Reviews with content warning for Violence - Queen Among the Dead

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston

5 reviews

theespressoedition's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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keepcalmblogon's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Projects for my e-ARC of Queen Among the Dead. I was so excited to get into this book because I am massively intrigued by Celtic history and legends!

From the get-go, Queen Among the Dead is all action; Neve is a strong-willed, independent female ready to defend herself and her nation at all costs. She finds her match in Ronan, a thief with loyalty to the end.

The courtly intrigue, magical mayhem, and battle drama never cease throughout the story and I was truly hooked. There were a few things that were hard to follow though, namely, the magic system was a little confusing, especially since the writing style used an immersion technique in which things were named but not explained, so the reader had to figure it out on their own.

One of the antagonist’s plotlines didn’t sit well with me though, it was obviously meant to be a twist, and it was, but upon reflection,

if Gofannon wanted to prevent the Scathach from returning, why would he fight against Neve? If he felt like she was being possessed by the Scathach (which she partly was, but she and her friends were doing fine to keep her at bay) that would have made a little more sense, but he literally told Neve that she was his last hope of preventing the Scathach from returning. And, how would going to battle against Neve have gotten Anonn back for Cormac? I don’t think battling her daughter would have endeared Anonn to him. If it had been a little more straightforward without the “twist” of Gofannon being “good” and he had remained the antagonist, there still would have been the question of why return the Scathach after having banished her, but the overarching plot would have been less convoluted. Ultimately, Cormac should have wanted to battle Neve for the throne, not her mom, and Gofannon’s story could have been smoothed out, no plot necessary and just throw in a reason for him to change his mind, fickle people change their minds all the time.

In the end, this book was 4 stars for me for good action, Celtic inspiration, a strong female warrior, and a cute love story thrown in.

Check out my full review, with some spoilers, on GoodReads!

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thebookcoyote's review against another edition

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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? No

3.0

TW/CW: Death of a parent, death of a sibling, war, violence, fantasy violence

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Queen Among the Dead is the story of Neve, the youngest daughter (and princess) of the leader of an ancient Celtic Ireland. It follows her as she discovers her power and takes her destined place.

This book fell kind of flat for me. Although I liked the setting and the concept of the story, this book is filled with exposition. The world is complicated and in some cases doesn’t make a lot of sense, even though a LOT of time is spent trying to make the reader understand it. This comes, most unfortunately, at the expense of character development, of which there is very, very little.

This, of course, makes the climactic parts much less climactic because you can’t relate to the characters and therefore don’t really care what happens to them. It also makes the ‘romance’ – if you can call it that – come out of far left field. Honestly, I thought Neve had far more chemistry with her horse trainer than she did with the supposed ‘romantic’ lead.

There are the bones of a good story in here, but perhaps simplifying the story a bit and concentrating more on characters than on an overcomplicated plot would really have helped this book.

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planreadrepeat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A Celtic fantasy set in ancient Eire (Ireland). Neve is the second daughter of the king, who is hoarding the magic of the land with his Druids. The book starts a little slow and there are a lot of Celtic words used. Easy enough to look up but it does hurt the immersion a bit.

The middle of the book really starts moving and we see Neve begin to understand herself and her abilities. Along with figuring out who her true allies are. The ending is a mad dash of action and has some interesting twists.

I love Celtic mythology. But also a well-rounded YA fantasy. Refreshing to have only light romance. I can see people who like other mythology re-telling liking this book as well. Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for the ARC.

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ezwolf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A YA fantasy that uses Celtic mythology and legends, the title and the description drew me in and I was very excited to read this, but unfortunately it fell flat for me.

This mostly comes down to it not really picking up story-wise until about half way through and my dislike of both Neve and Ronan, our narrators. I found both of them to be fairly annoying and incredibly pessimistic for most of the book and it wasn't fun to read. Neve also falls prey to the "princess who wants to fight not be a lady, her older sister is the perfect court lady and she feels she cannot live up to the expectations" and Ronan is the dark, broody love interest that's unfit for a princess as a thief and (ex) Druid. Their relationship just seemed to just happen by nature of it being a YA book adhering to certain tropes, more than it felt like they had grown past being enemies and into romantic interests.

Overall it just lands in the middle of the road, it wasn't bad but it wasn't anything I'd reread or recommend to anyone unless they were specifically looking for a YA Celtic fantasy book. It definitely had the elements to be an intriguing read, but it didn't succeed for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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