A review by brooksie03051
Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn 


This is book one in a dark, fae re-telling of the well-known Arthurian legend in the search for Excalibur but Arthur plays a bitter and cruel villain and Morgan is the innocent one.

Plot:
Book one follows the journey of Morgan, who is the eldest of the Pendragon children and should have been queen once her father died, but she was disinherited in favor of her half-brother, Arthur, due to her tainted fae blood because her mother was fae.  She suffers abuse by those in the kingdom who should protect her and her brother King Arthur does nothing to shelter her from it.  He sends her on a dangerous campaign to find Excalibur, a weapon that has eluded many who have tried to find it over the centuries. Morgan is accompanied by two very dangerous guards on this quest and her brother doesn't care what they do to her as long as they accomplish the task.  Kairos Draven and Ragnar Whitehorn, have bad reputations and she is not sure they have orders from King Arthur to return to Camelot with her after it is found. 

Characters:
Morgan is extremely naive throughout the story and although had training to fight, did little to stop her abusers.  Once they were on the quest, however, she experienced growth in confidence and strength and began to fight back with those who meant her harm.  Draven is a handsome rugged "take no BS" kind of man.  As hard as he is, he doesn't like to see people suffer and tries to keep Morgan safe and over the time they spend together she sees a different side of him than what she thought she knew.  These two had some fun banter together and meshed well as main characters.  I was shipping them to be more as they spent more time together. 

Merlin, Lancelet, and Galahad are her friends and they all care for each other.  They are all women too which is a nice little twist.  Rather than them being pro-Arthur, they are pro-Morgan.  She is the one suffering and being the punching bag for being a half-breed and never giving them reason to not trust her. 

Worldbuilding:
This world was more interesting with the addition of fae and included some fantasy animals as well.  It took a bit for the story to build up, so if you hang in there, it gets more action.  I assume as the books continue that will keep happening since the first book sets up the scene. 

Overall Thoughts:
In the first few chapters, I was getting used to what was happening since there were some changes in the well-known characters and I needed to get used to that storyline.  Then the chapters stalled out a bit taking time to build what was going on, how she was as a character and how she was treated.  It was very different from what I knew of this legendary tale.  Once Morgan got out onto the road and their journey got going, things started to pick up and she started to stick up for herself.  The characters are great and I have high hopes that they will continue to grow and the realm with new exciting additions.  The book ended on a cliffhanger and will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the NetGalley ARC of this book to read and give an honest review.