotty, the world-building passable, aspects that were South Asian inspired just felt cringey and the plot feels hollow/artificial at times. The magic system was kind of intriguing and wish there had been more page space dedicated to exploring/mastering Kali's powers but I guess that's what the sequel is for?
However, that being said, if you kind of accept the flaws and tropes, like I said, it reads like a trashy guilty-pleasure 🤷🏾♀️
I really wanted to love this book (a fantasy world inspired by South Asian culture?!?!). Ultimately, I feel this was a "meh" book. I think if you're in the mood for a trashy, instalove fantasy story, pick this one up. The character development was spotty, the world-building passable, aspects that were South Asian inspired just felt cringey and the plot feels hollow/artificial at times. The magic system was kind of intriguing and wish there had been more page space dedicated to exploring/mastering Kali's powers but I guess that's what the sequel is for?
However, that being said, if you kind of accept the flaws and tropes, like I said, it reads like a trashy guilty-pleasure 🤷🏾♀️
jennchandler's review
4.0
This is the second time I have read this, and I stand by my first review. I really quite enjoyed this. A few too many mushy, love-sick passages, but great characters and a good story. I'm looking forward to the next book!
bookishneverland's review
4.0
No words. This was excellent! The magic are beautiful writing you get when reading The Wrath and the Dawn, the gifted writing you get while reading A Star Touched Queen, and the adventurous strong woman you get when reading Throne of Glass. This was an excellent read and I recommend it to anyone who loves Fantasy and Adventure.
thelauren_lauren's review
Great start to a series
This book was really good. It was intriguing and the characters interesting. Looking forward to the second book and hopefully more character development and more about the powers.
This book was really good. It was intriguing and the characters interesting. Looking forward to the second book and hopefully more character development and more about the powers.
sofia_casanova's review
3.0
This review can also be found on my blog.
Actual rating: 2.5/5.
The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King weaves together magic, suspense, mythology, and romance. At the heart of this story is Kalinda, an 18-year-old orphan who is prone to fevers and doesn’t see herself doing anything other than entering the Sisterhood with her best friend, Jaya. However, her serene life is disrupted by the Claiming and she is now set to be the Rajah’s hundredth rani. Thing is, she has to fight for her place among ninety nine other wives, and maybe find out secrets about her past.
The premise of The Hundredth Queen captivated me. Who doesn’t want to read about a strong heroine and her rise to power as she drives the fall of a powerful kingdom? That’s a fantasy lover’s dream. However, while the book was strong in some aspects such as magic and mythology, there were weaker points that I had gripes with such as plot, character development and world-building. It was all rather predictable and a bit lackluster.
Here’s what I have to say about The Hundredth Queen.
King’s writing is captivating, but sometimes it felt like it was too much.
This is just a personal preference, but the amount of descriptions were overwhelming. I also found some areas lacked descriptions – it’s all a matter of balance. I also felt some areas we were spoon-fed what we needed to know in order to move on with the plot whereas things could have been left to the imagination and for the reader to piece together. Despite this, King’s writing is lovely and I enjoyed her writing style. I also enjoyed the use of mythology and magic throughout the novel; it added an edge and a sense of mystery in regards to the politics and dynamics of magic and the court. However, I did find the mythology to be convoluted, especially in regards to the bhuta and the sacred text.
The character development wasn’t as authentic as it could have been.
Our protagonist, Kalinda is weak, suffers from fevers and has no experience with men at all. she is repeatedly described as terrible in combat and unremarkable – yet, what perplexed me was she is suddenly able to defeat one of her strongest opponents during the Claiming, and is described as “beautiful”. The jumps between her character development were confusing, and while she grows rather quickly into a fierce warrior and woman, I found the supporting characters like Jaya and the Rajah to be a bit two-dimensional. I liked the friendship between Jaya and Kalinda, it wasn’t developed enough for me to grow attached.
I also found Kalinda to be rather plain, but her personality improved when in the company of Deven. Their instalove was predictable and felt a little sudden because of a lack of tension and development, but it was rather cute. Overall, the characters weren’t too impressive and that’s what felt a little off with me: there wasn’t enough tension between the characters and dimension.
Also, the world in which the novel is set does not venture further than the journey from the Sisterhood to the palace, and that’s where the reader resides for majority of the novel. There was a lot of potential for world-building not just through lore and textbook history, but through conversations and exploration. I would have liked more details on neighbouring nations and some history on how the Rajah became so powerful.
The concept of the rank tournament was intriguing yet I didn’t see the point?
It honestly felt like the tournament encouraged girl-on-girl hate rather than sisterhood no matter how hard Kalinda tried. I did like how King explained Kalinda’s disapproval of the system, but because of her negative attitude towards it I didn’t enjoy reading any sections to do with the tournament. It made me uncomfortable and the reasoning behind it all is to rise up in rank – it felt superficial and pointless.
Overall, The Hundredth Queen had the potential to shine and stand out as a unique YA fantasy romance, yet it fell into a rut of predictable plot points and underdeveloped characters. While it was enjoyable to a certain degree (the use of magic was definitely fascinating), the gripes I had with it dampened my enthusiasm.
Actual rating: 2.5/5.
The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King weaves together magic, suspense, mythology, and romance. At the heart of this story is Kalinda, an 18-year-old orphan who is prone to fevers and doesn’t see herself doing anything other than entering the Sisterhood with her best friend, Jaya. However, her serene life is disrupted by the Claiming and she is now set to be the Rajah’s hundredth rani. Thing is, she has to fight for her place among ninety nine other wives, and maybe find out secrets about her past.
The premise of The Hundredth Queen captivated me. Who doesn’t want to read about a strong heroine and her rise to power as she drives the fall of a powerful kingdom? That’s a fantasy lover’s dream. However, while the book was strong in some aspects such as magic and mythology, there were weaker points that I had gripes with such as plot, character development and world-building. It was all rather predictable and a bit lackluster.
Here’s what I have to say about The Hundredth Queen.
King’s writing is captivating, but sometimes it felt like it was too much.
This is just a personal preference, but the amount of descriptions were overwhelming. I also found some areas lacked descriptions – it’s all a matter of balance. I also felt some areas we were spoon-fed what we needed to know in order to move on with the plot whereas things could have been left to the imagination and for the reader to piece together. Despite this, King’s writing is lovely and I enjoyed her writing style. I also enjoyed the use of mythology and magic throughout the novel; it added an edge and a sense of mystery in regards to the politics and dynamics of magic and the court. However, I did find the mythology to be convoluted, especially in regards to the bhuta and the sacred text.
The character development wasn’t as authentic as it could have been.
Our protagonist, Kalinda is weak, suffers from fevers and has no experience with men at all. she is repeatedly described as terrible in combat and unremarkable – yet, what perplexed me was she is suddenly able to defeat one of her strongest opponents during the Claiming, and is described as “beautiful”. The jumps between her character development were confusing, and while she grows rather quickly into a fierce warrior and woman, I found the supporting characters like Jaya and the Rajah to be a bit two-dimensional. I liked the friendship between Jaya and Kalinda, it wasn’t developed enough for me to grow attached.
I also found Kalinda to be rather plain, but her personality improved when in the company of Deven. Their instalove was predictable and felt a little sudden because of a lack of tension and development, but it was rather cute. Overall, the characters weren’t too impressive and that’s what felt a little off with me: there wasn’t enough tension between the characters and dimension.
Also, the world in which the novel is set does not venture further than the journey from the Sisterhood to the palace, and that’s where the reader resides for majority of the novel. There was a lot of potential for world-building not just through lore and textbook history, but through conversations and exploration. I would have liked more details on neighbouring nations and some history on how the Rajah became so powerful.
The concept of the rank tournament was intriguing yet I didn’t see the point?
It honestly felt like the tournament encouraged girl-on-girl hate rather than sisterhood no matter how hard Kalinda tried. I did like how King explained Kalinda’s disapproval of the system, but because of her negative attitude towards it I didn’t enjoy reading any sections to do with the tournament. It made me uncomfortable and the reasoning behind it all is to rise up in rank – it felt superficial and pointless.
Overall, The Hundredth Queen had the potential to shine and stand out as a unique YA fantasy romance, yet it fell into a rut of predictable plot points and underdeveloped characters. While it was enjoyable to a certain degree (the use of magic was definitely fascinating), the gripes I had with it dampened my enthusiasm.
ginny_c's review
1.0
This book was free last month on Amazon. That should have been a hint. Too many YA cliches. Can we please stop with instalove? I could tell this was not written by an Indian woman and I'm not even Indian myself. I won't be continuing with the series.