A review by ariadiamond
Queen of Myth and Monsters by Scarlett St. Clair

1.75

I feel like most of this book was a abusive relationship between Adrian and Isolde, perhaps because Adrian is not really in love with Isolde, rather still in love with Yesenia, and is mad when Isolde is not Yesenia (despite some of the narration making them one person) and also mad when he cannot control her.

I also think that Adrian really did not support his wife in her becoming Queen, and while Isolde feels like an impulsive and questionable leader, I think part of that comes from a feeling that she must lead immediately.  Like she has no political instincts or survival instinct (sure she’s trying

to gain loyalty by fighting for her subjects, but that doesn’t mean much if she’s dead

). Given that she was always sole heir of Lara and expected to take the throne, I don’t understand why she has no leadership training/knowledge.

I do think the most interesting part of this book was the discussion of gender/power dynamics and what role there is in revenge versus healing. I don’t know that I entirely disagree with

it has been just men that have hurt Isolde, so she should fight back and commit violence against them

even if this is supposed to come from the villain. I discovered after looking it up that this is not the last book in the series (makes sense given the cliffhanger), but leaving the story unfinished I think allows for a lot of interesting questions ie:

Should Adrian die?

What right (not authority) do the King and Queen have to murder enemies? Where is the line between revenge and healing?