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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
A friend of mine said this book was trash. I should have listened… it was soooo boring!
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Medieval stories have my heart, I just enjoy some good castle action!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
This review was originally posted on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/05/01/queen-tearling-erika-johansen/
Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is an exquisite blend of sci-fi and fantasy. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where much of of our technology has been lost. Modern medicine is nonexistent, but the villain is a geneticist, so scientific knowledge hasn’t disappeared completely. Magic sees to exist, but it’s unclear whether it’s really magic or if it’s just technology that mankind has forgotten. There aren’t printing presses anymore, but there are well-preserved volumes of Tolkein and Rowling. The mash-up of the modern and the medieval allows the novel to point at some of the problems that threaten our own society, such as the danger of income inequality to democratic ideals, or the fact that religion can be twisted to gain political power.
Kelsea Raleigh is the heir to the throne of the Tearling. Her mother sent her away when she was a baby, shortly before meeting her own untimely demise. At 19, Kelsea is now of age to reclaim her throne, if she can make it there without being assassinated.
While growing up, Kelsea learned political theory from her guardians, who happen to be strong proponents of democracy and utopian socialism. As such, Kelsea envisions a world where all people will be equal under the law, the populace will be educated, and anybody can have a decent life. However, her guardians haven’t told her anything about her mother’s reign or the current state of her kingdom, which is about as far from that dream as you can get.
Kelsea finds that problems such as slavery, prostitution, and drug abuse are rampant within the kingdom. The nobles are worried about their hair while the common people are starving. But, worst of all, on her way into the Keep, Kelsea uncovers an atrocity that changes everything. She discovers that her mother made a terrible bargain with a neighboring country to prevent the Tearling from being annexed, but at the expense of her own people. Kelsea can remain true to her ideals or she can risk an immediate war with the Red Queen, who has ruled Mortmense for over a hundred years and is rumored to be immune to physical danger.
There were one or two things that bothered me about Queen of the Tearling, such as the Hunger Games type lottery used to choose slaves to be sent as tribute to Mortmense, or the fact that the Red Queen and her magic seemed a bit too much like the Melisandre in Game of Thrones, but the writing was such that I’ll forgive the obvious pop-culture ripoffs. It’s still one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2014/05/01/queen-tearling-erika-johansen/
Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is an exquisite blend of sci-fi and fantasy. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where much of of our technology has been lost. Modern medicine is nonexistent, but the villain is a geneticist, so scientific knowledge hasn’t disappeared completely. Magic sees to exist, but it’s unclear whether it’s really magic or if it’s just technology that mankind has forgotten. There aren’t printing presses anymore, but there are well-preserved volumes of Tolkein and Rowling. The mash-up of the modern and the medieval allows the novel to point at some of the problems that threaten our own society, such as the danger of income inequality to democratic ideals, or the fact that religion can be twisted to gain political power.
Kelsea Raleigh is the heir to the throne of the Tearling. Her mother sent her away when she was a baby, shortly before meeting her own untimely demise. At 19, Kelsea is now of age to reclaim her throne, if she can make it there without being assassinated.
While growing up, Kelsea learned political theory from her guardians, who happen to be strong proponents of democracy and utopian socialism. As such, Kelsea envisions a world where all people will be equal under the law, the populace will be educated, and anybody can have a decent life. However, her guardians haven’t told her anything about her mother’s reign or the current state of her kingdom, which is about as far from that dream as you can get.
Kelsea finds that problems such as slavery, prostitution, and drug abuse are rampant within the kingdom. The nobles are worried about their hair while the common people are starving. But, worst of all, on her way into the Keep, Kelsea uncovers an atrocity that changes everything. She discovers that her mother made a terrible bargain with a neighboring country to prevent the Tearling from being annexed, but at the expense of her own people. Kelsea can remain true to her ideals or she can risk an immediate war with the Red Queen, who has ruled Mortmense for over a hundred years and is rumored to be immune to physical danger.
There were one or two things that bothered me about Queen of the Tearling, such as the Hunger Games type lottery used to choose slaves to be sent as tribute to Mortmense, or the fact that the Red Queen and her magic seemed a bit too much like the Melisandre in Game of Thrones, but the writing was such that I’ll forgive the obvious pop-culture ripoffs. It’s still one of my favorite books that I’ve read so far this year.
slow-paced
I absolutely devoured this book. I'm already sad for when I've finished the trilogy and I have no more to read. I've read that there will be a film for this, I'm really hoping if they do that Emma Watson is not cast as kelsea, it's a real bug of mine when the actress is a grown woman playing a teenager. I can't wait to read the next book which is right next to me.
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When I first read this book, I procrastinated severely on writing a review. I procrastinated so well ,in fact, that I completely forgot everything that happened in it. So here I am, two years later because I had to reread it to give it a proper review. There was good and there was bad and in the end, it all accumulated to a solid 3 stars.
Let's start with the bad... 1. What the heck is this girls name? Her name is Kelsea but is it pronounced Kel-sea or Kel-se-a ??? I looked on booktube to see how other people were saying it and my quick search came up inconclusive. I heard both pronunciations! I hate quirky spellings of plain names so when I read I went with the latter pronunciation but literally everytime I read the name I went back and forth on it. Do you know how many times Kelsea is said in this third-person book? A freaking ton.
2. I could not stannnd how much Kelsea thought about her appearance. She was supposed to be the girl who was taught to not be vain and not think about how pretty she was but the number of times she talks about wanting to be pretty or hating her plain face or how unvain she was was quite irksome.
3. There are no black people...in any other book, I would just imagine like anywhere else there was a healthy dose of color roaming the cities of their kingdom but Johnson tells you blatantly that the one black person there is in the Tear Kingdom is ogled at like a spectacle, an oddity. It's a small detail in the big scheme of things and the author has full right to write the Tear kingdom and their lack of black people in it, however, being a black woman who likes to place herself into each story she reads it affected my imagination of the kingdom negatively.
4. The Fetch. I get that this is one of the first men she has seen in her 19 years of life so a crush isn't unwarranted but for her to be so loyal to him at the beginning when she has no reason to be other than the fact that he is attractive was one of my greater annoyances in the book, tying that in with the Fetch telling her what we already know (that she was plain )and her obsession with that conversation thereafter made me almost roll my eyes out of my sockets everytime he was talked about. Also, I'm just gonna call it now
And now the good, 1. Despite her vanity, I truly liked Kelsea. She was smart and educated and sassy. She knew when to go with her gut and when to ask for advice from people who knew better. She fiercely advocated for her people and demanded the respect that so many were unwilling to give at first.
2. I liked the different points of view. It gave me a sense that it wasn't all about Kelsea, that there were many wheels turning and that a really good story might be unfolding.
3. Other than William Tear's utopian kingdom being created with the absence of black people, I thought that the idea of the world they lived in now was intriguing and the backstory of how they got there new and interesting. It gave the whole book a medieval-futuristic vibe that I have never experienced before.
4. Mace. I really don't need to say more.
Let's start with the bad... 1. What the heck is this girls name? Her name is Kelsea but is it pronounced Kel-sea or Kel-se-a ??? I looked on booktube to see how other people were saying it and my quick search came up inconclusive. I heard both pronunciations! I hate quirky spellings of plain names so when I read I went with the latter pronunciation but literally everytime I read the name I went back and forth on it. Do you know how many times Kelsea is said in this third-person book? A freaking ton.
2. I could not stannnd how much Kelsea thought about her appearance. She was supposed to be the girl who was taught to not be vain and not think about how pretty she was but the number of times she talks about wanting to be pretty or hating her plain face or how unvain she was was quite irksome.
3. There are no black people...in any other book, I would just imagine like anywhere else there was a healthy dose of color roaming the cities of their kingdom but Johnson tells you blatantly that the one black person there is in the Tear Kingdom is ogled at like a spectacle, an oddity. It's a small detail in the big scheme of things and the author has full right to write the Tear kingdom and their lack of black people in it, however, being a black woman who likes to place herself into each story she reads it affected my imagination of the kingdom negatively.
4. The Fetch. I get that this is one of the first men she has seen in her 19 years of life so a crush isn't unwarranted but for her to be so loyal to him at the beginning when she has no reason to be other than the fact that he is attractive was one of my greater annoyances in the book, tying that in with the Fetch telling her what we already know (that she was plain )and her obsession with that conversation thereafter made me almost roll my eyes out of my sockets everytime he was talked about. Also, I'm just gonna call it now
Spoiler
The Fetch is Johnathan the Good and basically her family so blechAnd now the good, 1. Despite her vanity, I truly liked Kelsea. She was smart and educated and sassy. She knew when to go with her gut and when to ask for advice from people who knew better. She fiercely advocated for her people and demanded the respect that so many were unwilling to give at first.
2. I liked the different points of view. It gave me a sense that it wasn't all about Kelsea, that there were many wheels turning and that a really good story might be unfolding.
3. Other than William Tear's utopian kingdom being created with the absence of black people, I thought that the idea of the world they lived in now was intriguing and the backstory of how they got there new and interesting. It gave the whole book a medieval-futuristic vibe that I have never experienced before.
4. Mace. I really don't need to say more.
I had such problems reading this book. it would be moving along at a good pace and then the book started to drag. Will revisit at a later date.