Scan barcode
lisamparkin's review
3.0
This was just ok - I wanted more. More personality from Kalinda and less instalove.
Skip this one
Skip this one
helenscheuerer's review
5.0
An absolutely stunning, original fantasy. Loved the strength of the female relationships, and of course, King's beautiful writing.
hebbie4792's review
3.0
Surprisingly more deep and profound than I expected. It starts a little slow but its necessary to give readers the exposure to the world, characters and severity of the horrible way women are treated. It picks up about 6 or 7 chapters in. I was impressed with the subtlety of the main character and that she wasn't written to be an immediate bad ass. She is full of insecurities and finds her way through situations because she has to not because she ran head first into conflict. I'm unsure about reading the next as I've read reviews about a love triangle and I dont want to taint the purity of the love felt In the first book.
shannonxo's review
4.0
I made the mistake of reading reviews just after I started reading this, and I was surprised by how many low ratings there were. Yes, it can get a super tropey at times, and that romance was nothing exciting, but I quite enjoyed this!
Overall, it was a solid story. The beginning was a bit rough to get into, but once Kalinda left the Sisterhood, I was flying through it. I enjoyed the setting (not so much the polygamy and man-centric world, but it served its purpose). The magical element was intriguing, and I enjoyed how it slowly came to light, even though I had my suspicions from the start. The Hunger Games-esque championship between queens and courtesans is ... different, but not bad once you get over the "Excuse me?" moment. There was even a plot twist that I didn't see coming.
Really, the only thing that disappointed me was the romance, or rather the lack thereof. There was no build-up, and I found that a shame. We went from stolen glances to full blown declarations of love, and I wasn't here for that.
*Afterthought, and I don't know which book this reflects as a negative for, but I was reading Elly Blake's Fireblood at the same time, and there are a LOT of parallels between the two. MC has a fire power that is frowned upon, religious setting, warrior MC has feelings for, chosen to kill the king. I was getting confused at a few points struggling to remember which story I was supposed to be remembering. However, I think it's panning out better in Frostblood, especially the romance.
Overall, it was a solid story. The beginning was a bit rough to get into, but once Kalinda left the Sisterhood, I was flying through it. I enjoyed the setting (not so much the polygamy and man-centric world, but it served its purpose). The magical element was intriguing, and I enjoyed how it slowly came to light, even though I had my suspicions from the start. The Hunger Games-esque championship between queens and courtesans is ... different, but not bad once you get over the "Excuse me?" moment. There was even a plot twist that I didn't see coming.
Really, the only thing that disappointed me was the romance, or rather the lack thereof. There was no build-up, and I found that a shame. We went from stolen glances to full blown declarations of love, and I wasn't here for that.
*Afterthought, and I don't know which book this reflects as a negative for, but I was reading Elly Blake's Fireblood at the same time, and there are a LOT of parallels between the two. MC has a fire power that is frowned upon, religious setting, warrior MC has feelings for, chosen to kill the king. I was getting confused at a few points struggling to remember which story I was supposed to be remembering. However, I think it's panning out better in Frostblood, especially the romance.
mayas003's review
1.0
SPOILERS
OMG, I want to scoop my eyes out my head with a spoon. I am going to start by saying that lately, all I’ve been reading is one poorly written story after another. I do not write reviews of less than three stars, but this will no longer be my policy.
I kept seeing The Hundredth Queen pup up as a recommended read, and I was asked by a friend to read it and give her a recommendation if to read it or not. So, I found a Barnes and Nobles copy and bought it. I decided to give it a shot. Now I want my money back.
Lord have mercy; this story is one big cliché extravaganza. It has little to no world-building, the characters are flat, and the romance is best described as instalove. You have your share of mean girls and nasty people, but for the life of me I am still wondering why Kalinda was selected to be the hundredth wife if she was described as plain. If she is bad at fighting then how in the world, in the first few chapters she defeats a strong opponent? If she is plain then why is she called "beautiful" by many others?
In the very start of the book, we see Kalinda meeting the guy who will be the love of her life. What did he do to reach that level of admiration? Okay, puppy love, love at first sight, I am willing to accept it. But what about the guy? Deven is supposed to be her protector, and throughout the story, he does a piss poor job at guiding and protecting her. Which begs the question, how did he ever achieve his position? And where is the chemistry between him and Kalinda? There was no romance progression, and I was left thinking this must have been a mistake.
So, this is a story about women fighting to gain status in a royal setting. However, why and what would it be the purpose of moving up in the rank? I still don’t know.
So Kalinda gets chosen to be Rajah Tarek's 100th wife. I am still trying to figure out why. Then she finds out she must compete with the other 99 wives in a rank tournament, why? I am not sure why, so I am going to say, I don’t know. I think it has something to do with a god that had 100 wives.
There is a love triangle that is absolutely nonsensical.
Now, you will find a side plot hidden in between all the tournaments to the death, and the women being bitches to each other in the palace. Why they are bitches? Simple, because everyone hates Kalinda and Kalinda hates everyone, why? I don’t know because the book doesn’t say.
I am assuming that is because when you have 100 bitchy women fighting to the death and for control and one man, you have war. But because this is a fantasy story you must have magic and because the author used India as the basis of the culture the magical creatures are called the bhuta. They want something that Rajah stole, and then I got a brain fart because I did not care what happened to any of them. I was hoping Alien and Predator would come and start fighting in the tournaments and they be the final winners and then Rajah had to use them two as his one and two only concubines for life.
This book is the first I give a review with a one star ever. This book could have been a great story, but it needed the tender loving care of a developmental editor. To be completely honest the last ten chapters I only skim through them; I lost interest. Maybe in the future, I will sit and give those last few chapters my full attention, but it will not be anytime soon.
OMG, I want to scoop my eyes out my head with a spoon. I am going to start by saying that lately, all I’ve been reading is one poorly written story after another. I do not write reviews of less than three stars, but this will no longer be my policy.
I kept seeing The Hundredth Queen pup up as a recommended read, and I was asked by a friend to read it and give her a recommendation if to read it or not. So, I found a Barnes and Nobles copy and bought it. I decided to give it a shot. Now I want my money back.
Lord have mercy; this story is one big cliché extravaganza. It has little to no world-building, the characters are flat, and the romance is best described as instalove. You have your share of mean girls and nasty people, but for the life of me I am still wondering why Kalinda was selected to be the hundredth wife if she was described as plain. If she is bad at fighting then how in the world, in the first few chapters she defeats a strong opponent? If she is plain then why is she called "beautiful" by many others?
In the very start of the book, we see Kalinda meeting the guy who will be the love of her life. What did he do to reach that level of admiration? Okay, puppy love, love at first sight, I am willing to accept it. But what about the guy? Deven is supposed to be her protector, and throughout the story, he does a piss poor job at guiding and protecting her. Which begs the question, how did he ever achieve his position? And where is the chemistry between him and Kalinda? There was no romance progression, and I was left thinking this must have been a mistake.
So, this is a story about women fighting to gain status in a royal setting. However, why and what would it be the purpose of moving up in the rank? I still don’t know.
So Kalinda gets chosen to be Rajah Tarek's 100th wife. I am still trying to figure out why. Then she finds out she must compete with the other 99 wives in a rank tournament, why? I am not sure why, so I am going to say, I don’t know. I think it has something to do with a god that had 100 wives.
There is a love triangle that is absolutely nonsensical.
Now, you will find a side plot hidden in between all the tournaments to the death, and the women being bitches to each other in the palace. Why they are bitches? Simple, because everyone hates Kalinda and Kalinda hates everyone, why? I don’t know because the book doesn’t say.
I am assuming that is because when you have 100 bitchy women fighting to the death and for control and one man, you have war. But because this is a fantasy story you must have magic and because the author used India as the basis of the culture the magical creatures are called the bhuta. They want something that Rajah stole, and then I got a brain fart because I did not care what happened to any of them. I was hoping Alien and Predator would come and start fighting in the tournaments and they be the final winners and then Rajah had to use them two as his one and two only concubines for life.
This book is the first I give a review with a one star ever. This book could have been a great story, but it needed the tender loving care of a developmental editor. To be completely honest the last ten chapters I only skim through them; I lost interest. Maybe in the future, I will sit and give those last few chapters my full attention, but it will not be anytime soon.
booksandlemonsquash's review against another edition
3.0
I think this was more of a three and a half stars for me, and more enjoyable than that implies. I will be looking out the sequel when that comes out at least :)
I liked the basic concept and the characters. What I didn't love was the fact that everything you're told about Kali isn't really true. She's not pretty, or like the others, but somehow gets two guys after her and others call her beautiful. She's not a good fighter, or at least not as well trained, but wins all her fights pretty much. Though I get that some is luck there. And then she's suddenly a bhuta and has powers. It just feels over done at this point. Having said all that, I think it's well done for what it is.
I sort of liked Jaya being brought in as the general's wife, and while I was sad to see her die it does feed the story. I do feel her escaping would have as well though! And on that note, I was sad to see Deven come back from the dead! That feels so mean to say, but I think it would have been a better story. His character is definitely the weakest, and I never like the whole "I saw you and immediately wanted you" BS.
I liked Natesa's development. And the backstory for Deven and his family.
I also think the story handled the complicated story of the courtesans, domestic violence and non consensual sexual fairly well. I'd have like to see it a bit more explicitly, but given it's a controversial topic the contempt Kali and other characters had for it, and discussions of how to weather it, was reasonably good.
Overall not the strongest, but very enjoyable and a very easy read.
I liked the basic concept and the characters. What I didn't love was the fact that everything you're told about Kali isn't really true. She's not pretty, or like the others, but somehow gets two guys after her and others call her beautiful. She's not a good fighter, or at least not as well trained, but wins all her fights pretty much. Though I get that some is luck there. And then she's suddenly a bhuta and has powers. It just feels over done at this point. Having said all that, I think it's well done for what it is.
I sort of liked Jaya being brought in as the general's wife, and while I was sad to see her die it does feed the story. I do feel her escaping would have as well though! And on that note, I was sad to see Deven come back from the dead! That feels so mean to say, but I think it would have been a better story. His character is definitely the weakest, and I never like the whole "I saw you and immediately wanted you" BS.
I liked Natesa's development. And the backstory for Deven and his family.
I also think the story handled the complicated story of the courtesans, domestic violence and non consensual sexual fairly well. I'd have like to see it a bit more explicitly, but given it's a controversial topic the contempt Kali and other characters had for it, and discussions of how to weather it, was reasonably good.
Overall not the strongest, but very enjoyable and a very easy read.
whatleoreads's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Mediocre
Predictable plot & one dimensional characters
Predictable plot & one dimensional characters
charlottewie's review
3.0
I am sooo conflicted by this book, I don't even know what to say. I did really enjoy it on the one hand, but on the other hand I had lots of problems with it.
So I decided I'd compile a short list of pros and cons I noticed while reading for anyone who's trying to decide whether to read this book. Here goes:
Pros:
+ It was really very entertaining, the plot was pretty interesting to me and kept me turning the pages super fast.
+ I did like the writing very much, some quotes really resonated with me and the way the author describes the setting seemed very vivid.
+ I did like the way the book set up for expansion (which I really hope will be part of the other three books of the series). I know some people might see it as a lack of world building and intricacy but I enjoy that it leaves room for all kinds of possibilities.
+ Natesa - she was such an interesting and layered character, I loved all of her scenes!
Cons:
- Right of the bat - the insta love. The romance really wasn't very well done, the MC and the love interest meet and within 40 pages or so they're absolutely infatuated with each other. What the heck.
- Tying into that, the MC keeps talking about how she's oh so unattractive while everyone else thinks shes super hot. But that's just a pet peeve of mine.
- A majority of the characters, especially the MC Kalinda and the first wife Lakia, were so inconsistent to me in their actions and thoughts.
- Deven - he just fell sooo flat for me, there was so much potential but his character was so generic and dull, which a, made the insta love thing even less believable and b, just bored me.
Overall there were also a number of problematic scenes and views as well as some very awkardly and weirdly handled situations () which threw me off quite a bit.
Will I continue with the series? Probably, because I do want to see if the author expands on the world and where the story goes.
So I decided I'd compile a short list of pros and cons I noticed while reading for anyone who's trying to decide whether to read this book. Here goes:
Pros:
+ It was really very entertaining, the plot was pretty interesting to me and kept me turning the pages super fast.
+ I did like the writing very much, some quotes really resonated with me and the way the author describes the setting seemed very vivid.
+ I did like the way the book set up for expansion (which I really hope will be part of the other three books of the series). I know some people might see it as a lack of world building and intricacy but I enjoy that it leaves room for all kinds of possibilities.
+ Natesa - she was such an interesting and layered character, I loved all of her scenes!
Cons:
- Right of the bat - the insta love. The romance really wasn't very well done, the MC and the love interest meet and within 40 pages or so they're absolutely infatuated with each other. What the heck.
- Tying into that, the MC keeps talking about how she's oh so unattractive while everyone else thinks shes super hot. But that's just a pet peeve of mine.
- A majority of the characters, especially the MC Kalinda and the first wife Lakia, were so inconsistent to me in their actions and thoughts.
- Deven - he just fell sooo flat for me, there was so much potential but his character was so generic and dull, which a, made the insta love thing even less believable and b, just bored me.
Overall there were also a number of problematic scenes and views as well as some very awkardly and weirdly handled situations (
Spoiler
the Deven and Brac reunion for example, I was so confusedWill I continue with the series? Probably, because I do want to see if the author expands on the world and where the story goes.
readermeetsbook's review
3.0
Since Goodreads doesn't do half ratings, I rounded up with this book - 2.5 stars. I'm torn about this book. It's a fun read, but there are so many problems - the treatment of women battling it out to the death for men's appreciation & the insta-love for starters. The plot at times feels hollow and forced for the convenience of the story. Kalinda sometimes felt a little Mary Sueish. But as I said, I did have fun reading it, problems and all.