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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Queen of Blood is a beautiful book set in a spectacular world of trees and spirits. It reminds me of a fairy tale.
I really enjoyed my time in Renthia and I look forward to continung the series!
I really enjoyed my time in Renthia and I look forward to continung the series!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A pretty creative world. People in Aratay live in giant trees, building their homes and shops in them. There are even some cities.
There's a constant attrition between humans and spirits of fire, water, ice, air, earth and wood. A coronated Queen gain enough power to order the spirits around, as do other girls. Those are taken to the Academy to be trained as potential heirs to the kingdom in case something happens to the Queen. The spirits are the ones who actually chose among the heirs. And the students who fail can simply be local villages' hedgewitches.
The training is harsh. Students and even teachers can die in the process.
The protagonist is Daleina. She's not brilliant or even average with her magical powers. She's clearly the worst of all the students regarding interactions with spirits. However, contrary to the common loner and brooding protagonist, she's actually a pretty good socializer. And compensates in other areas, like written tests and general knowledge.
Later she manages to interact with spirits much better but still cannot coerce the spirits like all the others.
From the title and blurb everyone can guess what's gonna happen to her. The question that remains then is how it's gonna happen.
There are some mixed feelings about it.
Some intriguing, like the reasons for the current queen to act the way she does. The academy sisterhood. How a weak magician like Daleina is gonna make it. And of course, Queen of Blood. There's Fire, Water, Ice, Air, Earth and Wood. Why blood? What does that mean?
Other aspects didn't make me enjoy it as much as I thought I would. For example, the publisher praises the book for "having the heart of Naomi Novik's Uprooted and the lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss".
And these things they say the book has are exactly the things the book lacked.
First, there are loads of telling and exposition of things that could've been perfectly shown. The writing is pretty simple and straightforward, it gets the job done but in no way it has the beautifully crafted and highly quotable passages like in the books of Novik and Rothfuss.
And this is true even without comparing all three works with each other.
About the telling, this is even more true regarding all the time the character spends thinking how she is weaker than the others, unprepared and so on. This happens beginning to end. And worse, she also sounds way too reasonable and nice about it, even conceding a lot because of it. It made her feel way too righteous. Annoying when we already knew she was indeed gonna be able to influence that spirit, or impress someone, or lead the group or about the final result.
Daleina, Ven and queen Fara are well-built but the other characters are merely passersby.
Which subtracted a lot from the story because the main (at least initial) focus and problem for the protagonist is her period in the Academy, where she makes friends.
Those students may become heirs to the throne. So it would be expected a lot of plotting, backstabbing and aggressiveness, right? No, because being queen here is a heavy burden not easy money, power and glory. So while everybody with magical affinity has to pass through the tests, being queen isn't a position really envied by anyone. So there's no competition or petty games.
Anyway, the story tells (again) how they feel towards each other, but there's no depth and buildup, they are simply names.
I think this is a problem of the initial structure. It begins when Daleina is 10 and her village is attacked. Then she's 14 or 15 and enters the academy. She meets Merecot, who is the arrogant all-powerful magician. They don't really like each other.
Next chapter four or five years had passed and they are pretty much best friends. They're called to the headmistress' room and she says they are cheating in the written tests because their answers are identical. Merecot admits she was the one cheating because she wasn't as good as Daleina on that aspect and because she didn't care for those tests. Then she wishes Daleina well and leaves the academy and the story.
Yes, just like that.
This happens at the beginning and is also the deepest relationship built between Daleina and all the numerous friends she makes at the academy.
Even later when she meets her mentor Ven they don't really have much depth between them. Tree-traveling and knife fight training are quickly assimilated by Daleina.
In some stories those leaps of time work (say, The Black Company) but here it didn't for me.
The threat and mystery of the spirits kept the story going. And then some deaths happen (some are pretty gruesome) and spice things up.
Curiously, while the secondary characters didn't have much development, I still felt some deaths, but not exactly for the characters who died or how the main character felt about it, but more for why they died. By the petty decisions of the queen.
I think this had the potential to be a fantastic story but missed that magical spark. Exactly the thing the books the publisher compared The Queen of Blood to had.
The ending is really good and even a bit harsh on everyone. And a nice way to show us why the title is Queen of Blood.
There's a constant attrition between humans and spirits of fire, water, ice, air, earth and wood. A coronated Queen gain enough power to order the spirits around, as do other girls. Those are taken to the Academy to be trained as potential heirs to the kingdom in case something happens to the Queen. The spirits are the ones who actually chose among the heirs. And the students who fail can simply be local villages' hedgewitches.
The training is harsh. Students and even teachers can die in the process.
The protagonist is Daleina. She's not brilliant or even average with her magical powers. She's clearly the worst of all the students regarding interactions with spirits. However, contrary to the common loner and brooding protagonist, she's actually a pretty good socializer. And compensates in other areas, like written tests and general knowledge.
Later she manages to interact with spirits much better but still cannot coerce the spirits like all the others.
From the title and blurb everyone can guess what's gonna happen to her. The question that remains then is how it's gonna happen.
There are some mixed feelings about it.
Some intriguing, like the reasons for the current queen to act the way she does. The academy sisterhood. How a weak magician like Daleina is gonna make it. And of course, Queen of Blood. There's Fire, Water, Ice, Air, Earth and Wood. Why blood? What does that mean?
Other aspects didn't make me enjoy it as much as I thought I would. For example, the publisher praises the book for "having the heart of Naomi Novik's Uprooted and the lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss".
And these things they say the book has are exactly the things the book lacked.
First, there are loads of telling and exposition of things that could've been perfectly shown. The writing is pretty simple and straightforward, it gets the job done but in no way it has the beautifully crafted and highly quotable passages like in the books of Novik and Rothfuss.
And this is true even without comparing all three works with each other.
About the telling, this is even more true regarding all the time the character spends thinking how she is weaker than the others, unprepared and so on. This happens beginning to end. And worse, she also sounds way too reasonable and nice about it, even conceding a lot because of it. It made her feel way too righteous. Annoying when we already knew she was indeed gonna be able to influence that spirit, or impress someone, or lead the group or about the final result.
Daleina, Ven and queen Fara are well-built but the other characters are merely passersby.
Which subtracted a lot from the story because the main (at least initial) focus and problem for the protagonist is her period in the Academy, where she makes friends.
Those students may become heirs to the throne. So it would be expected a lot of plotting, backstabbing and aggressiveness, right? No, because being queen here is a heavy burden not easy money, power and glory. So while everybody with magical affinity has to pass through the tests, being queen isn't a position really envied by anyone. So there's no competition or petty games.
Anyway, the story tells (again) how they feel towards each other, but there's no depth and buildup, they are simply names.
I think this is a problem of the initial structure. It begins when Daleina is 10 and her village is attacked. Then she's 14 or 15 and enters the academy. She meets Merecot, who is the arrogant all-powerful magician. They don't really like each other.
Next chapter four or five years had passed and they are pretty much best friends. They're called to the headmistress' room and she says they are cheating in the written tests because their answers are identical. Merecot admits she was the one cheating because she wasn't as good as Daleina on that aspect and because she didn't care for those tests. Then she wishes Daleina well and leaves the academy and the story.
Yes, just like that.
This happens at the beginning and is also the deepest relationship built between Daleina and all the numerous friends she makes at the academy.
Even later when she meets her mentor Ven they don't really have much depth between them. Tree-traveling and knife fight training are quickly assimilated by Daleina.
In some stories those leaps of time work (say, The Black Company) but here it didn't for me.
The threat and mystery of the spirits kept the story going. And then some deaths happen (some are pretty gruesome) and spice things up.
Curiously, while the secondary characters didn't have much development, I still felt some deaths, but not exactly for the characters who died or how the main character felt about it, but more for why they died. By the petty decisions of the queen.
I think this had the potential to be a fantastic story but missed that magical spark. Exactly the thing the books the publisher compared The Queen of Blood to had.
The ending is really good and even a bit harsh on everyone. And a nice way to show us why the title is Queen of Blood.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Interesting and unique story and world. I really enjoyed this first book.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
I enjoyed this book a lot. The world-building in it is incredible. This is a world where humans are plagued by elemental spirits, a huge array of different creatures who have only two desires: to create, and to destroy. Left to their own devices, the spirits would kill off humanity, but some women are born with varying degrees of ability to control the spirits. Though we don’t know the origins of how it happened, in the present the world of Renthia is divided into five kingdoms, and in each kingdom there is a queen who controls the spirits and holds them to her rule: do no harm. Because the queen’s power over the spirits is precarious, she also has heirs, a group of women who have been trained to control and command spirits, and who help her protect the realms and stand ready to take her place when she inevitably falls. The heirs are trained in Academies and sponsored by Champions, ranger-like men and women who select those they believe can pass the tests to become heirs. Daleina, the heroine of this book, is one of these heirs for the forest kingdom of Aratay, where the people live in trees high above the ground.
This book is an interesting mix of whimsical and grounded. Like I said, the world-building is extremely creative. The author really lets her imagination run wild when it comes to the spirits, who come in a wide array of different forms. Aratay is a neat world, and I liked the mix of fun and practicality in imagining a place where humans live in trees - essentially using zip lines for transportation was especially neat. But at the same time, when it comes to character and plot, the story takes itself much more seriously than I expected.
Daleina discovers her powers when her village is attacked and she manages to save her family - but only her family. The Champion who first encounters her, Ven, therefore believes she will never be powerful enough to qualify as an heir - and basically everyone she meets from that point on agrees. Daleina is not the first fantasy hero I’ve ever seen who was underestimated, but what I enjoyed about her story was that there was no secret power that turned up later, no mysterious reason for why she really was qualified even though it didn’t see so. This isn’t a Chosen One story at all. Daleina truly is very average when it comes to the magic of her world - but she is also hard-working, practical and clever at using her minimal power in useful ways. And, as Champion Ven, who eventually comes to support her in her quest to become an heir, says, having survived what she did, Daleina understands the stakes in a way few of her fellow students do.
The story is split into a few sections. I liked the parts set during Daleina’s years at Northeast Academy. It was fun to see a lot of the “magic school” tropes in a high fantasy world, and Daleina’s group of friends were all likeable and engaging. I’m not generally a fan of magic systems based on the gender binary - especially when, as in at least this first book, the reason for that isn’t really explained - but I admit that I liked how the girls-only nature of magic in Renthia meant that everyone at the Academy was female. It allowed a lot of time to be spent with the a group of girlfriends before Daleina left the Academy and her closest ties became with men. I especially liked her prickly, competitive but genuine friendship with Merecot, another student who unfortunately disappears from the book about a third of the way through. (I assume she will appear again in the sequels.) I actually wished we had spent more time at the Academy. Once Daleina began her training with Champion Ven, I felt a bit less engaged. The relationship between them is nice, though a bit typical in the “gruff-but-secretly-caring-mentor-and-overeager-student” line, and there were some cool moments, like Daleina realizing she could use a spirit to fly, but there were also a few plot lines that seemed like they were introduced just to pad out the story until the climax. (Plus, this is when Daleina meets her love interest, and unfortunately that relationship was one of the weaker points of the book for me. I didn’t like him, and I didn’t like his overprotective attitude toward Daleina, especially when contrasted with Ven’s trust in her.) Then the last section of the story really kicks things into gear, as Daleina enters the competition to become an heir, only to discover a mystery.
It was in the mystery of who was killing the previous heirs, and how that might tie in to a rash of attacks on villages, that the story really showed its depth. Daleina, Ven and their allies are forced into an ethically compromised position by the information they learn, and the story doesn’t skimp on how hard this is on them, and the price they pay for the decisions they make. All of them, but Daleina especially, get really strong character development as they confront what it means to be protectors and fighters, what sacrifices they will make to save others, and how they respond when they fail. The book actually ends on a fairly dark, though hopeful note, that made me eager to see what comes next.
This book is an interesting mix of whimsical and grounded. Like I said, the world-building is extremely creative. The author really lets her imagination run wild when it comes to the spirits, who come in a wide array of different forms. Aratay is a neat world, and I liked the mix of fun and practicality in imagining a place where humans live in trees - essentially using zip lines for transportation was especially neat. But at the same time, when it comes to character and plot, the story takes itself much more seriously than I expected.
Daleina discovers her powers when her village is attacked and she manages to save her family - but only her family. The Champion who first encounters her, Ven, therefore believes she will never be powerful enough to qualify as an heir - and basically everyone she meets from that point on agrees. Daleina is not the first fantasy hero I’ve ever seen who was underestimated, but what I enjoyed about her story was that there was no secret power that turned up later, no mysterious reason for why she really was qualified even though it didn’t see so. This isn’t a Chosen One story at all. Daleina truly is very average when it comes to the magic of her world - but she is also hard-working, practical and clever at using her minimal power in useful ways. And, as Champion Ven, who eventually comes to support her in her quest to become an heir, says, having survived what she did, Daleina understands the stakes in a way few of her fellow students do.
The story is split into a few sections. I liked the parts set during Daleina’s years at Northeast Academy. It was fun to see a lot of the “magic school” tropes in a high fantasy world, and Daleina’s group of friends were all likeable and engaging. I’m not generally a fan of magic systems based on the gender binary - especially when, as in at least this first book, the reason for that isn’t really explained - but I admit that I liked how the girls-only nature of magic in Renthia meant that everyone at the Academy was female. It allowed a lot of time to be spent with the a group of girlfriends before Daleina left the Academy and her closest ties became with men. I especially liked her prickly, competitive but genuine friendship with Merecot, another student who unfortunately disappears from the book about a third of the way through. (I assume she will appear again in the sequels.) I actually wished we had spent more time at the Academy. Once Daleina began her training with Champion Ven, I felt a bit less engaged. The relationship between them is nice, though a bit typical in the “gruff-but-secretly-caring-mentor-and-overeager-student” line, and there were some cool moments, like Daleina realizing she could use a spirit to fly, but there were also a few plot lines that seemed like they were introduced just to pad out the story until the climax. (Plus, this is when Daleina meets her love interest, and unfortunately that relationship was one of the weaker points of the book for me. I didn’t like him, and I didn’t like his overprotective attitude toward Daleina, especially when contrasted with Ven’s trust in her.) Then the last section of the story really kicks things into gear, as Daleina enters the competition to become an heir, only to discover a mystery.
It was in the mystery of who was killing the previous heirs, and how that might tie in to a rash of attacks on villages, that the story really showed its depth. Daleina, Ven and their allies are forced into an ethically compromised position by the information they learn, and the story doesn’t skimp on how hard this is on them, and the price they pay for the decisions they make. All of them, but Daleina especially, get really strong character development as they confront what it means to be protectors and fighters, what sacrifices they will make to save others, and how they respond when they fail. The book actually ends on a fairly dark, though hopeful note, that made me eager to see what comes next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
There is a solid amount of fantasy violence
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This story is set where women can control spirits (earth, air water, fire, wood, and ice). The story mainly focuses on Daleina whose village was destroy by such spirits. She wants to train in order to become the next queen, who keeps the spirits in line and keeps them from killing all the humans.
I was very underwhelmed with this story. It seemed that at some point of time that humans invaded the forests that the spirits inhabited. I thought the story might give us a viewpoint from the spirits as it seemed the humans were an invading group and the spirits were a native group to the forest. But the story took on a paternalistic tone that the spirits just hated humans cause that was just part of their nature. With the help of the queen, they were able to have a form of peace. It bothered me cause it's imposing human will onto the spirits.
There is a bit of a romance plot between Daleina and Hamon, a healer, and between Ven and the queen. Both of these felt under-developed and I'm left wondering why these characters love one another.
I did like that the story was matriarchial but it's very cisgender and all the characters are straight. Maybe it's cause of all of the lgbtq+ fiction I've been reading lately, but I just kept hoping for a little bit more representation.
I was very underwhelmed with this story. It seemed that at some point of time that humans invaded the forests that the spirits inhabited. I thought the story might give us a viewpoint from the spirits as it seemed the humans were an invading group and the spirits were a native group to the forest. But the story took on a paternalistic tone that the spirits just hated humans cause that was just part of their nature. With the help of the queen, they were able to have a form of peace. It bothered me cause it's imposing human will onto the spirits.
There is a bit of a romance plot between Daleina and Hamon, a healer, and between Ven and the queen. Both of these felt under-developed and I'm left wondering why these characters love one another.
I did like that the story was matriarchial but it's very cisgender and all the characters are straight. Maybe it's cause of all of the lgbtq+ fiction I've been reading lately, but I just kept hoping for a little bit more representation.
adventurous
dark
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Queen of Blood pleasantly surprised me. The magic system is one I haven't encountered before in my years of fantasy reading. I really enjoyed the magic and the way the world is set up.
The issue I had is that the writing style didn't allow me to really get to know any of the characters. There were some characters I could tell the author wanted me to empathize with, but I didn't feel as if she fully fleshed them out enough for me to care. Also--the ending didn't jive with me. I was fine with most of it except for the biggest part I guess. XD I don't want to give anything away.
Anyway, I own the next 2 books so I'll continue with the series. This book took me forever to read (or at least it felt that way), so I'm hoping the next two have a faster flow.
The issue I had is that the writing style didn't allow me to really get to know any of the characters. There were some characters I could tell the author wanted me to empathize with, but I didn't feel as if she fully fleshed them out enough for me to care. Also--the ending didn't jive with me. I was fine with most of it except for the biggest part I guess. XD I don't want to give anything away.
Anyway, I own the next 2 books so I'll continue with the series. This book took me forever to read (or at least it felt that way), so I'm hoping the next two have a faster flow.
When I first started this book, I wasn't really feeling it. The story intrigued me, but I felt like some parts had me rolling my eyes. Plus, there's something about her writing that was really irritating to me in the first half of the book, and I could never put my finger on it. Maybe the dialogue? The writing was reminding me of 'The Selection' by Kiera Cass, which is some of the worst writing I've ever read. It's like the author was telling us rather than showing us at times.
But I kept with it, and I'm really glad I did. I ended up really enjoying this book. To me, this book only really started once Daleina left the academy and went off to train with Ven, that's when the book really picked up.
I loved the setting of the book. The idea of everything being in trees. It just sounded so beautiful. I also really liked Daleina's character. I really, really liked how she wasn't the best, or at the top of her class. I especially respected how Daleina knew this, accepted this, and was okay with not being the best.
I already mentioned I didn't love the writing. I also felt like some things weren't fully explained, like I never really understood why the spirits both hated humans, yet wanted to be ruled by a queen. I also felt like some of the characters weren't fully fleshed out, like Hamon or Ven. Plus, I felt like the storyline was at a good pace, and then all of a sudden everything happened.
However, the ending was amazing, I did not see that coming. I also especially loved the twist with the queen in the neighboring country.
I'm actually really looking forward to the next book, which is why I gave this four stars overall.