abrswf 's review for:

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

2.0

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I was most disappointed in this book. It is refreshing to get a plain, overweight heroine with lots of anger but not when she spends the book obsessing about her looks and weight. Equally irksome and sexist was the way the author felt compelled to make all the male characters (except villains) attractive and athletic and utterly masterful, and have the heroine mostly accept this or wonder if she was making decisions that would please the most remote and masterful male character. Can we please get a female protagonist with real agency not provided by a man or fortuitous ownership of a magical item? A second major problem is the unbelievably slow pace of the book, interrupted by occasional action. A third is the frankly ridiculous back story. The people in this fantasy world are for some reason supposed to have originated from a “Crossing” from Britain and America — though that doesn’t explain why no people of color seem to exist in this world. We don’t know why they “crossed” or to where or why no other nations were included, but worse than that, we’re supposed to buy that these pilgrims forgot every bit of technology they knew including basic things like agriculture, machinery, guns, metal work, and printing. And what happened after that is never referenced or explained though our heroine is supposedly very well read and educated. This is one fantasy series that I’m not in the least interested in pursuing, and my recommendation is not to waste your time on this first entry.