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hellomadalyn 's review for:
The Little Queen
by Meia Geddes
This review originally appeared on Novel Ink.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I hadn’t previously heard much about The Little Queen, but I stumbled across it during one of my Netgalley requesting sprees recently (come on, you know you’ve gone on those) and saw that many of my friends had read it. I discovered an adorable, fluffy novella that also wove in some deeper themes. Head up, this is probably going to be a short review, because 1.) it’s a short book (~100 pages), and 2.) this book is whimsical to the point that it makes it almost impossible to describe.
Netgalley classifies The Little Queen as poetry, which I…. don’t understand. While the prose is incredibly lyrical and lovely, it’s decidedly still prose. Also, I’m having a crisis trying to classify the age range of this book. I believe both Goodreads and Netgalley list it as YA, but it reads in the style of a children’s fairytale and contains the whimsy of a middle grade novel. Regardless, I think it does have some crossover appeal for YA readers who don’t normally pick up middle grade books, and vice versa.
The story follows the titular character, the little queen, immediately following the death of her parents (it wouldn’t be a fairytale without dead parents. sigh.). She sets out to see the world, get to know people who live differently than she does, and hopefully find her purpose in the process. She meets a fascinating array of characters throughout her journey, each of whom teaches her something she takes back to her kingdom with her. She also finds love along the way– The Little Queen features an adorable, innocent f/f romance, which, as you can imagine, warmed my lil queer heart. Though on a surface level this book reads like a children’s story, it deals with some heavier topics like processing grief, becoming your own person, and the way that the people we meet throughout our lives shape us irrevocably as people. These themes were subtly woven into the narrative. Overall, I think this was a cleverly written book.
Another thing I enjoyed: in addition to the f/f romance, all of the characters the little queen meets are women! Literally, every single one of them (except the little queen’s father, who is only briefly mentioned). I also loved the illustrations, done by Sara Zieve Miller– the writing conjures vivid imagery, so I enjoyed seeing these images on the page in illustration form.
Ultimately, though I found The Little Queen enjoyable, I think it just didn’t explore the deeper themes that were touched on thoroughly enough. It felt pretty frivolous at times. I also don’t do well with ultra-whimsical books like this one, which is not this book’s fault. Just a personal preference.
Overall, though, I’d recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick, fairytale-like read that incorporates lots of diversity!
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I hadn’t previously heard much about The Little Queen, but I stumbled across it during one of my Netgalley requesting sprees recently (come on, you know you’ve gone on those) and saw that many of my friends had read it. I discovered an adorable, fluffy novella that also wove in some deeper themes. Head up, this is probably going to be a short review, because 1.) it’s a short book (~100 pages), and 2.) this book is whimsical to the point that it makes it almost impossible to describe.
Netgalley classifies The Little Queen as poetry, which I…. don’t understand. While the prose is incredibly lyrical and lovely, it’s decidedly still prose. Also, I’m having a crisis trying to classify the age range of this book. I believe both Goodreads and Netgalley list it as YA, but it reads in the style of a children’s fairytale and contains the whimsy of a middle grade novel. Regardless, I think it does have some crossover appeal for YA readers who don’t normally pick up middle grade books, and vice versa.
The story follows the titular character, the little queen, immediately following the death of her parents (it wouldn’t be a fairytale without dead parents. sigh.). She sets out to see the world, get to know people who live differently than she does, and hopefully find her purpose in the process. She meets a fascinating array of characters throughout her journey, each of whom teaches her something she takes back to her kingdom with her. She also finds love along the way– The Little Queen features an adorable, innocent f/f romance, which, as you can imagine, warmed my lil queer heart. Though on a surface level this book reads like a children’s story, it deals with some heavier topics like processing grief, becoming your own person, and the way that the people we meet throughout our lives shape us irrevocably as people. These themes were subtly woven into the narrative. Overall, I think this was a cleverly written book.
Another thing I enjoyed: in addition to the f/f romance, all of the characters the little queen meets are women! Literally, every single one of them (except the little queen’s father, who is only briefly mentioned). I also loved the illustrations, done by Sara Zieve Miller– the writing conjures vivid imagery, so I enjoyed seeing these images on the page in illustration form.
Ultimately, though I found The Little Queen enjoyable, I think it just didn’t explore the deeper themes that were touched on thoroughly enough. It felt pretty frivolous at times. I also don’t do well with ultra-whimsical books like this one, which is not this book’s fault. Just a personal preference.
Overall, though, I’d recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick, fairytale-like read that incorporates lots of diversity!