Scan barcode
A review by yayforbooks
The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow
3.0
I wasn't expecting too much from this book. I got it mainly because it looked like good fantasy with some romance and it was cheap in the iBook store.
The good things about the story were that it was fairly interesting and the Aryx sounded cool. I was held against my will. There were a lot of times when I was rolling my eyes or face palming because of something either Vianne or Tristan did (mostly Vianne) or because their conversations were just silly, but I still somehow wanted to know what happened at the end. The story isn't a brand new story: basically there's been a hostile take-over and some work has to be done to get the rightful heir to the throne back in charge. There's a lot of magic flinging and some sword fighting and a little bit of kissing. The Aryx, a magical artifact of royalty, for some reason was the most exciting part of the story for me, and I wanted to know more about it.
One of the things that I didn't like so much was the random words that were weird (mostly donjon and farrat) because instead of building a stronger world, they just seemed forced. Also, I swear the author referred to a hand as a "paw" in the beginning and I spent the first two chapters wondering if there were cat people in the story. That might just be me. This is a very personal thing that I don't like, so it might not be as much of a problem for others. The world that it is set in seems like a veiled version of historical Europe (Arquitaine sounds a heck of a lot like Acquitaine) and the languages seem to be French derived. I actually liked that part of the writing.
The characters were another weak point. I sort of got tired of Vianne's constant whining that she was the wrong person for the job and that she couldn't do it. And the whole romantic aspect felt a little forced/sudden. Not that the main male lead was boring. He may have been my favorite character (maybe I'm shallow and it's just because he sounds quite handsome). I didn't get a sense of depth to the characters. Vianne was the reluctant heroine who grows in confidence a bit, but is still a tiny bit whiny. Tristan is the intriguing man with a dark side. That was about it. Also, some of the conversations they had just had me rolling my eyes at the corniness. That doesn't mean it was terrible though, just sappy.
Overall, it was an entertaining read. Nothing world-changing. I'm just annoyed at the ending because it means I have to keep reading the series. Which I guess is a good thing. I hope that the characters get a little more depth and a little less oblivious in the second book. And hopefully less sick, because there were a lot of fevers in the first one. A lot of them.
The good things about the story were that it was fairly interesting and the Aryx sounded cool. I was held against my will. There were a lot of times when I was rolling my eyes or face palming because of something either Vianne or Tristan did (mostly Vianne) or because their conversations were just silly, but I still somehow wanted to know what happened at the end. The story isn't a brand new story: basically there's been a hostile take-over and some work has to be done to get the rightful heir to the throne back in charge. There's a lot of magic flinging and some sword fighting and a little bit of kissing. The Aryx, a magical artifact of royalty, for some reason was the most exciting part of the story for me, and I wanted to know more about it.
One of the things that I didn't like so much was the random words that were weird (mostly donjon and farrat) because instead of building a stronger world, they just seemed forced. Also, I swear the author referred to a hand as a "paw" in the beginning and I spent the first two chapters wondering if there were cat people in the story. That might just be me. This is a very personal thing that I don't like, so it might not be as much of a problem for others. The world that it is set in seems like a veiled version of historical Europe (Arquitaine sounds a heck of a lot like Acquitaine) and the languages seem to be French derived. I actually liked that part of the writing.
The characters were another weak point. I sort of got tired of Vianne's constant whining that she was the wrong person for the job and that she couldn't do it. And the whole romantic aspect felt a little forced/sudden. Not that the main male lead was boring. He may have been my favorite character (maybe I'm shallow and it's just because he sounds quite handsome). I didn't get a sense of depth to the characters. Vianne was the reluctant heroine who grows in confidence a bit, but is still a tiny bit whiny. Tristan is the intriguing man with a dark side. That was about it. Also, some of the conversations they had just had me rolling my eyes at the corniness. That doesn't mean it was terrible though, just sappy.
Overall, it was an entertaining read. Nothing world-changing. I'm just annoyed at the ending because it means I have to keep reading the series. Which I guess is a good thing. I hope that the characters get a little more depth and a little less oblivious in the second book. And hopefully less sick, because there were a lot of fevers in the first one. A lot of them.