Reviews

The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell

clarag's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

issianne's review against another edition

4.0

3.5. This was solid politically involved fantasy, with light to little magic. I really enjoyed the political aspects of this book. I'm not always great at understanding alliances/coups/reasons they can't just kill their evil king father, but I felt like I had a genuine understanding of what was happening in this book and why certain things couldn't just happen. I had to take a star and a half off for the romance... I think I would've preferred if there just hadn't been any. It was rushed and so hollow. It's always a shame to see a book trip over itself and fumble the bag a bit when it comes to romantic pairings. BUT, if a bit of instalove is fine with you, I recommend this book!

katieinca's review

2.0

I read it because comparisons were drawn to [a:Lois McMaster Bujold|16094|Lois McMaster Bujold|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1623465132p2/16094.jpg], who I absolutely love. And okay sure, this is a fantasy novel with limited magic, more politics. But I didn't find it very compelling, and often a bit of a slog. Most of the characters were a little flat, and you end up with two who apparently fall madly in love with each other and that just seemed to kind of spontaneously happen in a way that felt unearned. Also, Bujold does the thing where she or a character will be talking about something that's relevant to that moment of the plot but actually you want to pause and highlight it because it's A Poignant True Statement About Life and this didn't have anything like that sparkle.

gabalodon's review against another edition

4.0

Tight and satisfying political resistance story. It tends to drag (both emotionally and plot-wise), especially in the middle, though I thought the struggle made the payoff at the end a richer experience. The POV set-up was very well-executed and the politics were really well-structured. I found myself engaged chapter to chapter and wanting to know what happened next, it just took awhile for good things to start happening. Recommend reading in as few sittings as possible to keep up momentum.

sarahi04's review against another edition

3.75

It was enjoyable, but it would've been so much better had it all been from

Mirantha's POV

I didn't really care much for Anza. The two princes and their relationships with the king and power were far more interesting. 

lottie1803's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Death of parent, and Torture

miiyyaa's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

anigoose's review against another edition

not the fault of the book - cognitive capacity is low and the book is essentially too complicatedfor me to follow rn

whatsmacksaid's review against another edition

4.0

The first quarter or so was kind of slow, but it picked up after that and became quite compelling. I really liked the ending and how everything tied up neatly, but not *too* neatly.

Thanks to the publisher for sending me an arc. This is an honest review, etc.

samanthabooks19's review against another edition

3.0

I was really highly anticipating this book, but sadly, it fell flat. I don’t have any definite feelings about this book. I don’t think there was necessarily anything majorly wrong with this book, it’s just that my overall enjoyment of the story was middle of the road. It could be just me, but I felt that the plot was not too exciting or engaging. My connection with the characters was also lacking. They didn’t intrigue me, and I felt that I didn’t care most of the time. Normally, I am a very active reader, so if something happens, I have a very outward expression of some type of emotion. There were very few times where this happened with this book. However, one thing that I did really enjoy was the twist. I didn’t see it coming at all.

Again, it’s not that I think this book is bad by any means; it was just very mediocre in most aspects.