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A review by diannamorganti
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
4.0
The Tear is a future colony of the US and Britain. We don't know why, but they had to come on ships (space or water, we don't know for sure, though water is strongly implied), and they lost most technology knowledge and most of their medical knowledge (a hospital ship with most of the doctors was lost). So the result - about 300 years in the future - is a society that has some knowledge of our world as it is today, but they really live in a sort of medieval-style world. Magic seems to exist, though there's a lot of skepticism around whether that's real or not. The remaining books from the past world (printing presses were lost, and the main religion has convinced people reading is unnecessary) were pretty much all about (our) history, and most consider them better relegated to kindling than study/preservation.
The Tear is a monarchy whose succession hinges around these sapphires which some say are magical. We open with a 19 year old girl raised in secret, because the world is out to kill her. She's the heir to the throne which her mother and uncle ruined (though she and we don't know it yet, we learn it very quickly). There's a lot in the book about slavery, monarchy, literacy, and more. Essentially the plot is about her emerging from hiding to take over the throne, discovering the misdeeds of those in power while she was being raised in hiding, and handling things.
What I don't like - she's got this weird childish obsession with "The Fetch", and I'm also strongly led to believe he may be her father? I don't know. I find it a bit creepy. At the very least it's a sort of Bella/Edward thing (he's super old but looks young, and she's only 19), and at the most perhaps father/daughter. In the beginning of the book, when she's immature, she spends a lot of time thinking about her appearance, though I am quite happy that as she matures that sort of disappears from the narrative. The book may only cover a few weeks, actually, but so much happens in her life that she grows up pretty quickly.
"The Fetch" is a sort of mysterious archetype I see in some books, (Hobbs' "The Tawny Man"), and I'm excited to see what happens. Honestly, I'm continuing on the series not because I like this specific version, but because I love the mystery of it. I love how Kelsea is maturing, but I'm not a huge fan of hers yet. She still has some growing up to do, but it is happening fast. I'm also curious about "The Mace" and his history, and I'm excited to see how the magic in this world works. I've just started book 2.
The Tear is a monarchy whose succession hinges around these sapphires which some say are magical. We open with a 19 year old girl raised in secret, because the world is out to kill her. She's the heir to the throne which her mother and uncle ruined (though she and we don't know it yet, we learn it very quickly). There's a lot in the book about slavery, monarchy, literacy, and more. Essentially the plot is about her emerging from hiding to take over the throne, discovering the misdeeds of those in power while she was being raised in hiding, and handling things.
What I don't like - she's got this weird childish obsession with "The Fetch", and I'm also strongly led to believe he may be her father? I don't know. I find it a bit creepy. At the very least it's a sort of Bella/Edward thing (he's super old but looks young, and she's only 19), and at the most perhaps father/daughter. In the beginning of the book, when she's immature, she spends a lot of time thinking about her appearance, though I am quite happy that as she matures that sort of disappears from the narrative. The book may only cover a few weeks, actually, but so much happens in her life that she grows up pretty quickly.
"The Fetch" is a sort of mysterious archetype I see in some books, (Hobbs' "The Tawny Man"), and I'm excited to see what happens. Honestly, I'm continuing on the series not because I like this specific version, but because I love the mystery of it. I love how Kelsea is maturing, but I'm not a huge fan of hers yet. She still has some growing up to do, but it is happening fast. I'm also curious about "The Mace" and his history, and I'm excited to see how the magic in this world works. I've just started book 2.