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fullsun00's review against another edition
2.0
Thank you Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.
This book looked really promising yet i felt it wasnt what i was promised. I didn't lke the pacing and felt like the author was writing to spend time. NOTHING HAPPENED. The writing made the reading feel heavy and the enemies to lovers part was meh.
I liked Neve as a character. She was strong and loved her people soo much. I also loved the celtic mythology and learning about it.
This book looked really promising yet i felt it wasnt what i was promised. I didn't lke the pacing and felt like the author was writing to spend time. NOTHING HAPPENED. The writing made the reading feel heavy and the enemies to lovers part was meh.
I liked Neve as a character. She was strong and loved her people soo much. I also loved the celtic mythology and learning about it.
novel_sarahndipity's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Queen Among the Dead is a stand alone Celtic young adult fantasy. I’m not usually one for stand alone novels. I like drawn out character and plot development, twists and turns, etc. When it comes to stand alone novels though this one wasn’t bad.
I will say that the ending felt very rushed. The story really progresses and builds and I felt like the ending was anticlimactic in a way. I don’t think this will be a book I think about a year from now but I enjoyed reading it in the moment.
The magic system was fun and unique and the premise of the story was also something I haven’t seen. As captivating as they were, I would have liked a deeper dive into them. Even as a duology I think we could have received more with a less rushed conclusion. I struggled to get into the story near the beginning, it was a bit slow paced but near the middle and especially the end I was hooked and then I felt let down by the ending, hurried and a bit too open ended for my liking.
I’m a very character driven reader and love my fantasy romances. That being said, the romance with this book felt forced, and yes, following a trend… rushed. This is a book I will say has really great side characters and a few I even preferred.
All in all I enjoyed the read and would find myself picking up books from this author in the future, and would definitely gravitate towards duologies or trilogies by the author myself.
syren96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
tortorreads's review against another edition
5.0
Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.
This wasn’t an instant love for me, I really liked the book, but I didn’t love it. I don’t know exactly why I didn’t like it because this book has enemies to lovers, action, drama, and magic and that is everything love in books. Now with all that being said I do hope that there is a second book because I would like to see where this book will go.
The world building was amazing, from the details that the author described to help you picture the scenes that are playing out, to the introductions to the characters, from the action and drama/heartbreaking scenes. This author really knows how to pull you into a world and keep you wanting to know what else is going to happen.
The pace of the book was a little slow at first, every book gives you details to the world and characters, but I felt at times throughout the book it would slow back down for no reason. Then there were times that I couldn’t put the book down with everything going on with the characters, I just had to know what else would pop up. I thought the character development was done well, we get to see a young Neve and Ronan and then years later they’re thrown back together… Dare I say fate kept those two coming back together even though the both of them would fight it as much as possible. I loved that we get to see those 2 strong headed individuals grow and learn from their mistakes and become some amazing characters. The side characters even had some growth with them. I really like Ronan the most, from his sarcastic side to his sweet/caring side. I loved that once he got something stuck in his mind he would follow through until either he would see that path wouldn’t work or he would figure it out the hard way. Neve, I loved her spitfire personality and how determined she was even though people would tell her she was too young or didn’t know better or even that she would be the death of them all. She still followed her heart and did what she knew would be the best.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love mythology/folklore of any kind and I really love Celtic mythology so much. Livingston did a beautiful job on this Celtic fantasy book; she brought this magical world of lore to the YA readers.
I want to thank NetGalley and Zando Projects for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.
This wasn’t an instant love for me, I really liked the book, but I didn’t love it. I don’t know exactly why I didn’t like it because this book has enemies to lovers, action, drama, and magic and that is everything love in books. Now with all that being said I do hope that there is a second book because I would like to see where this book will go.
The world building was amazing, from the details that the author described to help you picture the scenes that are playing out, to the introductions to the characters, from the action and drama/heartbreaking scenes. This author really knows how to pull you into a world and keep you wanting to know what else is going to happen.
The pace of the book was a little slow at first, every book gives you details to the world and characters, but I felt at times throughout the book it would slow back down for no reason. Then there were times that I couldn’t put the book down with everything going on with the characters, I just had to know what else would pop up. I thought the character development was done well, we get to see a young Neve and Ronan and then years later they’re thrown back together… Dare I say fate kept those two coming back together even though the both of them would fight it as much as possible. I loved that we get to see those 2 strong headed individuals grow and learn from their mistakes and become some amazing characters. The side characters even had some growth with them. I really like Ronan the most, from his sarcastic side to his sweet/caring side. I loved that once he got something stuck in his mind he would follow through until either he would see that path wouldn’t work or he would figure it out the hard way. Neve, I loved her spitfire personality and how determined she was even though people would tell her she was too young or didn’t know better or even that she would be the death of them all. She still followed her heart and did what she knew would be the best.
Anyone who knows me, knows I love mythology/folklore of any kind and I really love Celtic mythology so much. Livingston did a beautiful job on this Celtic fantasy book; she brought this magical world of lore to the YA readers.
I want to thank NetGalley and Zando Projects for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.
iamcaryn's review against another edition
3.0
While the overall premise was fascinating, I can’t say this is a story that will stick with me.
The characters and magic system were all great and captivating, for the most part. I just felt like the pacing was at fault here. I feel like if it had been edited down a bit, this could have been great.
I still liked it well enough and I’m glad I read it.
booksandbotanics's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Queen Among the Dead is a YA Fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology. I found that part of the story very interesting, as I haven’t read many books like that.
Sometimes the worldbuilding could’ve been explained more & better and the terminology was quite difficult as well. A wordlist would’ve been helpful, especially in the beginning.
The book was a little bit hard to get into. I had to force myself a bit to continue, and then after a while, a quarter or halfway into the book, I started to really enjoy it.
The writing style was nice and enjoyable and the book read, apart from all the Celtic words, quite fluently.
The pacing of the book felt a bit off sometimes. Around halfway (if I remember correctly) something major happens and I was under the impression there was a timejump, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Some parts of the book read more slowly then others.
There’s quite some action in the book, but those scenes weren’t always very clear to me. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on before it was over.
We follow two characters: Neve, the daughter of the King (the Dagda) and Ronan, a thief from the village. The chapters are written from both their POV’s alternately and we read in a third person perspective.
I didn’t always liked both characters, but I found them quite interesting to follow nonetheless.
The side characters were interesting as well, I especially liked the Faoladh warriors, Queen Anann and Sakir.
I liked the storyline too; there was more than enough action, but I liked the calmer parts & the more political parts as well. The romance plotline fell a bit flat for me, it would’ve been fine if there was only a friendship.
I would definitely recommend this book for lovers of YA Fantasy with only a little bit of romance, who are interested in Celtic mythology & like a strong FMC.
Thank you @netgalley for the e-ARC.
fantastically_overbooked's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
liternerd's review against another edition
3.0
Queen Among the Dead is a Celtic YA fantasy with amazing world building. The details are on par with other YA fantasy novels and Lesley Livingston really went all out on this. I liked the idea behind how magic is attained especially since it was banned. It put a clever twist to normal fantasy novels. This is why I gave a 3 star rating for the read.
There were a few formatting issues and I got lost sometimes in the writing and would have to reread things multiple times to understand what happened. The story didn’t really keep my attention and I kept finding myself putting it down.
I received my ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
There were a few formatting issues and I got lost sometimes in the writing and would have to reread things multiple times to understand what happened. The story didn’t really keep my attention and I kept finding myself putting it down.
I received my ARC copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.