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A review by winingaboutbooks
Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston
3.0
* Received and ARC via NetGalley *
I am a lover of Celtic / Old-Age set stories, so I was very excited to give this a read. I ended up giving it 3 Stars; while I think the core story and characters are interesting and have a lot of potential, I felt this book suffered from structural, plot, and pacing issues.
• Terminology: While some definitions are given prior to Chapter 1, only some of the foreign terms are covered. With the large amount of use of said terminology throughout the book, it created a huge gap in clarity for the reader. I also would have found a pronunciation guide immensely helpful.
• World-Building: There is a LOT of world-building to be had in this book. While some of it comes across, a lot of it is given in summary explanation, rather than action or character dialogue. The rules of the magic, who has control of it, etc could be explained clearer. It also didn't make sense to me how early in the book Neve asks Ronan to help her control her magic, which doesn't happen, but then by the latter half of the book she somehow knows how to use it and seemingly control it. There was no transition period for her which would have coincided really well with her "ascension".
• Structure / Pacing: By 2/3 of the way through the book, there's still not a clearly defined goal for the main characters, so it feels somewhat slow. The latter 1/3 then feels very rushed, and the climactic events all take page within the last 50 pages.
• Character Emotions / Development: There were a lot of emotional 180's in this book. Neve's father spends the majority of the book deriding her and undermining her, and then flips with the barest of explanations. I also could not buy the fact that
Positives: I love the three main characters: Neve, Ronan, and Sarik. While not perfectly drawn, there were captivating and I would love to see more of them. The triangle set up between them is great. I also love the female empowerment examined not only through Neve, but through the female warriors / Foadlach as well. It was arguably my favorite element of the book.
Overall I think with some restructuring and editing, this story has a LOT of potential to be a great book and series.
I am a lover of Celtic / Old-Age set stories, so I was very excited to give this a read. I ended up giving it 3 Stars; while I think the core story and characters are interesting and have a lot of potential, I felt this book suffered from structural, plot, and pacing issues.
• Terminology: While some definitions are given prior to Chapter 1, only some of the foreign terms are covered. With the large amount of use of said terminology throughout the book, it created a huge gap in clarity for the reader. I also would have found a pronunciation guide immensely helpful.
• World-Building: There is a LOT of world-building to be had in this book. While some of it comes across, a lot of it is given in summary explanation, rather than action or character dialogue. The rules of the magic, who has control of it, etc could be explained clearer. It also didn't make sense to me how early in the book Neve asks Ronan to help her control her magic, which doesn't happen, but then by the latter half of the book she somehow knows how to use it and seemingly control it. There was no transition period for her which would have coincided really well with her "ascension".
• Structure / Pacing: By 2/3 of the way through the book, there's still not a clearly defined goal for the main characters, so it feels somewhat slow. The latter 1/3 then feels very rushed, and the climactic events all take page within the last 50 pages.
• Character Emotions / Development: There were a lot of emotional 180's in this book. Neve's father spends the majority of the book deriding her and undermining her, and then flips with the barest of explanations. I also could not buy the fact that
Spoiler
, when Ronan seemingly died at the end, she had NO reaction and simply continued on to confront the Scathach. After their whole journey together it seemed like such a wasted moment that could have been really emotionally impactful.Positives: I love the three main characters: Neve, Ronan, and Sarik. While not perfectly drawn, there were captivating and I would love to see more of them. The triangle set up between them is great. I also love the female empowerment examined not only through Neve, but through the female warriors / Foadlach as well. It was arguably my favorite element of the book.
Overall I think with some restructuring and editing, this story has a LOT of potential to be a great book and series.