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A review by shakespearesgirl
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
3.0
(3.5 Stars)
Spoilers shall abound.
Ah, man, I just. I'm not sure what to think, I guess. One of the things I love about dystopia is showing how a society twists from what it was intended to be and the recovery or rediscovery of those ideals. While The Queen of the Tearlilng has that, at this point in the series, the society Kelsea is fighting to restore is one that I simply don't agree with.
The Tear is slowly revealed over the first part of the book, to be not a failed republic but a failed socialist utopia, based very heavily (at least from what I could glean from the little it was discussed) on Thomas More's Utopia, but watered down and laced with Marx. I'm not going to comment on the political or philosophical aspects of socialism at this point, because that's not the point of the book, despite being heavily featured. And the socialist nation of Tear is only one of the things I was iffy on.
There's also Kelsea herself, who is quite a strong character, but who I just can't tell if I like. There's the quasi-Robin Hood, The Fetch, who has information that could help Kelsea but who chooses to ignore it. There were the graphic descriptions of the way the corruption of Tear has happened, and the seemingly gratuitous sexual nature to the human sacrifice of the Red Queen.
I just. I'm so lukewarm on this one. It was very well written, and I can tell that Johansen knows where she's going with this and has everything already plotted out and carefully crafted, but the characters I care about--Mhurn, Marguerite, the Mace, the Fetch, Pen, Father Tyler--are kept firmly in the background or in the limbo of "mysterious and important to the story, but not yet" that often (although I'm not sure if that's the case this time) seems contrived to get you to buy (or at least read) the next book.
I'm also concerned that all the violence, corruption, and slavery are going to end up blamed on capitalism and free-trade economies. Corruption, violence, and slavery are present in literally every society ever invented by man, because man is inherently selfish and wicked. It's a humanity problem, not a social-structure problem. However, there are other countries in this universe aside from Tear and Mortmense, and they don't seem to be as corrupt as the two main nations. So I'm just not sure. Am I going to continue? I don't know. I liked this one well enough. The writing was strong, and Kelsea was a compelling (if not necessarily likeable) main character. I have questions Johansen left unanswered. But there were parts that were genuinely difficult for me to read, for reasons ranging from graphic violence visited upon a child to social narrative that I don't agree with. I'm still trying to figure it out, I guess. It definitely stuck with me. I'm just not sure that I can stick with it.
Spoilers shall abound.
Ah, man, I just. I'm not sure what to think, I guess. One of the things I love about dystopia is showing how a society twists from what it was intended to be and the recovery or rediscovery of those ideals. While The Queen of the Tearlilng has that, at this point in the series, the society Kelsea is fighting to restore is one that I simply don't agree with.
The Tear is slowly revealed over the first part of the book, to be not a failed republic but a failed socialist utopia, based very heavily (at least from what I could glean from the little it was discussed) on Thomas More's Utopia, but watered down and laced with Marx. I'm not going to comment on the political or philosophical aspects of socialism at this point, because that's not the point of the book, despite being heavily featured. And the socialist nation of Tear is only one of the things I was iffy on.
There's also Kelsea herself, who is quite a strong character, but who I just can't tell if I like. There's the quasi-Robin Hood, The Fetch, who has information that could help Kelsea but who chooses to ignore it. There were the graphic descriptions of the way the corruption of Tear has happened, and the seemingly gratuitous sexual nature to the human sacrifice of the Red Queen.
I just. I'm so lukewarm on this one. It was very well written, and I can tell that Johansen knows where she's going with this and has everything already plotted out and carefully crafted, but the characters I care about--Mhurn, Marguerite, the Mace, the Fetch, Pen, Father Tyler--are kept firmly in the background or in the limbo of "mysterious and important to the story, but not yet" that often (although I'm not sure if that's the case this time) seems contrived to get you to buy (or at least read) the next book.
I'm also concerned that all the violence, corruption, and slavery are going to end up blamed on capitalism and free-trade economies. Corruption, violence, and slavery are present in literally every society ever invented by man, because man is inherently selfish and wicked. It's a humanity problem, not a social-structure problem. However, there are other countries in this universe aside from Tear and Mortmense, and they don't seem to be as corrupt as the two main nations. So I'm just not sure. Am I going to continue? I don't know. I liked this one well enough. The writing was strong, and Kelsea was a compelling (if not necessarily likeable) main character. I have questions Johansen left unanswered. But there were parts that were genuinely difficult for me to read, for reasons ranging from graphic violence visited upon a child to social narrative that I don't agree with. I'm still trying to figure it out, I guess. It definitely stuck with me. I'm just not sure that I can stick with it.