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A review by rgyger
The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King
2.0
I'm going to give this book two stars only because I finished it laughing at the absurdity of the unresolved ending. I see now, that it is part of a trilogy, but things could have been wrapped up better, or at least with a cliff-hanger (and normally I would not ask for one of those), just so that there was some indication that the story was over other than that the next page being the acknowledgments.
Not much of anything in the story made a huge amount of sense. I mean, I knew what was happening, I just could not figure out why. There are reasons given for things that create even more questions. For instance, the benefactors are able to take whichever girls they want because otherwise they would withdraw monetary support. And this makes sense so far as the temple girls all being orphans who would die otherwise. But then you find out that up until the benefactors started claiming girls against their will, the temple was more a school for well to-do girls than an orphanage, and the only function these temples seem to hold is to train these girls to fight, not to be any sort of wife or concubine or servant that any real person would want, especially since they are not also being used as assassins. So way do they exist? And why do these highly trained fighting women need guards? Why are they not allowed to see men until chosen? Why would anyone, especially the priestesses who were alive before these claimings became obligatory, think that this exchange was in anyway an honor?
The story itself is entertaining enough for me to finish it. I cannot say that I hated it, but the explanations behind how everything worked only fell flat. And the characters continuously flip-flopped between incredibly intelligent to extremely foolish, immensely cruel to impossibly kind. And everything these women do is for the love of the Rajah who (sickeningly) 'enjoys' more than one at a time, with only our heroine seeming to find anything wrong with that. And the ending? If I had actually been invested in what happened to the viraji (I don't remember her name and don't feel like looking it up) I would have been horrified and sickened the situation she found herself in. I am, in fact, horrified by it. All I will say is that it had to do with a wedding night and it was the stuff of nightmares. But, I guess by the time I got to that point, it seem like par for the course.
Not much of anything in the story made a huge amount of sense. I mean, I knew what was happening, I just could not figure out why. There are reasons given for things that create even more questions. For instance, the benefactors are able to take whichever girls they want because otherwise they would withdraw monetary support. And this makes sense so far as the temple girls all being orphans who would die otherwise. But then you find out that up until the benefactors started claiming girls against their will, the temple was more a school for well to-do girls than an orphanage, and the only function these temples seem to hold is to train these girls to fight, not to be any sort of wife or concubine or servant that any real person would want, especially since they are not also being used as assassins. So way do they exist? And why do these highly trained fighting women need guards? Why are they not allowed to see men until chosen? Why would anyone, especially the priestesses who were alive before these claimings became obligatory, think that this exchange was in anyway an honor?
The story itself is entertaining enough for me to finish it. I cannot say that I hated it, but the explanations behind how everything worked only fell flat. And the characters continuously flip-flopped between incredibly intelligent to extremely foolish, immensely cruel to impossibly kind. And everything these women do is for the love of the Rajah who (sickeningly) 'enjoys' more than one at a time, with only our heroine seeming to find anything wrong with that. And the ending? If I had actually been invested in what happened to the viraji (I don't remember her name and don't feel like looking it up) I would have been horrified and sickened the situation she found herself in. I am, in fact, horrified by it. All I will say is that it had to do with a wedding night and it was the stuff of nightmares. But, I guess by the time I got to that point, it seem like par for the course.