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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
“Most people’s favorite part of Enlil’s Hundredth Rani is his viraji winning the tournament, but what happened next was more important. Do you know the rest of the tale?”
I shake my head slowly. I have never heard that there is more to the story.
“I didn’t know the rest until I found this text in the palace library,” Eshana says. “It says that after Enlil married his final viraji, men began to emulate the gods and institute their own rank tournaments. But Ki soon became wrought with the loss of so many of her daughters, and she formed a band of young women and trained them for battle in secret. Her followers became warriors in the Sisterhood. By the time the next tournament was proposed, the sister warriors loved each other so much that they laid down their weapons and refused to fight. Their bond made them stronger together than they were apart. The land-goddess’s tradition of raising girls to be warriors became the cornerstone of the Sisterhood and carries on today.”
I shake my head slowly. I have never heard that there is more to the story.
“I didn’t know the rest until I found this text in the palace library,” Eshana says. “It says that after Enlil married his final viraji, men began to emulate the gods and institute their own rank tournaments. But Ki soon became wrought with the loss of so many of her daughters, and she formed a band of young women and trained them for battle in secret. Her followers became warriors in the Sisterhood. By the time the next tournament was proposed, the sister warriors loved each other so much that they laid down their weapons and refused to fight. Their bond made them stronger together than they were apart. The land-goddess’s tradition of raising girls to be warriors became the cornerstone of the Sisterhood and carries on today.”
Is there problematic content in this book? Absolutely. It's set in a patriarchal society that treats women as submissive possessions of men, and uses the local religion to confirm women's roles. Yes, the protag fell in love with literally the first man she ever met, so it's a bit tropey. But you know what? I enjoyed the way those tropes were executed. I enjoyed the strong message of "this is wrong, let's fix it" and "we can do better". Really enjoyed watching Kalinda go from reluctantly assuming the role forced on her by society to really embracing it and seeing the way she can effect change with her small rebellions. At the time of writing this review, I've also finished the second book in the series, and I'm eagerly looking forward to diving into book three!
About 3 stars: predictable, with all right worldbuilding and decent characters, but still enjoyable as a vacation read. Probably will only read the sequel if I can also read it for free from library or kindle first.
There are some triggers for others but this book got better overtime .
I'm excited to see what adventurers await Kali in the second installment
I'm excited to see what adventurers await Kali in the second installment
It got really boring. I really didn’t enjoy the romance and I didn’t like the main character all that much.
The plot was predictable, the characters were cliche but I still found myself enjoying this. The descriptions were beautiful and I liked the world-building we saw, though some of the history/countries could be expanded on. Kalinda was a very cliche character, thinks she's ugly but the man she likes finds her beautiful, secret powers, special position, the whole thing. I liked how she used female friendship in the climax but I feel like it was pulled out of nowhere a bit, because Kalinda focused far more on the Bhutas and the Captain for the first half of the book. I could have predicted what was going to happen to Jaya it seems every book I've read lately which starts off with two female characters being sisters/like sisters has the younger, sweeter, more innocent non-POV sister die . It also seems a bit short-sighted of the Rajah to continue to allow male guards around his wives considering how his beloved wife ran off with her guard . He was just asking for history to repeat itself.
So, while I did enjoy this book, I don't think I would be continuing with the series. The first half of the book was far more interesting than the second half and it got to the point where I was just waiting for the book to end. 2.5 stars.
So, while I did enjoy this book, I don't think I would be continuing with the series. The first half of the book was far more interesting than the second half and it got to the point where I was just waiting for the book to end. 2.5 stars.
This book just made me mad
The initial premise was intriguing, a woman chosen to be the 100th wife to a king and her fighting to keep her position. But then it gets muddled by Avatar-Air-bender-like beings, a king who wants to raise the dead, and a forbidden love between the protagonist and her guard...
It could work if the editor actually did their job or the author was more skilled. Unfortunately neither was the case.
Conversations between characters were just info dumps, events aren't given enough time to build up relevancy before they are resolved, and the love story is superficial at best.
I just got more and more annoyed as the book went on. I couldn't even finish it; I got through 70% of it before I just skimmed through the rest. By the looks of it, I don't miss out on much.
This is definitely a do-not-buy.
The initial premise was intriguing, a woman chosen to be the 100th wife to a king and her fighting to keep her position. But then it gets muddled by Avatar-Air-bender-like beings, a king who wants to raise the dead, and a forbidden love between the protagonist and her guard...
It could work if the editor actually did their job or the author was more skilled. Unfortunately neither was the case.
Conversations between characters were just info dumps, events aren't given enough time to build up relevancy before they are resolved, and the love story is superficial at best.
I just got more and more annoyed as the book went on. I couldn't even finish it; I got through 70% of it before I just skimmed through the rest. By the looks of it, I don't miss out on much.
This is definitely a do-not-buy.
dark
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Representation: Heroine and Hero of colour
Read my review on my blog:
Talk Nerdy Book Blog | The Hundredth Queen Review
Ending:HFN
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Allusions to rape and sexual assault
• Violence
Safety Rating: Safe
• No cheating
• No OW/OM
• Does have the Hero pushing away
• Does have a brief separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad
Read my review on my blog:
Talk Nerdy Book Blog | The Hundredth Queen Review
Ending:
Possible Triggers: Yes
• Allusions to rape and sexual assault
• Violence
Safety Rating: Safe
• No cheating
• No OW/OM
• Does have the Hero pushing away
• Does have a brief separation between the Heroine and Hero
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad
In The Hundredth Queen Kalinda is taken from her life in an orphanage to the capital city to marry her country's rajah. The Cinderella story is flipped on its head when it turns out Prince Charming is a lecherous drunk who has nefarious plans to unleash a demon from the outer reaches so he can bring back his first wife's soul from the dead and implant it in Kalinda's body, all the while carrying out an 18-year genocide against a class of subjects and holding tournaments to watch his wives and courtesans kill each other in gladiatorial-style combat to please the public. With all the palace intrigue and forbidden love, it's like the YA (ie no sex scenes) brutally condensed version of M.M. Kaye's The Far Pavilions. Wow, I can't believe I just typed that all but I did. That's the book in a nutshell.
Things I liked about the book: The trope of elemental magic has been done many times before, but it still seemed fresh to me. The magic system in the book makes sense and has logic and a cost to using magic. The descriptions were good, and I could imagine the settings very well. I like that most characters had depth and motivations and not just the main character had character development. I read it in less than a day; the author gives a pretty clear road map where the story is headed, but I still kept turning the pages to see how it would all play out. Because it's YA, there is no explicit sex, but King makes little gestures like straightening someone's collar the hottest thing I've read all week.
Things I disliked about the book: King "fridges" the two people most important to Kalinda 2/3 of the way through the book. Their deaths motivate her to follow through with her plan to defeat the evil Rajah and free the oppressed palace residents. I don't think it was necessary to kill them off. I think that "stopping the completely unhinged villain from causing an apocalypse by unleashing the most powerful demon ever just to raise the dead who killed themselves in the first place to get away from him" is pretty good motivation right there. It doesn't add anything to the story to kill them. Why kill them off if isn't necessary?
I would have given the book four stars if it wasn't for the gratuitous deaths. I will read the sequels, though. I recommend this book for anyone who likes epic adventure in the vein of Lia Patterson or Robin McKinley.
Things I liked about the book: The trope of elemental magic has been done many times before, but it still seemed fresh to me. The magic system in the book makes sense and has logic and a cost to using magic. The descriptions were good, and I could imagine the settings very well. I like that most characters had depth and motivations and not just the main character had character development. I read it in less than a day; the author gives a pretty clear road map where the story is headed, but I still kept turning the pages to see how it would all play out. Because it's YA, there is no explicit sex, but King makes little gestures like straightening someone's collar the hottest thing I've read all week.
Things I disliked about the book: King "fridges" the two people most important to Kalinda 2/3 of the way through the book. Their deaths motivate her to follow through with her plan to defeat the evil Rajah and free the oppressed palace residents. I don't think it was necessary to kill them off. I think that "stopping the completely unhinged villain from causing an apocalypse by unleashing the most powerful demon ever just to raise the dead who killed themselves in the first place to get away from him" is pretty good motivation right there. It doesn't add anything to the story to kill them. Why kill them off if isn't necessary?
I would have given the book four stars if it wasn't for the gratuitous deaths. I will read the sequels, though. I recommend this book for anyone who likes epic adventure in the vein of Lia Patterson or Robin McKinley.
Though the first part of the story felt predictable with several common tropes, it kept me engaged through the creative worldbuilding and Kalinda’s compelling narrative voice. Then, about halfway through came the first brilliant twist; and toward the end, the second, even more mind-blowing surprise. As someone who can usually sniff these things out (I guessed the twist of every M. Night Shyamalan’s movie, or at least, the good ones), I could only marvel at King’s storytelling ability. Both twists had been hinted at from the start, so that when they were revealed, I could only slap my forehead for missing them.
See my full review at:
http://fantasy-faction.com/2018/the-hundredth-queen-by-emily-r-king
See my full review at:
http://fantasy-faction.com/2018/the-hundredth-queen-by-emily-r-king