Friday 12 February 2016

Review: The Shadow Queen by C.J Redwine

The Shadow Queen by C.J Redwine
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: February 16th 2016.
My Rating: 2 stars 


Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart. But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

What is going in this year with me and books I’ve been highly anticipating for ages? The Shadow Queen was a book I couldn’t wait to gobble up after hearing about it in a few months back, being in the lacklustre book run I had been in it sounded exactly what I needed: a kickass MC, an unexpected romance, and a fierce battle between individuals, one trying to remain in control and one trying to gain back what was rightfully hers. And don’t get me wrong The Shadow Queen started off wonderfully with perspectives from Lorelai, Kol and Irina I was hooked, also despite getting perspectives from these characters we were still in the dark about the full extent to what the characters would go (or be forced against their will) in order to remain in control.

Irina was a right piece of work, she had everything but still this wasn’t enough for her, she wouldn’t stop until she had killed her stepdaughter Lorelai. But being powerful as she was, she also had her weaknesses, her power could only go on for so long and in order to reserve her energy, the perfect strategy falls into her lap: use Kol as a huntsman to track Lorelai down. I did like this retelling aspect and with me also sort of knowing how things would end I was eager to find out how our characters would deal with the numerous obstacles thrown in their way. I admired Lorelai and her fierceness, how nine years later she was still trying to keep her promise to her father, to keep her brother safe and avenge Irina for all the destruction she had caused. But at times I was unsure whether Lorelai would be able to do it as Irina would never give up, destroying everything that would come in her way. Despite starting off great, I found my concentration waning in the second half. I did like the introduction of Kol and his interactions with Lorelai, but aspects of the story just got a bit too farfetched for my liking that I found myself skimming over a lot of the second half of the book. I also didn’t care for the characters after a while. Yes I wanted Irina to be put in her place, but the gusto and brilliance that The Shadow Queen started off with lost its spark with me. Which is a real shame as I adored Redwine’s books in the past; her writing has always had a great ability to get me lost in a world wind of her incredible world building skills. But alas The Shadow Queen was not meant to be.




14 comments:

Carina Olsen said...

Aw :( Stunning review Jasprit. <3 But daaamn. I am so sorry that you didn't like this book. That you were disappointed :( I loved it lots; five stars, hih. But I do get why you had some issues with it. I just. I wish you could have loved it like I did :) Thank you for sharing your lovely honest thoughts sweetie. <3 I hope your next read will be perfect :)

Lis said...

Oh, too bad you didn't love it. This is the same that happened to me when I read Reign of Shadows. I started liking it, but I ended skimming a lot.
Great review! I keep it in mind if I read it.

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

Bummer. I have had a lot of misses over the past month myself. I am skipping this one as my last few fairy tale retellings have been flops and I am just not eager to pick up another one anytime soon.

Lekeisha said...

Aww, sorry this sucked. It's one of my most anticipated reads this year.

Joy said...

I'm constantly surprised to read not-so good reviews about this one, Jas! I mean the premise sounds so good. :/

Piecraft Bucharest said...

Oh, that's sad - that it started so well and ended up disappointing you :( All I can say is that, sadly, these things will happen. I admire the fact that you stuck with it and finished it nevertheless. Next read will be better! :D Happy Valentine's Day!

Ksenia said...

I’s so disappointing when you have to wait for a book so long and your expectations are high, but it turns out not as good as you wanted. Great and honest review, Jasprit! I’m not sure I would be picking this book; I see a lot of mixed reviews around.

Keertana said...

I didn't have much success with Redwine's debut work so I didn't plan to pick this one up and now I'm sure I won't even be trying it out. I'm sorry this disappointed you, dear, but I hope your next read is far more satisfying!

Krystianna said...

I'm sorry to see that you didn't like this one much. :/ It sucks when a book ends up being disappointing. I hope you have better luck with your next read!
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

Jeann @ Happy Indulgence said...

Oh man, it's so disappointing when books lose their spark like that! Especially when things just get a bit too far fetched to be believable. Great review Jasprit!

Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

Samantha Stewart said...

Oh no! Sorry to hear another one of your most anticipated 2016 books was a disappointment! It completely sucks when that happens. It does sound like it's got a really good story, but if the story line gets too unbelievable, I think I might give this one a miss.

Siiri said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Siiri said...

(THANK GOD I COPIED THE COMMENT OMG BLOGGER ATE MOST OF IT LOL) *cries on your behalf* I'm sorry you haven't found your mojo this year Jazzy *broken heart emoji* It seems like it had all the elements you usually look for in a book so I'm sorry you personally didn't find them that great and the book tumbled down for you in a lot of ways. Do you think you'd like to read the sequel? (Or is this a companion series?) Maybe that would suit better for you if some things are fixed in the sequel? Though.. then again.. if the second part was lackluster for you, maybe not =/ Sorry this wasn't up your alley, my love!

Siiri @ Little Pieces of Imagination

Anonymous said...

Yup, I gave this one the same rating you did! I just thought it was pretty forgettable, and didn't bring anything very new to the retelling. There are so many YA fantasy reads for 2016 that are just bombing for me!

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