A review by booksandbotanics
Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Queen Among the Dead is a YA Fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology. I found that part of the story very interesting, as I haven’t read many books like that. 

Sometimes the worldbuilding could’ve been explained more & better and the terminology was quite difficult as well. A wordlist would’ve been helpful, especially in the beginning. 

The book was a little bit hard to get into. I had to force myself a bit to continue, and then after a while, a quarter or halfway into the book, I started to really enjoy it. 

The writing style was nice and enjoyable and the book read, apart from all the Celtic words, quite fluently. 

The pacing of the book felt a bit off sometimes. Around halfway (if I remember correctly) something major happens and I was under the impression there was a timejump, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Some parts of the book read more slowly then others. 

There’s quite some action in the book, but those scenes weren’t always very clear to me. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on before it was over. 

We follow two characters: Neve, the daughter of the King (the Dagda) and Ronan, a thief from the village. The chapters are written from both their POV’s alternately and we read in a third person perspective. 

I didn’t always liked both characters, but I found them quite interesting to follow nonetheless. 

The side characters were interesting as well, I especially liked the Faoladh warriors, Queen Anann and Sakir. 

I liked the storyline too; there was more than enough action, but I liked the calmer parts & the more political parts as well. The romance plotline fell a bit flat for me, it would’ve been fine if there was only a friendship. 

I would definitely recommend this book for lovers of YA Fantasy with only a little bit of romance, who are interested in Celtic mythology & like a strong FMC. 

Thank you @netgalley for the e-ARC.