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A review by weweresotired
The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow
2.0
See the full review at Short & Sweet Reviews.
The story starts out with great promise. Vianne is an unlikely lady at Court, orphaned and coming from more humble beginnings than many of the other ladies, but she and the Princesse became fast friends as girls, which endured as they came of age. Of course, there is a conspiracy afoot, one which Vianne stumbles headfirst into, and the story takes off as Arquitaine is plunged into chaos and Vianne must hurry to escape. I love a good story fraught with danger and treason and peril, so I had high hopes, during the first two chapters. It goes downhill from there, though, as the story can't seem to balance whether it wants to be an adventure-fantasy, or a romance between Vianne and Tristan. Many books blend the two seamlessly -- it seems like Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series is becoming my gold standard, even if they are 100% definitely not YA books -- but The Hedgewitch Queen, unfortunately, does not.
I was far more charmed by the minor characters in the book. For example, the rest of the guard who accompany Vianne and Tristan and the various peasants who the group encounters were more interesting and fun to read about than our two leads. I kept reading because I heard there was a big shocker at the end, and I wanted to know what it was. Otherwise, I think I may have given up somewhere in the middle. I also disliked the fact that the book didn't wrap up its plot points before it ended, as it's clearly banking on the reader wanting to read the next book in the series. It doesn't stand alone very well at all, at least, not if you want to have any resolution at all to the situation Vianne has found herself in. This book could have been so much better than it was, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.
The story starts out with great promise. Vianne is an unlikely lady at Court, orphaned and coming from more humble beginnings than many of the other ladies, but she and the Princesse became fast friends as girls, which endured as they came of age. Of course, there is a conspiracy afoot, one which Vianne stumbles headfirst into, and the story takes off as Arquitaine is plunged into chaos and Vianne must hurry to escape. I love a good story fraught with danger and treason and peril, so I had high hopes, during the first two chapters. It goes downhill from there, though, as the story can't seem to balance whether it wants to be an adventure-fantasy, or a romance between Vianne and Tristan. Many books blend the two seamlessly -- it seems like Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series is becoming my gold standard, even if they are 100% definitely not YA books -- but The Hedgewitch Queen, unfortunately, does not.
I was far more charmed by the minor characters in the book. For example, the rest of the guard who accompany Vianne and Tristan and the various peasants who the group encounters were more interesting and fun to read about than our two leads. I kept reading because I heard there was a big shocker at the end, and I wanted to know what it was. Otherwise, I think I may have given up somewhere in the middle. I also disliked the fact that the book didn't wrap up its plot points before it ended, as it's clearly banking on the reader wanting to read the next book in the series. It doesn't stand alone very well at all, at least, not if you want to have any resolution at all to the situation Vianne has found herself in. This book could have been so much better than it was, but unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations.