Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group) (2015)
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML: A #1 Indie Next Pick and LibraryReads Selection Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother's throne, learn to be a ruler�??and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen's Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon�??from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic�??to prevent her from wearing the crown. Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea's kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust. But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun�??a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive. This book will be a beautifully designed package with illustrated endpapers, a map of the Tearling, and a ribbon… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member neverlistless
I am so happy that I read this book. Other than the Song of Ice and Fire series, I don't typically read fantasy books even though I've always wanted to. I've never had one hold my attention, but this one had just enough magic, intrigue, politics, and drama to keep me engaged.
This has a medieval
We start with Kelsea Raleigh, who is heir to the throne of the Tearling. Kelsea's mother, Queen Elyssa, senses danger and sends Kelsea away as a young child to be fostered by Barty and Carlin Glynn in a picturesque cottage outside of the capital city, New London. Queen Elyssa is murdered when Kelsea is just a toddler and Kelsea knows that she is the future queen. She is given a rigorous formal education by the steely spined Carlin while Barty showers Kelsea with affection and teaches her about things like plants and knife fighting. Kelsea must never be discovered because there are people in the kingdom who do not want her to claim her throne and are trying to assassinate her.
Kelsea's proof that she is the future queen is borne on her arm and around her neck: she was branded with a burn the length of her forearm and always wears a beautiful sapphire necklace. When she is 19, members of her mother's guard who remain loyal to the true rulers of the Tearling, arrive on horseback at the cottage to return her to her rightful home.
This journey and her early days of ruling are fraught with danger. She quickly learns that her uncle, acting as regent, is a selfish sycophant and has stood idle as the kingdom has suffered at the hands of the Red Queen, with which they have a treaty that demands a regular shipment of Tearling people to serve as slaves, prostitutes, and laborers in her own kingdom. She begins to learn things about her mother, who agreed to and signed the treaty, that lead her to believe that she wasn't a very successful queen. Kelsea has to earn the respect and loyalty of her Queen's Guard as well as the people of the kingdom.
Kelsea begins to learn the magic of her sapphire necklace as soon as she leaves the Glynn's cottage - it glows and gives off heat when it tries to tell her something. Sounds kooky? Yes, but it works! And I totally want one of these necklaces. Each time the sapphire necklace was mentioned, I thought about the Princess Diana/Kate Middleton sapphire engagement ring. I have a hunch that the Tear is one of the British Isles - so I wonder if the author meant to make that allusion?
Similar to The Song of Ice and Fire, the author attempts to tell the narrative from different viewpoints. She succeeds in helping the reader understand other motives, yet doesn't draw the same distinct pictures as George RR Martin. While reading this book, I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to find out what happened to the characters - the author sucked me right in and made me care about most of the characters.
I agree with the blurb on the book stating that it's a mix of The Song of Ice and Fire and the Hunter Games (many people don't). I believe that the author captured the badassery of Katniss and told the story in a way that was reminiscent of the Game of Thrones. So if you enjoyed either of those series, I think you might enjoy this one!
This has a medieval
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feel to it, but we get little hints throughout the narrative that this set in the future. From what I could glean, our present day is considered the Pre-Crossing, and then an event called The Crossing occurred, which led to the end of civilization as we know it.We start with Kelsea Raleigh, who is heir to the throne of the Tearling. Kelsea's mother, Queen Elyssa, senses danger and sends Kelsea away as a young child to be fostered by Barty and Carlin Glynn in a picturesque cottage outside of the capital city, New London. Queen Elyssa is murdered when Kelsea is just a toddler and Kelsea knows that she is the future queen. She is given a rigorous formal education by the steely spined Carlin while Barty showers Kelsea with affection and teaches her about things like plants and knife fighting. Kelsea must never be discovered because there are people in the kingdom who do not want her to claim her throne and are trying to assassinate her.
Kelsea's proof that she is the future queen is borne on her arm and around her neck: she was branded with a burn the length of her forearm and always wears a beautiful sapphire necklace. When she is 19, members of her mother's guard who remain loyal to the true rulers of the Tearling, arrive on horseback at the cottage to return her to her rightful home.
This journey and her early days of ruling are fraught with danger. She quickly learns that her uncle, acting as regent, is a selfish sycophant and has stood idle as the kingdom has suffered at the hands of the Red Queen, with which they have a treaty that demands a regular shipment of Tearling people to serve as slaves, prostitutes, and laborers in her own kingdom. She begins to learn things about her mother, who agreed to and signed the treaty, that lead her to believe that she wasn't a very successful queen. Kelsea has to earn the respect and loyalty of her Queen's Guard as well as the people of the kingdom.
Kelsea begins to learn the magic of her sapphire necklace as soon as she leaves the Glynn's cottage - it glows and gives off heat when it tries to tell her something. Sounds kooky? Yes, but it works! And I totally want one of these necklaces. Each time the sapphire necklace was mentioned, I thought about the Princess Diana/Kate Middleton sapphire engagement ring. I have a hunch that the Tear is one of the British Isles - so I wonder if the author meant to make that allusion?
Similar to The Song of Ice and Fire, the author attempts to tell the narrative from different viewpoints. She succeeds in helping the reader understand other motives, yet doesn't draw the same distinct pictures as George RR Martin. While reading this book, I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to find out what happened to the characters - the author sucked me right in and made me care about most of the characters.
I agree with the blurb on the book stating that it's a mix of The Song of Ice and Fire and the Hunter Games (many people don't). I believe that the author captured the badassery of Katniss and told the story in a way that was reminiscent of the Game of Thrones. So if you enjoyed either of those series, I think you might enjoy this one!
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LibraryThing member bell7
Kelsea Raleigh has lived all her life in hiding with Barty and Carlin. In their cottage in the woods, this odd couple has taught her and groomed her to become Queen of the Tearling. Now, at the age of 19, Kelsea has come of age and it is time for her to go back to the Keep and rule her people - if
This is the first book by author Erika Johansen, and it shows a lot of inventiveness and promise. The idea of a good person thrown into a terrifying political situation reminded me of [The Goblin Emperor], but the world created here, its politics and history is very different. I like Kelsea and some of the other characters I encountered; the violence was a little much for my taste. The audio version is read by Katherine Kellgren, and is a fantastic performance.
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she can survive. Internal and external threads surround her, and she must quickly learn how to deal with politics and the thread of the Red Queen of Mortmesne.This is the first book by author Erika Johansen, and it shows a lot of inventiveness and promise. The idea of a good person thrown into a terrifying political situation reminded me of [The Goblin Emperor], but the world created here, its politics and history is very different. I like Kelsea and some of the other characters I encountered; the violence was a little much for my taste. The audio version is read by Katherine Kellgren, and is a fantastic performance.
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LibraryThing member fyrefly98
Summary: Kelsea Glynn has grown up in seclusion, raised by an elderly couple who prepared her to one day become Queen of Tearling. Her mother, Queen Elyssa, had placed Kelsea into hiding before her death, knowing that there would be many forces that wanted to kill her: her brother the Regent, a
Review: I was so excited for this book. We all know that I love me some epic fatty-fat fantasy. (Although at fewer than 450 pages, I guess this doesn't really qualify as fatty-fat. But it's a trade paperback, so it'd probably be fatty-fat-ier in mass market paperback form. Anyways. I love epic fantasy, I was excited about an epic fantasy with a central female character (and female chief villain), and the advance buzz on this book has already been quite good. So, I was excited, and went in with pretty high expectations.
That may have been the problem.
This book was good. I enjoyed it. But as I was reading, I couldn't help thinking about other first-novel-in-a-fatty-fat-epic-fantasy series that I've read - things like The Eye of the World, A Game of Thrones, The Name of the Wind, Kushiel's Dart, The Final Empire, etc. - and unfortunately, the comparisons did not come out in The Queen of Tearling's favor, whatever the promotional cover copy might want you to believe. I'll try to parse out the reasons why those books worked so well, why they sucked me in when this one didn't, in a minute, but first I want to address the myriad things that this book does well.
The best part of this book is its characters. I liked Kelsea, believed her, believed her struggles to come to grips with who she is and what she has to do and what that means. I liked that she is not perfect, but she's trying, and learning to live with the consequences. I also really liked the supporting characters - the good guys, at least. There's obviously a lot of backstory that's missing, that Johansen has yet to dole out, but watching their characters be revealed through their actions and their stories was also quite interesting. I was less impressed with the bad guys - yes, okay, they're doing despicable things, but I just didn't ever get any real sense of danger or menace off of them, even when I was supposed to. (This may be due to Johansen's choice to head each chapter with a quote from a future history book being written about these events, which make it pretty clear what the eventual outcome is going to be.)
I also liked Johansen's writing style. She can be very evocative without ever getting bogged down in description, and keeps the action scenes moving and the dialogue snappy. There are some really potent images that she creates throughout the book, starting with the first scene involving of the arrival of "Nine men, ten horses." The book in general is easy to read, and the prose flows nicely. The story is an interesting one - not a rehash of your standard high fantasy pigboy plot, at least - and has a lot of promising elements. The plotting is mostly quite good as well - it doesn't contain as self-contained of a story as I'd like for a book in a longer series, but it at least leaves the story at a reasonable place.
My main issue with this book, the best way that I can describe why other epic fantasy novels swept me away and this one didn't, is that all of the pieces of The Queen of the Tearling didn't fit together into an organic whole. I'm not sure whether this is due to Johansen's method of worldbuilding, the nature of the world she's building, or something else entirely, but whatever it was, it kept me from falling into the story. The world initially seems like a pretty standard medieval swords-and-sorcery one, but it soon becomes clear that this series is set in the future, in a world post-Crossing, a world that has the Christian bible and Tolkien and Rowling. There are hints about what happened during the Crossing, and why Tearling is the way it is, and it's clear that more of these will be dropped over time, but what we have at the moment doesn't really fit together into something that makes sense, even in part.
It also struggles a bit with tone - parts of it read as almost YA-esque, particularly the points from the somewhat naïve Kelsea's POV, but then there will be a f-bomb or a sexual reference or something else that seems gratuitous, since it feels like it's there mostly to point out that there's bad things going on. Like, if characters are the type to swear, they'd probably be swearing a lot more than currently do. I'm not opposed to swearing or sex scenes or other R-rated bits, but I feel like they're used inconsistently here, more for effect than as an organic part of the world. There's also no explanation of how the magic works, which I'm sure will also be coming later in the series, but for now mostly makes "the magic necklace tells Kelsea what to do" seem like an overly convenient plot device. (And, ugh, please, can we have a respite from the magic jewels that glow like fire when their owners need them? Maybe that - and the overweight princess heroine - are why I kept being reminded of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, although that book is substantially more pro-religion than this one.) It all could pay off in the end, depending on the direction Johansen is heading, but at the moment, that direction is too unclear, and the pieces we have too fragmented to be satisfying.
So, overall, this book was a good read, and I enjoyed it. But it didn't really live up to my (overly high) expectations, and while I'll certainly read the sequels, I'm not exactly gasping for them, either. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Fans of epic fantasy, particularly fans of epic fantasy who are tired of male heroes, should enjoy this one, but do your best not to let the over-hyping this book is receiving color your expectations too much.
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band of legendary assassins, but above all else, the powerful and mysterious Red Queen of Mortmense. On the day of Kelsea's nineteenth birthday, however, the Queen's Guards turn up at the secluded cottage to take Kelsea to the capital, so she can claim her throne. But their path is not easy, for not only must they evade the forces that are seeking to kill Kelsea, but she must claim her throne once she has made it to the capital. And there is still a difference between claiming the throne, and actually being Queen… and Kelsea must deal with the legacy left behind by her mother's and uncle's rule, if she hopes to be able to save her country from the Red Queen - and from itself.Review: I was so excited for this book. We all know that I love me some epic fatty-fat fantasy. (Although at fewer than 450 pages, I guess this doesn't really qualify as fatty-fat. But it's a trade paperback, so it'd probably be fatty-fat-ier in mass market paperback form. Anyways. I love epic fantasy, I was excited about an epic fantasy with a central female character (and female chief villain), and the advance buzz on this book has already been quite good. So, I was excited, and went in with pretty high expectations.
That may have been the problem.
This book was good. I enjoyed it. But as I was reading, I couldn't help thinking about other first-novel-in-a-fatty-fat-epic-fantasy series that I've read - things like The Eye of the World, A Game of Thrones, The Name of the Wind, Kushiel's Dart, The Final Empire, etc. - and unfortunately, the comparisons did not come out in The Queen of Tearling's favor, whatever the promotional cover copy might want you to believe. I'll try to parse out the reasons why those books worked so well, why they sucked me in when this one didn't, in a minute, but first I want to address the myriad things that this book does well.
The best part of this book is its characters. I liked Kelsea, believed her, believed her struggles to come to grips with who she is and what she has to do and what that means. I liked that she is not perfect, but she's trying, and learning to live with the consequences. I also really liked the supporting characters - the good guys, at least. There's obviously a lot of backstory that's missing, that Johansen has yet to dole out, but watching their characters be revealed through their actions and their stories was also quite interesting. I was less impressed with the bad guys - yes, okay, they're doing despicable things, but I just didn't ever get any real sense of danger or menace off of them, even when I was supposed to. (This may be due to Johansen's choice to head each chapter with a quote from a future history book being written about these events, which make it pretty clear what the eventual outcome is going to be.)
I also liked Johansen's writing style. She can be very evocative without ever getting bogged down in description, and keeps the action scenes moving and the dialogue snappy. There are some really potent images that she creates throughout the book, starting with the first scene involving of the arrival of "Nine men, ten horses." The book in general is easy to read, and the prose flows nicely. The story is an interesting one - not a rehash of your standard high fantasy pigboy plot, at least - and has a lot of promising elements. The plotting is mostly quite good as well - it doesn't contain as self-contained of a story as I'd like for a book in a longer series, but it at least leaves the story at a reasonable place.
My main issue with this book, the best way that I can describe why other epic fantasy novels swept me away and this one didn't, is that all of the pieces of The Queen of the Tearling didn't fit together into an organic whole. I'm not sure whether this is due to Johansen's method of worldbuilding, the nature of the world she's building, or something else entirely, but whatever it was, it kept me from falling into the story. The world initially seems like a pretty standard medieval swords-and-sorcery one, but it soon becomes clear that this series is set in the future, in a world post-Crossing, a world that has the Christian bible and Tolkien and Rowling. There are hints about what happened during the Crossing, and why Tearling is the way it is, and it's clear that more of these will be dropped over time, but what we have at the moment doesn't really fit together into something that makes sense, even in part.
It also struggles a bit with tone - parts of it read as almost YA-esque, particularly the points from the somewhat naïve Kelsea's POV, but then there will be a f-bomb or a sexual reference or something else that seems gratuitous, since it feels like it's there mostly to point out that there's bad things going on. Like, if characters are the type to swear, they'd probably be swearing a lot more than currently do. I'm not opposed to swearing or sex scenes or other R-rated bits, but I feel like they're used inconsistently here, more for effect than as an organic part of the world. There's also no explanation of how the magic works, which I'm sure will also be coming later in the series, but for now mostly makes "the magic necklace tells Kelsea what to do" seem like an overly convenient plot device. (And, ugh, please, can we have a respite from the magic jewels that glow like fire when their owners need them? Maybe that - and the overweight princess heroine - are why I kept being reminded of The Girl of Fire and Thorns, although that book is substantially more pro-religion than this one.) It all could pay off in the end, depending on the direction Johansen is heading, but at the moment, that direction is too unclear, and the pieces we have too fragmented to be satisfying.
So, overall, this book was a good read, and I enjoyed it. But it didn't really live up to my (overly high) expectations, and while I'll certainly read the sequels, I'm not exactly gasping for them, either. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Fans of epic fantasy, particularly fans of epic fantasy who are tired of male heroes, should enjoy this one, but do your best not to let the over-hyping this book is receiving color your expectations too much.
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LibraryThing member mckait
The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel by Erika Johansen is a gripping read, with Kelsea, a young woman as lead character. More than anything this book reminds me of the series by Kristen Cashore. Graceling, Bitterblue and Fire were spellbinding. They too had a young woman of strength and wisdom beyond
This book opens with Kelsea in a tree, watching her future approach in the form of a group of men, soldiers, the Queen's Guard. She had always known that she was to be the next queen, but it had meant little to her beyond lessons and some hard training. She had been raised far from the palace, and had no experience with society, let alone royalty. But it was her nineteenth birthday. The time had come to remove the regent, her uncle, a man of no honor and much greed, from the throne and take control of the people who waited for the true queen. Kelsea had her doubts about her abilities to rule, to be responsible for the lives of so many. But, she also knew that it was her destiny. She had to at least try. It was her good fortune to be surrounded by men who had been the Queen's Guard for her mother, the woman who sent her away to save her life, and set her into the care of two good and honorable people. They had done their job well. Kelsea slid from the branch of the tree to stride into her future.
This book is filled with adventure, and some misadventure as well. As she rode into her keep, she was told that this was where she would write the first page of her history as the queen of the Tearling. Her people. She made a grand entrance, and within moments of entering the keep, where her uncle had held court and squandered the lives and the people of the Tearling, she managed in one stroke to gain the hearts and loyalty of her people, and the guards of her mother, who would become her own Queen's Guard as well. The rather grand entrance Kelsea made saved the lives of many people, and ended with cages that had moments before been filled with people, in flames. Things were going to change, and change quickly.
Kelsea was brave, and gifted and willing to take the advice of those who had more experience than she herself had. She learned quickly who she could trust, even though there were those questioned some of her choices. Especially the masked thief that had helped to rescue her as she rode away from her old life towards her new one. From the moment that she stepped up and ordered the regent to off of her throne, she was fighting not only for her throne but for her life. I can hardly wait to see where her story takes us. I suspect that there will be many surprises in store, and I look forward to reading them.
This book is appropriate for young adults, and I recommend it highly for adults as well.
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her years.This book opens with Kelsea in a tree, watching her future approach in the form of a group of men, soldiers, the Queen's Guard. She had always known that she was to be the next queen, but it had meant little to her beyond lessons and some hard training. She had been raised far from the palace, and had no experience with society, let alone royalty. But it was her nineteenth birthday. The time had come to remove the regent, her uncle, a man of no honor and much greed, from the throne and take control of the people who waited for the true queen. Kelsea had her doubts about her abilities to rule, to be responsible for the lives of so many. But, she also knew that it was her destiny. She had to at least try. It was her good fortune to be surrounded by men who had been the Queen's Guard for her mother, the woman who sent her away to save her life, and set her into the care of two good and honorable people. They had done their job well. Kelsea slid from the branch of the tree to stride into her future.
This book is filled with adventure, and some misadventure as well. As she rode into her keep, she was told that this was where she would write the first page of her history as the queen of the Tearling. Her people. She made a grand entrance, and within moments of entering the keep, where her uncle had held court and squandered the lives and the people of the Tearling, she managed in one stroke to gain the hearts and loyalty of her people, and the guards of her mother, who would become her own Queen's Guard as well. The rather grand entrance Kelsea made saved the lives of many people, and ended with cages that had moments before been filled with people, in flames. Things were going to change, and change quickly.
Kelsea was brave, and gifted and willing to take the advice of those who had more experience than she herself had. She learned quickly who she could trust, even though there were those questioned some of her choices. Especially the masked thief that had helped to rescue her as she rode away from her old life towards her new one. From the moment that she stepped up and ordered the regent to off of her throne, she was fighting not only for her throne but for her life. I can hardly wait to see where her story takes us. I suspect that there will be many surprises in store, and I look forward to reading them.
This book is appropriate for young adults, and I recommend it highly for adults as well.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
The Queen of the Tearling has all of the elements that have made such dystopian/fantasy novels so popular with the young adult crowd. Yet, this story is definitely for adults. There is explicitness to the Tearling and to Mortmesne that one does not see in young adult novels. In her fight to be
Because this is the first novel in a series of three, there are, as expected, many unanswered questions. However, this does not prove detrimental to one’s enjoyment of the story. If anything, it creates a delicious sense of anticipation; for, the unanswered questions are a reminder that there are hidden depths to Kelsea’s powers and an entire unknown aspect of Tearling history she must learn before she can repair the damage of her predecessors. Since the reader only sees the unfolding events through Kelsea’s eyes, one does not mind the lack of answers because it allows the reader to empathize with Kelsea in such a fashion that would have proved impossible if a reader had more knowledge than she does. A reader’s ignorance enhances the story because of the active involvement in attempting to solve the mysteries alongside Kelsea.
The story moves along at a quick pace without sacrificing world building. Character development may be slight but it is a forgivable offense due to the fact that neither Kelsea nor the readers know anything about the characters she meets along her journey and in her palace. Visually, Kelsea’s world is stunning. With its gorgeous attention to all five senses, readers appreciate the physical difficulties Kelsea must endure. There is an added wonder in the origins of the Tearling because for all its antiquated tools and equipment, those living in the Tearling are living in the future. This is not a post-apocalyptic world in which civilization regresses. It is a lifestyle choice made hundreds of years ago by a group of settlers. This is a very important distinction and one that truly sets The Queen of the Tearling apart from other fantasy or science fiction novels.
There is so much to love about Erika Johansen’s novel and very little to dislike. Her characters are realistic, mysterious, and even fun. Her setting is intriguing and detailed. The hints at the Tearling past raise more enticing questions without distracting from the main story. One instinctively knows that there is more substance than initially appears, that the apparent good versus evil scenario which is so interesting is going to be a lot messier by the time the series ends. It is this potential – for answers, for more depth, for more gray areas of morality – that make The Queen of the Tearling truly impressive and which will grab a reader’s imagination the most.
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queen and to maintain her crown, Kelsea must fight some of the greatest evils humans can inflict on one another. More importantly, she must make the most difficult choices in which sometimes there is no winnable solution, as a true leader often faces. The details are graphic, to the point where it might make some readers highly uncomfortable. Yet, Kelsea’s determination to win back her kingdom provides the perfect good versus evil scenario that will overcome a reader’s disgust and rouse their admiration.Because this is the first novel in a series of three, there are, as expected, many unanswered questions. However, this does not prove detrimental to one’s enjoyment of the story. If anything, it creates a delicious sense of anticipation; for, the unanswered questions are a reminder that there are hidden depths to Kelsea’s powers and an entire unknown aspect of Tearling history she must learn before she can repair the damage of her predecessors. Since the reader only sees the unfolding events through Kelsea’s eyes, one does not mind the lack of answers because it allows the reader to empathize with Kelsea in such a fashion that would have proved impossible if a reader had more knowledge than she does. A reader’s ignorance enhances the story because of the active involvement in attempting to solve the mysteries alongside Kelsea.
The story moves along at a quick pace without sacrificing world building. Character development may be slight but it is a forgivable offense due to the fact that neither Kelsea nor the readers know anything about the characters she meets along her journey and in her palace. Visually, Kelsea’s world is stunning. With its gorgeous attention to all five senses, readers appreciate the physical difficulties Kelsea must endure. There is an added wonder in the origins of the Tearling because for all its antiquated tools and equipment, those living in the Tearling are living in the future. This is not a post-apocalyptic world in which civilization regresses. It is a lifestyle choice made hundreds of years ago by a group of settlers. This is a very important distinction and one that truly sets The Queen of the Tearling apart from other fantasy or science fiction novels.
There is so much to love about Erika Johansen’s novel and very little to dislike. Her characters are realistic, mysterious, and even fun. Her setting is intriguing and detailed. The hints at the Tearling past raise more enticing questions without distracting from the main story. One instinctively knows that there is more substance than initially appears, that the apparent good versus evil scenario which is so interesting is going to be a lot messier by the time the series ends. It is this potential – for answers, for more depth, for more gray areas of morality – that make The Queen of the Tearling truly impressive and which will grab a reader’s imagination the most.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
I love the cover of this, the idea of the crown as trap, and that's true about it, this crown is a trap with a lot of pitfalls and problems. Kelsea is 19 and, as expected, the Queen's Guard comes to take her away from her foster family. She is to be queen and her foster family have trained her for
On her way to the city she encounters adventure and a bandit who intrigues her.
When she arrives it's to the tribute to be sent to the Red Queen, hundreds of people, torn from their families, thrown into cages to be sent away to an unknown fate. She loses her temper and frees the tributes and declares no more. This starts a ball rolling, unseating her Uncle, the regent from her throne will be the next thing, that and staying alive.
I liked it, I want to know more about what happens, even if there are several rather blatant clues with some characters, I'm still curious about how the people got to this world and what's behind a lot of the mysteries.
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her future, but they have told her very little about her mother, who is dead. On her way to the city she encounters adventure and a bandit who intrigues her.
When she arrives it's to the tribute to be sent to the Red Queen, hundreds of people, torn from their families, thrown into cages to be sent away to an unknown fate. She loses her temper and frees the tributes and declares no more. This starts a ball rolling, unseating her Uncle, the regent from her throne will be the next thing, that and staying alive.
I liked it, I want to know more about what happens, even if there are several rather blatant clues with some characters, I'm still curious about how the people got to this world and what's behind a lot of the mysteries.
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LibraryThing member pwaites
On one hand, The Queen of the Tearling has an interesting premise and a promising lead. On the other hand, the world building has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese and some sizable blind spots regarding race, culture, and religion. Basically, the author writes a medieval European fantasy
Kelsea Raleigh, daughter of Queen Elyssa and heir to the throne of Tearling, has spent her entire life in hiding from assassins sent by her uncle. On her nineteenth birthday, she must make her way to the capital, claim the throne, put to right the myriad wrongs infecting her kingdom, and survive long enough to do so. For the kingdom of Tearling is subservient to the nearby nation of Mortmesne, ruled by the immortal Red Queen.
On the bright side, I mainly liked Kelsea. There’s some obvious logic flaws with how she was kept in the dark about what’s going on in her kingdom, but I could mostly roll my eyes and move past it. Kelsea’s determined and brave, idealistic and kind hearted. If handled correctly, she could be a protagonist such as Maia from The Goblin Emperor. However, it often felt like we were being told how wonderful Kelsea was or that the narrative was being arranged to make Kelsea look good or prevent her from making hard choices or facing the consequences of her naive idealism. Additionally, there was a lot of really weird stuff going on with Kelsea and physical appearance. The book continually points out how plain Kelsea is (most cringingly when the love interest says she’s “too plain” for him to rape), and often with a focus on Kelsea’s weight. Do we need to reiterate that thin does not equal healthy? She could have rock solid abs under her body fat, and besides muscle weighs more than fat. Geeze. Then there’s how Kelsea constantly judges other women’s appearances. The very worst is when she thinks this particular gem:
“How could a woman who looked so old still place so much importance on being attractive? She had read about this particular delusion in books many times, but it was different to see it in practice. And for all the anguish that Kelsea’s own reflection had caused her lately, she saw now that there was something far worse than being ugly: being ugly and thinking you were beautiful.”
I don’t think I need to go into explaining what’s wrong with that statement. However, it might tie into some of the other weirdness this book has regarding gender and sex. For one, The Queen of the Tearling is a fan of the “make all the villains rapists” tactic so that you know they’re evil since slave trading, corruption, and setting out to conquer the world might not be enough to tip the reader off. But leaving aside the fact that her uncle’s wandering around with a sex slave on a leash, Kelsea’s weak and decadent mother was also super promiscuous (the entire country’s taking bets on the identity of Kelsea’s father). Basically this leads to a trend where the pure and virginal heroine is contrasted to evil promiscuous women, which leads to me side eyeing the entire thing. Oh, and one of the evil promiscuous women is an Evil Albino character as well.
Going into The Queen of the Tearling, I had some vague knowledge that it took place in the future, which was true. The kingdom of Tearling was founded by British and Americans with dreams of an atheist socialist utopia that somehow ended up a feudal kingdom with a Catholic Church analog? And no, there’s no explanation of how this about face happened.
Replicating your standard medieval Europe fantasy into the future brings with it some issues. I mean, standard medieval Europe fantasy already had these issues, but when it is a completely separate world I’m mostly able to roll my eyes and accept it, which I’m not willing to do for a future setting. Basically, it feels like the author put no thought at all into extrapolating real world cultures and customs into the future. Instead she just copied and pasted an inaccurate pop culture view of medieval Europe. For instance, she seems to have almost completely overlooked race. The people of the Tearling are descended largely from Americans and… they’re all white? I tried to explain this to myself by guessing that the original socialist group was super racially biased and made up only of white hippies, but honestly it’s anyone’s guess. Oh, there is one black man in the book, which does raise some more questions. Have the descendants of the original Crossing remained racially distinct? Why? (And if so why don’t you see more of them?) Or is he from that foreign country that was implied to be mostly black? Where did the citizens of that kingdom come from anyway? Another example of this book’s logic flaws is that Mortmesne used to be “New Europe,” by which I’m guessing it was colonized by the EU or some body like it. However, their culture seems exactly the same as the American and British Tearling. And is Mortmesne culturally monolithic or do they have some remnants of their old nationalities?
And the only religious options are Christian or atheist? No other religions made the leap into the future? And no new ones have been formed? Not even medieval Europe was this cut and dried. Additionally, the thinly veiled version of the Catholic Church is two dimensional and little besides evil and oppressive. Oh, and Kelsea spouts stuff about her atheism while implying (or was it outright stating?) that everyone who believes in God is stupid. All of this makes me wonder how much Kelsea is acting as an author’s mouthpiece. Also, there’s this several paragraph digression about how homophobic the church is and how it has special teams devoted to tracking down and killing gay people. Since there are no gay people actually in the book, I’m guessing that this is foreshadowing for our straight heroine saving the gays and boosting her ally creds.
There’s more I can say, but since this rant has already gone over a thousand words, I’m going to wrap it up here. If there’s one point in The Queen of the Tearling‘s favor, it’s that I was able to read all of it. Most of its problems where things that didn’t completely jolt me out of the book but instead niggled away at me and stewed inside until it became time to write a review. While I like the idea of a fantasy novel set in the far future, The Queen of the Tearling is not a book I can recommend.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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(with all the problems typical of those books)… but sets it in the future.Kelsea Raleigh, daughter of Queen Elyssa and heir to the throne of Tearling, has spent her entire life in hiding from assassins sent by her uncle. On her nineteenth birthday, she must make her way to the capital, claim the throne, put to right the myriad wrongs infecting her kingdom, and survive long enough to do so. For the kingdom of Tearling is subservient to the nearby nation of Mortmesne, ruled by the immortal Red Queen.
On the bright side, I mainly liked Kelsea. There’s some obvious logic flaws with how she was kept in the dark about what’s going on in her kingdom, but I could mostly roll my eyes and move past it. Kelsea’s determined and brave, idealistic and kind hearted. If handled correctly, she could be a protagonist such as Maia from The Goblin Emperor. However, it often felt like we were being told how wonderful Kelsea was or that the narrative was being arranged to make Kelsea look good or prevent her from making hard choices or facing the consequences of her naive idealism. Additionally, there was a lot of really weird stuff going on with Kelsea and physical appearance. The book continually points out how plain Kelsea is (most cringingly when the love interest says she’s “too plain” for him to rape), and often with a focus on Kelsea’s weight. Do we need to reiterate that thin does not equal healthy? She could have rock solid abs under her body fat, and besides muscle weighs more than fat. Geeze. Then there’s how Kelsea constantly judges other women’s appearances. The very worst is when she thinks this particular gem:
“How could a woman who looked so old still place so much importance on being attractive? She had read about this particular delusion in books many times, but it was different to see it in practice. And for all the anguish that Kelsea’s own reflection had caused her lately, she saw now that there was something far worse than being ugly: being ugly and thinking you were beautiful.”
I don’t think I need to go into explaining what’s wrong with that statement. However, it might tie into some of the other weirdness this book has regarding gender and sex. For one, The Queen of the Tearling is a fan of the “make all the villains rapists” tactic so that you know they’re evil since slave trading, corruption, and setting out to conquer the world might not be enough to tip the reader off. But leaving aside the fact that her uncle’s wandering around with a sex slave on a leash, Kelsea’s weak and decadent mother was also super promiscuous (the entire country’s taking bets on the identity of Kelsea’s father). Basically this leads to a trend where the pure and virginal heroine is contrasted to evil promiscuous women, which leads to me side eyeing the entire thing. Oh, and one of the evil promiscuous women is an Evil Albino character as well.
Going into The Queen of the Tearling, I had some vague knowledge that it took place in the future, which was true. The kingdom of Tearling was founded by British and Americans with dreams of an atheist socialist utopia that somehow ended up a feudal kingdom with a Catholic Church analog? And no, there’s no explanation of how this about face happened.
Replicating your standard medieval Europe fantasy into the future brings with it some issues. I mean, standard medieval Europe fantasy already had these issues, but when it is a completely separate world I’m mostly able to roll my eyes and accept it, which I’m not willing to do for a future setting. Basically, it feels like the author put no thought at all into extrapolating real world cultures and customs into the future. Instead she just copied and pasted an inaccurate pop culture view of medieval Europe. For instance, she seems to have almost completely overlooked race. The people of the Tearling are descended largely from Americans and… they’re all white? I tried to explain this to myself by guessing that the original socialist group was super racially biased and made up only of white hippies, but honestly it’s anyone’s guess. Oh, there is one black man in the book, which does raise some more questions. Have the descendants of the original Crossing remained racially distinct? Why? (And if so why don’t you see more of them?) Or is he from that foreign country that was implied to be mostly black? Where did the citizens of that kingdom come from anyway? Another example of this book’s logic flaws is that Mortmesne used to be “New Europe,” by which I’m guessing it was colonized by the EU or some body like it. However, their culture seems exactly the same as the American and British Tearling. And is Mortmesne culturally monolithic or do they have some remnants of their old nationalities?
And the only religious options are Christian or atheist? No other religions made the leap into the future? And no new ones have been formed? Not even medieval Europe was this cut and dried. Additionally, the thinly veiled version of the Catholic Church is two dimensional and little besides evil and oppressive. Oh, and Kelsea spouts stuff about her atheism while implying (or was it outright stating?) that everyone who believes in God is stupid. All of this makes me wonder how much Kelsea is acting as an author’s mouthpiece. Also, there’s this several paragraph digression about how homophobic the church is and how it has special teams devoted to tracking down and killing gay people. Since there are no gay people actually in the book, I’m guessing that this is foreshadowing for our straight heroine saving the gays and boosting her ally creds.
There’s more I can say, but since this rant has already gone over a thousand words, I’m going to wrap it up here. If there’s one point in The Queen of the Tearling‘s favor, it’s that I was able to read all of it. Most of its problems where things that didn’t completely jolt me out of the book but instead niggled away at me and stewed inside until it became time to write a review. While I like the idea of a fantasy novel set in the far future, The Queen of the Tearling is not a book I can recommend.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
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LibraryThing member AJBraithwaite
Not sure that there's such a genre as bleeding-edge fantasy, but if there is, this book would fall fair and square in the middle of it. I enjoyed the escapism and the book-loving, ball-breaking main character. I didn't find the world that she inhabits entirely convincing - the idea of a society
I was listening to the audio book version, which was generally fine, although the delivery was somewhat shouty at times, and the pronunciation of some words was strange. (Does anyone else say 'passage' to rhyme with 'massage'?).
And 'eldritch'? We know it's a fantasy book. But really, don't use that word. And certainly not more than once.
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deliberately choosing to give up its technological advances in a new/old world setting seemed strange (why not just set the world in its own universe without reference to Earth?).I was listening to the audio book version, which was generally fine, although the delivery was somewhat shouty at times, and the pronunciation of some words was strange. (Does anyone else say 'passage' to rhyme with 'massage'?).
And 'eldritch'? We know it's a fantasy book. But really, don't use that word. And certainly not more than once.
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LibraryThing member mirikayla
I can't decide whether I want to give it four stars or five. I really liked it, I loved the audio narration, and I'm thoroughly pleased to see that its sequel comes out in two months. There were minor annoyances, to be sure—I can't quite swallow the premise that their world is post-our world, for
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one thing. (Where, physically, is it even supposed to exist? I'm assuming that whole explanation is planned for a later book, but it was a bit risky to ask us to take that much on faith.) I think the story is strong enough to pull it off, though, and Kelsea is a fantastic character. I'm looking forward to the next book and racing my coworkers to get to it first. Show Less
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Once, a colony ship crashed on a new planet and seeded it with human life. Now, many generations later, Kelsea lives a simple and strict life in the woods. On her eighteenth birthday the Queen's Guard comes to her hidden home to take her away. She is the Queen of Tear, and now that she's of age,
I really liked Kelsea. She's not a character I usually get in YA or fantasy fiction. She is plain and solidly built, and her feelings about her appearance felt real and recognizable. The other facets of her personality feel just as recognizable, from her liking for fiction books (a rare commodity) to her tangled feelings about her very helpful, but very unnurturing, foster mother.
I love the idea behind the world--that it's what remains after a space colony went terribly wrong--but the worldbuilding feels a bit sloppy and unlikely. I was annoyed that the villains of the book got POV chapters to lay out their exact plans and reveal their weaknesses--I'd prefer a more even match. The most annoying thing were the snippets of history and tales from the future, which make it clear that Kelsea wins and is remembered for generations as a paragon of a queen. I like not knowing the ending of stories, and I was enjoying Kelsea's unpopular rulings...making it explicit that she completely triumphs in the end removes a lot of the fun for me.
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it's time she puts to use all the learning her foster parents stuffed into her head. Kelsea struggles to be a ruler, finding it hard to understand and forgive her birth mother for being a terrible one, and finding it just as hard to be a young woman when she has to be an inspiring queen. Luckily she has good sense, a good heart, and two magical gems to help her guide her people and defend them against the Mortmesne Queen.I really liked Kelsea. She's not a character I usually get in YA or fantasy fiction. She is plain and solidly built, and her feelings about her appearance felt real and recognizable. The other facets of her personality feel just as recognizable, from her liking for fiction books (a rare commodity) to her tangled feelings about her very helpful, but very unnurturing, foster mother.
I love the idea behind the world--that it's what remains after a space colony went terribly wrong--but the worldbuilding feels a bit sloppy and unlikely. I was annoyed that the villains of the book got POV chapters to lay out their exact plans and reveal their weaknesses--I'd prefer a more even match. The most annoying thing were the snippets of history and tales from the future, which make it clear that Kelsea wins and is remembered for generations as a paragon of a queen. I like not knowing the ending of stories, and I was enjoying Kelsea's unpopular rulings...making it explicit that she completely triumphs in the end removes a lot of the fun for me.
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LibraryThing member EmpressReece
Kelsea the Kick-Ass Tearling Queen She's strong, she's fierce, she's brave. She has a backbone & brass balls to go with it! She's Kelsea Raleigh Glynn- the Queen of Tearling. She is one kick-ass heroine! I think I like her so much because she was ballsy and courageous from page one. She's never had
Kelsea was raised by foster parents until the age of 19 at which time the Queen's guards set out to bring her back to the palace to claim her rightful place on the throne. The story takes you from her life in the country with her foster parents through her struggles in reaching the palace, claiming the throne & gaining the popularity of her new kingdom. The story literally enveloped me from the very beginning. It was really fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The setting and world building however had some issues. As you're reading it, you get the feeling that it's set in the past, in medieval times by the way they live, dress, ride horses, use canons and bows & arrows etc. Then at one point Kelsea hands out books to her servants children and she gives them The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings etc. which thoroughly threw me for a loop. I'm like wait a second so what year is this again?? The city they are in is called New London which also makes you think it's a future dystopian world. Plus they give hints to something that happened called "The Crossing" which I believe is when they came to this new world but this Crossing is never explained in detail. So yeah there are definitely some world building issues that need to be clarified. Hopefully, in the next book they will be, but it really should have been done in this one. If it weren't for the setting contradictions, I would have given the book 5 stars.
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a fragile, weak, prissy, dependent bone in her body. If I had to pick my favorite fictional heroine, it would have to be her.Kelsea was raised by foster parents until the age of 19 at which time the Queen's guards set out to bring her back to the palace to claim her rightful place on the throne. The story takes you from her life in the country with her foster parents through her struggles in reaching the palace, claiming the throne & gaining the popularity of her new kingdom. The story literally enveloped me from the very beginning. It was really fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The setting and world building however had some issues. As you're reading it, you get the feeling that it's set in the past, in medieval times by the way they live, dress, ride horses, use canons and bows & arrows etc. Then at one point Kelsea hands out books to her servants children and she gives them The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings etc. which thoroughly threw me for a loop. I'm like wait a second so what year is this again?? The city they are in is called New London which also makes you think it's a future dystopian world. Plus they give hints to something that happened called "The Crossing" which I believe is when they came to this new world but this Crossing is never explained in detail. So yeah there are definitely some world building issues that need to be clarified. Hopefully, in the next book they will be, but it really should have been done in this one. If it weren't for the setting contradictions, I would have given the book 5 stars.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
For the last few days I have been totally engrossed in The Queen of the Tearling, a fantasy read about a princess who was raised far from court in a secret location. Now surrounded by her very capable but far to few Queen’s Guard, hunted by assassins, she comes of age and is delivered to the
This story kept my interest all the way through. It also is the first of a trilogy, so many threads have been started that I am sure will be followed up in the next books. Kelsea is a great character to follow, a book-loving rather plain girl who has to watch her weight, but over the course of the book becomes a very capable ruler and learns the art of “kick-ass”. She leads with her heart and her people soon come to love her. Of course she has some very bitter and dark enemies, both in her own country and in the neighbouring country of Mortese. There are touches of magic, the dark magic of the Red Queen of Mort and the magic that comes from Kelsea’s two sapphire necklaces that she is just learning of.
The negatives that I felt with this book were that Kelsea is the only strong female, all the rest of the women who were introduced in this book seem to be victims of violence and/or sexual abuse. The setting is slightly disconcerting as there are many references to our own culture and to “The Crossing”. Obviously this is Earth in the future after some sort of disaster that has set the timeline back to the Dark Ages.
I enjoyed this story of Kelsea and her struggles to bring her kingdom peace and prosperity. The end of the book left many threats hanging over this small kingdom and I will definitely be reading on to see how these threats are resolved.
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capitol to take up her birthright and rule as Queen.This story kept my interest all the way through. It also is the first of a trilogy, so many threads have been started that I am sure will be followed up in the next books. Kelsea is a great character to follow, a book-loving rather plain girl who has to watch her weight, but over the course of the book becomes a very capable ruler and learns the art of “kick-ass”. She leads with her heart and her people soon come to love her. Of course she has some very bitter and dark enemies, both in her own country and in the neighbouring country of Mortese. There are touches of magic, the dark magic of the Red Queen of Mort and the magic that comes from Kelsea’s two sapphire necklaces that she is just learning of.
The negatives that I felt with this book were that Kelsea is the only strong female, all the rest of the women who were introduced in this book seem to be victims of violence and/or sexual abuse. The setting is slightly disconcerting as there are many references to our own culture and to “The Crossing”. Obviously this is Earth in the future after some sort of disaster that has set the timeline back to the Dark Ages.
I enjoyed this story of Kelsea and her struggles to bring her kingdom peace and prosperity. The end of the book left many threats hanging over this small kingdom and I will definitely be reading on to see how these threats are resolved.
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LibraryThing member AdrianGHilder
Here is a great story wrapped up in what I think is a quite flawed setting. The bits of book marketing text then tries to sell us on the idea it is a bit like Game of Thrones, Hunger Games or Harry Potter when I don't think it is really like any of these books. Marketeer wishful thinking? After
The Queen of Tearling is its own story and in the main better for it. It would have been so much better without the ridiculous premise that the setting is somehow some future dystopian version of Earth. For me, it would have worked so much better if it was just a fantasy world. There was far too much reference to past technology lost but no remnants of it to be seen in the present for it to make any sense. People know about genetics, but there are no books or teachers for them to learn this from. So how do they know about genetics? Just one of several frustrations I have with this supposed future earth where all the modern medical equipment and doctors sank to the bottom of the ocean because they all travelled to Tearling in the same ship.
Early on in the story, Kelsea (a young queen travelling to claim her throne) is being protected from assassins by a contingent of her late mothers guard. They are in the woods, gazing into a camp fire (ruining their night vision) and getting drunk (because all swordsman fight better this way?) ... instead of posting guards and watching the darkness for trouble.
Later on Kelsea is set up to be stabbed in the back when a show is made of her having an amour breast plate that doesn't cover her back. Those guards that looked after her so well while they were drunk in the woods will protect her back... *sigh*
Later still, we get to learn more about the magic sapphires Kelsea carries around her neck. They are so powerful that once she learns how to use them, she can dig herself out of almost any scrape just by using their magic. In future stories I no longer need to worry about how she will cope, the sapphires will always be there...
In various places in the story we get treated to little bits of history at the start of chapters. These bits of history relate to what is happening in the story right now. They talk about how great a queen Kelsea is... so they are plot spoiling - they more or less tell you Kelsea is going to win. I know we all expect Kelsea to come through in the end, but I think we could do without these little plot spoilers on the way.
I know I have complained a lot, but if you can ignore the illogical world building and illogical behaviours of some characters as a way to contrive dramatic situations it is a pretty compelling read and the character of Kelsea is quite interesting. I'm very fussy with my reading in my middle age, so the fact I kept picking this book up to read it makes it worth an "I liked it" 4 stars. I'm still looking for my next great 5 star fantasy fiction read though.
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all, they know how to sell these books.The Queen of Tearling is its own story and in the main better for it. It would have been so much better without the ridiculous premise that the setting is somehow some future dystopian version of Earth. For me, it would have worked so much better if it was just a fantasy world. There was far too much reference to past technology lost but no remnants of it to be seen in the present for it to make any sense. People know about genetics, but there are no books or teachers for them to learn this from. So how do they know about genetics? Just one of several frustrations I have with this supposed future earth where all the modern medical equipment and doctors sank to the bottom of the ocean because they all travelled to Tearling in the same ship.
Early on in the story, Kelsea (a young queen travelling to claim her throne) is being protected from assassins by a contingent of her late mothers guard. They are in the woods, gazing into a camp fire (ruining their night vision) and getting drunk (because all swordsman fight better this way?) ... instead of posting guards and watching the darkness for trouble.
Later on Kelsea is set up to be stabbed in the back when a show is made of her having an amour breast plate that doesn't cover her back. Those guards that looked after her so well while they were drunk in the woods will protect her back... *sigh*
Later still, we get to learn more about the magic sapphires Kelsea carries around her neck. They are so powerful that once she learns how to use them, she can dig herself out of almost any scrape just by using their magic. In future stories I no longer need to worry about how she will cope, the sapphires will always be there...
In various places in the story we get treated to little bits of history at the start of chapters. These bits of history relate to what is happening in the story right now. They talk about how great a queen Kelsea is... so they are plot spoiling - they more or less tell you Kelsea is going to win. I know we all expect Kelsea to come through in the end, but I think we could do without these little plot spoilers on the way.
I know I have complained a lot, but if you can ignore the illogical world building and illogical behaviours of some characters as a way to contrive dramatic situations it is a pretty compelling read and the character of Kelsea is quite interesting. I'm very fussy with my reading in my middle age, so the fact I kept picking this book up to read it makes it worth an "I liked it" 4 stars. I'm still looking for my next great 5 star fantasy fiction read though.
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LibraryThing member EowynA
Once I started reading, I could barely put this down. It follows a 19-year-old girl who inherits a kingdom, but was not raised in a palace. It focuses squarely on her and on her Queen's Guards (a remnant of her mother's guards, but she passed away over a decade ago).
Her first task is to get to the
Her first task is to get to the
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castle and be crowned. Her second task will be to set her kingdom back on the path to prosperity, in the face of a pending war that she precipitates. There is palace intrigue, inter-kingdom intrigue, a mysterious yet attractive stranger in the style of the Scarlet Pimpernel, betrayal, and a thread of magic that gets stronger as the book goes on. I intend to seek out the next book in the series when it comes out. I've also heard that it has been optioned as a movie. If so, it looks like a lot of fun. Show Less
LibraryThing member sunset_x_cocktail
I received a copy from Netgalley.
I was actually really looking forward to this. After seeing a mixed bag of reviews, I was intrigued. Some people loved it, others hated it. Unfortunately, I hated this book. I managed 34% before finally quitting and deleting it from my Kindle.
Yesterday when I
I like to give every book I start a fair shot and 4% seems a little early to give up so I made it to 10%. The world building was a little interesting, its got the feel of a medieval fantasy but something else as well. But as I read on, I didn't like the main character, and the plot is stupidly stupidly slow. Its still very over written and there was a hell of a lot if info dumping.
I got to 29% last night, picked it up again this morning but I can't stand any more of this nonsense. The main character is an idiot. I don't think I've got anything new to add that hasn't already been said in other reviews.
I am done.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for approving my request to view this title even though it wasn't for me.
I was actually really looking forward to this. After seeing a mixed bag of reviews, I was intrigued. Some people loved it, others hated it. Unfortunately, I hated this book. I managed 34% before finally quitting and deleting it from my Kindle.
Yesterday when I
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started by 4% I was ready to rage quit and wanted to throw this book out the window. 4%! It was ridiculously over written. With unnecessary details of the main character's child hood and how she had been raised isolated and feel sorry for me crap. I really don't need to know this stuff before the first chapter has even finished. Isn't this background stuff the sort of thing that can be added in throughout the story to give the main character some depth? Nope, not here. She judges her guards based on their appearances as well! How does she get to judge a Queen's guard when she has been isolated her whole life?! Urg. I like to give every book I start a fair shot and 4% seems a little early to give up so I made it to 10%. The world building was a little interesting, its got the feel of a medieval fantasy but something else as well. But as I read on, I didn't like the main character, and the plot is stupidly stupidly slow. Its still very over written and there was a hell of a lot if info dumping.
I got to 29% last night, picked it up again this morning but I can't stand any more of this nonsense. The main character is an idiot. I don't think I've got anything new to add that hasn't already been said in other reviews.
I am done.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for approving my request to view this title even though it wasn't for me.
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LibraryThing member mausergem
This is a fantasy fiction novel. It is the first book in the series. Kelsea a nineteen year old girl, is the Queen elect of the Tearling kingdom. Till now she was living in secret with a family after her mother had died. She can only ascend to the throne after she is nineteen.
As we begin this book
This is a light adventure story. The pacing is good. A 3/5 read.
As we begin this book
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the Queen's guard have come to take her to the capital so she can be coronated and be the Queen. She has many challenges like a powerful neighboring Queen, the Red Queen, her uncle who was the caretaker in her absence. She also has to gain the trust of the people. This is a light adventure story. The pacing is good. A 3/5 read.
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LibraryThing member WorldforReading
The Queen of the Tearling is a novel that includes so many of the things I love reading about: an interesting and active female character with a leadership role, a fantasy world, the importance of literacy, etc. that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. However, I had some issues that prevented it from
For me the highlight of the novel was the Queen of the Tearling herself, Kelsea Raleigh. Raised in isolation for her own safety, Kelsea was carefully educated by her guardians to be a strong leader for the good of her country. Her qualities include a strong sense of justice, an appreciation for the value of education, and a refusal to be cowed, even by the men who have been charged with her safety and whose respect she has to earn. Kelsea is flawed: due to her sheltered upbringing she is inexperienced and initially has little knowledge of the state of the kingdom she is meant to rule. She also has a temper, a trait that she eventually learns to turn into an asset. It’s wonderful reading the adventures of a woman in a leadership position who is not conventionally attractive, is smart, tough, and cares about bettering the lives of her people. There is relatively little romance in this story and I didn’t miss it, as Kelsea, busy putting a stop to the slave trade and preparing for an invasion from the neighboring country, had more important things to deal with.
The book shifts POV from Kelsea occasionally. Some of the other characters’ perspectives, like Javel the guard and Father Tyler, present complex characters in difficult situations. Other characters, like the Regent, are a waste of time. This is an example of what I found to be the story’s flawed mix of complexity and preachy simplification. There’s a narrative thread involving the civilian cost of going to war and a leader’s responsibility to their people and page time is also given to berating an old woman for caring too much about her appearance. There is emphasis on the importance of critical thinking and justice is sought for victims of domestic abuse. There are also multiple deus-ex-machinas. The results are a mixed bag of a story, but I do feel there is more good than bad.
Finally, I have to discuss what may very well be a pet peeve. I had some issues with the Tearling itself. The world building for this novel is sketchy at best. Apparently ships (sailing, not space) brought people escaping a cataclysmic event to a new land. These settlers came from what is ostensibly our modern age at the earliest, as some of the books they chose to bring with them include the Harry Potter series. These people are former citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom, yet they promptly create a society that is analogous to the early Middle Ages, complete with an absolute ruler with an inherited title, various nobles who control the land, and a powerful hierarchical church based on Christianity. There are few doctors in the Tearling as the medical ship was lost in the crossing, yet the neighboring country of Mortmesne has plenty doctors that can perform organ transplants. Also, gunpowder, something first created in the 11TH century, is considered an impossible technology. The arbitrariness of it all annoyed me. Magic somehow exists. The Red Queen has magical powers in abundance, some people have seer abilities, and Kelsea has inherited two problem-solving magical jewels. If the setting was a fantasy world I’d accept all this unquestioningly, but since the Tearling is stated to be the result of the destruction of modern society I don’t think some elaboration on the whys and hows is too much to ask. There should a reason things are framed this way, and fundamentals of world building should not be held back to save something for sequels.
If you’re someone for whom characters and plot are the most important feature of a story, with world building a distant third, you may really love Queen of the Tearling, even more than I did. I do feel Kelsea is an excellent example of an interesting female character, and I am anxious to see where this story goes. My problem with the world building aside, I do recommend this novel.
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being a perfect reading experience.For me the highlight of the novel was the Queen of the Tearling herself, Kelsea Raleigh. Raised in isolation for her own safety, Kelsea was carefully educated by her guardians to be a strong leader for the good of her country. Her qualities include a strong sense of justice, an appreciation for the value of education, and a refusal to be cowed, even by the men who have been charged with her safety and whose respect she has to earn. Kelsea is flawed: due to her sheltered upbringing she is inexperienced and initially has little knowledge of the state of the kingdom she is meant to rule. She also has a temper, a trait that she eventually learns to turn into an asset. It’s wonderful reading the adventures of a woman in a leadership position who is not conventionally attractive, is smart, tough, and cares about bettering the lives of her people. There is relatively little romance in this story and I didn’t miss it, as Kelsea, busy putting a stop to the slave trade and preparing for an invasion from the neighboring country, had more important things to deal with.
The book shifts POV from Kelsea occasionally. Some of the other characters’ perspectives, like Javel the guard and Father Tyler, present complex characters in difficult situations. Other characters, like the Regent, are a waste of time. This is an example of what I found to be the story’s flawed mix of complexity and preachy simplification. There’s a narrative thread involving the civilian cost of going to war and a leader’s responsibility to their people and page time is also given to berating an old woman for caring too much about her appearance. There is emphasis on the importance of critical thinking and justice is sought for victims of domestic abuse. There are also multiple deus-ex-machinas. The results are a mixed bag of a story, but I do feel there is more good than bad.
Finally, I have to discuss what may very well be a pet peeve. I had some issues with the Tearling itself. The world building for this novel is sketchy at best. Apparently ships (sailing, not space) brought people escaping a cataclysmic event to a new land. These settlers came from what is ostensibly our modern age at the earliest, as some of the books they chose to bring with them include the Harry Potter series. These people are former citizens of the United States and the United Kingdom, yet they promptly create a society that is analogous to the early Middle Ages, complete with an absolute ruler with an inherited title, various nobles who control the land, and a powerful hierarchical church based on Christianity. There are few doctors in the Tearling as the medical ship was lost in the crossing, yet the neighboring country of Mortmesne has plenty doctors that can perform organ transplants. Also, gunpowder, something first created in the 11TH century, is considered an impossible technology. The arbitrariness of it all annoyed me. Magic somehow exists. The Red Queen has magical powers in abundance, some people have seer abilities, and Kelsea has inherited two problem-solving magical jewels. If the setting was a fantasy world I’d accept all this unquestioningly, but since the Tearling is stated to be the result of the destruction of modern society I don’t think some elaboration on the whys and hows is too much to ask. There should a reason things are framed this way, and fundamentals of world building should not be held back to save something for sequels.
If you’re someone for whom characters and plot are the most important feature of a story, with world building a distant third, you may really love Queen of the Tearling, even more than I did. I do feel Kelsea is an excellent example of an interesting female character, and I am anxious to see where this story goes. My problem with the world building aside, I do recommend this novel.
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LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc
There has been a ton of hype in publishing about this book, it has been optioned for a movie and the odds are it will be a good one. Kelsea has been raised away from people and she knows she is to be the next Queen on her 19th birthday. But she has never met her mother and doesn't know who her
Digital reveiw copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
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father is. There were gaps in her education that help the plot along but only makes sense in the fact that her unknown mother didn't want her growing up knowing about the political decisions and the fallout of those decisions that Kelsea has to deal with. Her uncle the Regent has a price on her head and even getting to the palace in once piece will not guarantee that she will sit on the throne and make policy changes to the kingdom and stop the practice of sending her people to the Red Queen as part of a peace treaty her mother had negotiated. What the book shows of the Red Queen doesn't show enough of her to understand the whys of what she is. There is magic in this universe and clues that we may be more familiar with this world instead of a standard fantasy realm. There is magic but the reader isn't given much insight into it since Kelsea knows almost nothing about it as well. A good solid YA book and I'm interested in seeing how it all turns out. Digital reveiw copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
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LibraryThing member shelleyraec
Erika Johansen's debut novel, The Queen of the Tearling, attracted notice months before its publication date. The film rights have already been bought by Warner Bros and Harry Potter actress Emma Watson has signed on as both executive producer, and its star.
The Queen of the Tearling is the first
In terms of plot there isn't really much to distinguish this fantasy novel from those with similar tropes, but there is plenty of action with a surprisingly dark and gritty edge. Kelsea's fight for her throne results in a wealth of political intrigue, involving spies at court, assassination attempts and attempts to circumvent Kelsea's orders, which leads to multiple sword clashing confrontations. Magic shimmers in the air, but affords only a few its privileges, and there are also seeds of romance for Kelsea with a handsome rogue named Fetch.
Tearling is a realm rife with corruption, heavy with bureaucracy which favours the rich and exploits the poor. Initially I was puzzled by the setting but eventually figured out that despite the medieval detail, it is set not in the past, or an alternate universe, but the distant post-apocalyptic future of our own world. This creates an unusual landscape that blends a feudal society with reminders of modern life, which also embraces magic, but exactly how, and why, it came about is only hinted at.
I liked Kelsea well enough, she is a mixture of teenage insecurity, often naive and headstrong, but also compassionate, determined and well intentioned. She faces a myriad of ethical challenges with both the idealism and pragmatism of youth. I was a little disappointed at the emphasis both the author, and her character, place on appearance though.
The Queen of Tearling is an entertaining read and though it is not without its flaws as a novel, I can see its cinematic potential, and I'll be interested to read its sequel.
The Queen of the Tearling is the first
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book in a trilogy featuring nineteen year old Kelsea Glynn, the newly revealed heir to the throne of Tearling. After a lifetime in hiding she must claim her birthright and defend her rule against her debauched uncle, corrupt officials and The Red Queen, a depraved sorceress who reigns the neighbouring land of Mortmesme.In terms of plot there isn't really much to distinguish this fantasy novel from those with similar tropes, but there is plenty of action with a surprisingly dark and gritty edge. Kelsea's fight for her throne results in a wealth of political intrigue, involving spies at court, assassination attempts and attempts to circumvent Kelsea's orders, which leads to multiple sword clashing confrontations. Magic shimmers in the air, but affords only a few its privileges, and there are also seeds of romance for Kelsea with a handsome rogue named Fetch.
Tearling is a realm rife with corruption, heavy with bureaucracy which favours the rich and exploits the poor. Initially I was puzzled by the setting but eventually figured out that despite the medieval detail, it is set not in the past, or an alternate universe, but the distant post-apocalyptic future of our own world. This creates an unusual landscape that blends a feudal society with reminders of modern life, which also embraces magic, but exactly how, and why, it came about is only hinted at.
I liked Kelsea well enough, she is a mixture of teenage insecurity, often naive and headstrong, but also compassionate, determined and well intentioned. She faces a myriad of ethical challenges with both the idealism and pragmatism of youth. I was a little disappointed at the emphasis both the author, and her character, place on appearance though.
The Queen of Tearling is an entertaining read and though it is not without its flaws as a novel, I can see its cinematic potential, and I'll be interested to read its sequel.
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LibraryThing member Rowena_
Way overhyped, not that great.
LibraryThing member hoosgracie
Boy, was this slow to start. It took me quite awhile to read this book, mostly because the story wasn't grabbing me. Once I got through the first part, however, the story picked up and I ended up enjoying it. The characters are a big shallowly drawn, but the world is interesting. I would read the
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second one. I give it 3 stars due to the slow start. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookczuk
Clearly there's something wrong with me, because I liked this book. Maybe it's because I stumbled upon it on the shelf rather than hearing all the hype and predictions of "book of the century". I will admit that I am a little annoyed that this now appears to be the first in a trilogy (how unusual)
Essentially, something caused the world as we know it to cease, and the survivors got in boats and sailed to the new world (okay, this part could have used a bit more explaining, or a map, at least, as there are references to an old America on one side of the ocean and to New Europe on the side where the story takes place. Yes, a map would actually be nice.) Once there, a sort of feudal/ medieval society started up, and of course went amok. Tearling, a small country, with not much of value besides farming and Tearling Oaks, has become subservient to Mortmesne, ruled by the Red Queen. (Okay, eye rolling is acceptable. I'm not sure if names were chosen as tribute, foreshadow, or what. Seriously, even without a Red Queen, you know that Mortmesne is gonna be the bad guy.) Tearling has a lazy, weak regent, in power since his sister died years before, but not before she sent her infant daughter Kelsea safely into hiding. But now, Kelsea is 19, and it's showtime!
The story is that of Kelsea claiming her throne and making the first salvo into getting Tearling into a better place. There's the Queen's Guard on her side, and a mysterious Robin Hood type character, named Fetch, and some rescued souls. But there are also the requisite baddies: evil do-ers, schemers, workers of magic, traitors. It's not a genius tale, but it's not bad. And Kelsea is not a beautiful, strong, athletic young woman, but she grows to overcome her shortcomings.
But my greatest pleasure in this book? All the references to books -- books we know and love, or know and despise. Books! And Kelsea's greatest joy in life is reading. Books!
“Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.”
I'll read on, because I 'm kind of curious to find out who her father was and why it's so important.
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and I'll have to read on to have a couple of questions answered, if the books come out in a timely fashion. But even knowing that, the story interested me. Essentially, something caused the world as we know it to cease, and the survivors got in boats and sailed to the new world (okay, this part could have used a bit more explaining, or a map, at least, as there are references to an old America on one side of the ocean and to New Europe on the side where the story takes place. Yes, a map would actually be nice.) Once there, a sort of feudal/ medieval society started up, and of course went amok. Tearling, a small country, with not much of value besides farming and Tearling Oaks, has become subservient to Mortmesne, ruled by the Red Queen. (Okay, eye rolling is acceptable. I'm not sure if names were chosen as tribute, foreshadow, or what. Seriously, even without a Red Queen, you know that Mortmesne is gonna be the bad guy.) Tearling has a lazy, weak regent, in power since his sister died years before, but not before she sent her infant daughter Kelsea safely into hiding. But now, Kelsea is 19, and it's showtime!
The story is that of Kelsea claiming her throne and making the first salvo into getting Tearling into a better place. There's the Queen's Guard on her side, and a mysterious Robin Hood type character, named Fetch, and some rescued souls. But there are also the requisite baddies: evil do-ers, schemers, workers of magic, traitors. It's not a genius tale, but it's not bad. And Kelsea is not a beautiful, strong, athletic young woman, but she grows to overcome her shortcomings.
But my greatest pleasure in this book? All the references to books -- books we know and love, or know and despise. Books! And Kelsea's greatest joy in life is reading. Books!
“Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.”
I'll read on, because I 'm kind of curious to find out who her father was and why it's so important.
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LibraryThing member agarcia85257
On her nineteenth birthday, the world Kelsea Raleigh Glynn has ever know, will change forever. And she knows it will. Her adoptive parents have spent her entire life raising her for this moment. She is the Princess and will become the newly crowned Queen of the Tearling. But to do so she must make
Kelsea is not like her mother, the Queen. She is plain, not beautiful, and serious and smart. Unlike her beautiful mother who frivolity led to her losing her kingdom. But Tearling is a magical place, built on ideals and lofty goals lost in the blood and death of a lost kingdom.
"...Perhaps daring will win them.
You'll never win the respect of these people. You'll be lucky not to die before you reach the Keep.
Maybe. But I have to try something.
You speak as though you have options. All you can do is what they tell you.
I'm the Queen. I'm not bound by them.
So think most Queens, right until the moment the axe falls..."
There are many who don't want Kelsea to return. There are assassins sent to kill her. Palace intrigues and deceits. But Kelsea also has allies. The Queen's guard who are sworn to protect her. The mystery rogue thief and his army who wait in the forest for her to prove that she can be a true Queen of the Tearling.
"...The Tear economy ran on farming; farmers worked the fields in exchange for the right to occupy the noble's land, but the noble's took all of the profits, except for the taxes paid to the Crown. Kelsea could hear Carlin's voice in the library now, her tone of deep disapproval echoing against the wall of books: "Serfdom, Kelsea, that's all it is. Worse, its serfdom condoned by the state. These people are forced to work themselves to the bone for a noble's comfortable lifestyle, and if they're lucky, they're rewarded with survival. William Tear came to the New World with a dream of pure socialism, and this is where we ended up..."
But her greatest enemy is the Red Queen of Mortmesne. A powerful and ruthless ruler who borders the Tearling and waits. Waits for the time to unleashed an army that has already destroyed the Tearling once and can again. The invasion only thwarted by the treaty made by Kelsea's mother. A treaty that enacts a toll on the people of the Tearling. A toll Kelsea must save them from.
Review -
The Queen of the Tearling is a terrific book with an immense amount of flaws. Its the grandchild who is always misbehaving but you just adore him anyway.
The plot is borrowed and barely disguised from many other novels new and old. A lost princess coming home to reclaim her crown. A rogue outlaw she falls for. A loyal guard with dark and tragic past. A mother figure who is not who she was suppose to be. A dark, full of evil magic, Queen on a bordering land who is going to pounce on you at a moment's notice. A Red Queen. Why is it always a Red Queen? Not purple. Not blue. Not orange. But Red. A tribute paid out to a conquering nation, not in goods, but in children.
Yes, the Queen of Tearling has some very unoriginal themes. The writing itself is suspect. A literary major will go ape shit over some of it.
So why am I saying this is a terrific book?
Because it freaking is! Its a really good story and though you know you've heard it before in various forms; its still a really good story! It flows and picks up steam and then it ebbs and then it roars again and...its a freaking good story!
So for all you literary snobs, you cultural elitists, yeh I said it. Look in he mirror and know you are! You are the same kind of nose in the air numb nuts who would have ripped Edgar Rice Burroughs and tales like Conan the Barbarian and John Carter. Hell, you would have ripped Edgar A. Poe in his time as well.
The Queen of the Tearling is a really good story and you will forgive it it's flaws. But here's hoping as the series goes along Johansen starts tying some of them up a bit. Its forgivable in book one but as the story goes along, it will become a distraction.
The best way I can relate the Queen of the Tearling to you my fellow readers is to say it is like that movie that is getting all the promotion and marketing and when it comes out just doesn't live up to the hype. The critics jump up and down and tear it up, so even if you liked it, you begin to doubt even your own judgment. Because if they say its bad, then it must be bad. But then, later on you catch the same movie on television and you cant seem to turn it off and you have to wonder what exactly was so bad about it.
The Queen of the Tearling is a really good story. That's it.
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her way back to her homeland and once there, take the throne back from her Uncle the Regent.Kelsea is not like her mother, the Queen. She is plain, not beautiful, and serious and smart. Unlike her beautiful mother who frivolity led to her losing her kingdom. But Tearling is a magical place, built on ideals and lofty goals lost in the blood and death of a lost kingdom.
"...Perhaps daring will win them.
You'll never win the respect of these people. You'll be lucky not to die before you reach the Keep.
Maybe. But I have to try something.
You speak as though you have options. All you can do is what they tell you.
I'm the Queen. I'm not bound by them.
So think most Queens, right until the moment the axe falls..."
There are many who don't want Kelsea to return. There are assassins sent to kill her. Palace intrigues and deceits. But Kelsea also has allies. The Queen's guard who are sworn to protect her. The mystery rogue thief and his army who wait in the forest for her to prove that she can be a true Queen of the Tearling.
"...The Tear economy ran on farming; farmers worked the fields in exchange for the right to occupy the noble's land, but the noble's took all of the profits, except for the taxes paid to the Crown. Kelsea could hear Carlin's voice in the library now, her tone of deep disapproval echoing against the wall of books: "Serfdom, Kelsea, that's all it is. Worse, its serfdom condoned by the state. These people are forced to work themselves to the bone for a noble's comfortable lifestyle, and if they're lucky, they're rewarded with survival. William Tear came to the New World with a dream of pure socialism, and this is where we ended up..."
But her greatest enemy is the Red Queen of Mortmesne. A powerful and ruthless ruler who borders the Tearling and waits. Waits for the time to unleashed an army that has already destroyed the Tearling once and can again. The invasion only thwarted by the treaty made by Kelsea's mother. A treaty that enacts a toll on the people of the Tearling. A toll Kelsea must save them from.
Review -
The Queen of the Tearling is a terrific book with an immense amount of flaws. Its the grandchild who is always misbehaving but you just adore him anyway.
The plot is borrowed and barely disguised from many other novels new and old. A lost princess coming home to reclaim her crown. A rogue outlaw she falls for. A loyal guard with dark and tragic past. A mother figure who is not who she was suppose to be. A dark, full of evil magic, Queen on a bordering land who is going to pounce on you at a moment's notice. A Red Queen. Why is it always a Red Queen? Not purple. Not blue. Not orange. But Red. A tribute paid out to a conquering nation, not in goods, but in children.
Yes, the Queen of Tearling has some very unoriginal themes. The writing itself is suspect. A literary major will go ape shit over some of it.
So why am I saying this is a terrific book?
Because it freaking is! Its a really good story and though you know you've heard it before in various forms; its still a really good story! It flows and picks up steam and then it ebbs and then it roars again and...its a freaking good story!
So for all you literary snobs, you cultural elitists, yeh I said it. Look in he mirror and know you are! You are the same kind of nose in the air numb nuts who would have ripped Edgar Rice Burroughs and tales like Conan the Barbarian and John Carter. Hell, you would have ripped Edgar A. Poe in his time as well.
The Queen of the Tearling is a really good story and you will forgive it it's flaws. But here's hoping as the series goes along Johansen starts tying some of them up a bit. Its forgivable in book one but as the story goes along, it will become a distraction.
The best way I can relate the Queen of the Tearling to you my fellow readers is to say it is like that movie that is getting all the promotion and marketing and when it comes out just doesn't live up to the hype. The critics jump up and down and tear it up, so even if you liked it, you begin to doubt even your own judgment. Because if they say its bad, then it must be bad. But then, later on you catch the same movie on television and you cant seem to turn it off and you have to wonder what exactly was so bad about it.
The Queen of the Tearling is a really good story. That's it.
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LibraryThing member karen813
Very good fantasy, I liked that it felt medieval but was actually set in the future. I am curious about what led to the creation of this world and am looking forward to finding out more as the series continues. I found this book very similar to The Girl of Fire and Thorn series by Rae Carson, a
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great series to check out if you like this book! Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
The Queen of the Tearling is Book One of an adult fantasy/post-apocalyptic fairy tale. Like a fairy tale, it has plenty of overused tropes and caricatures. Yet it also includes some unique aspects, and is riveting and entertaining, perhaps explaining why it has been optioned for a movie and is set
In this future world, Kelsea has just turned 19, and therefore is scheduled to take over the throne of the Tearling, an area in what was once England. The Tearling was named for the person who established it several hundred years ago, after a crossing from America. Kelsea has been brought up by foster parents who have hidden her to protect her from enemies such as her uncle, who has acted as Regent and would like to keep that position. But now that she is at the age of ascension, she is taken by a group of her late mother’s guards to New London to be crowned. There is doubt, however, she will make it there alive.
We know she will, of course, since this is a trilogy, but the journey is full of surprises, especially about Kelsea herself. Most significantly, Kelsea is what might be described on a good day as “plain,” and is zaftig to boot. She is insecure about her looks only because she knows that men value prettiness, but she consistently manages to focus her concerns on (1) staying alive, and (2) righting the wrongs perpetrated on the kingdom by her incredibly evil uncle.
She becomes queen, and also inherits the two sapphires associated with the crown and said to have magical powers. Indeed they do, and the jewels are coveted by The Evil Queen of the neighboring evil kingdom, Mortmesne. In fact, the first thing Kelsea does as queen of the Tear is to antagonize that queen by putting a stop to the regular shipments of slaves paid as tribute - an arrangement made by Kelsea’s mother to bribe the Mort Queen not to invade Tear. But after Kelsea’s act of defiance, the threat of a war with the overwhelmingly superior forces of the Mort threatens the kingdom of Tear.
Discussion: There is a lot of physical and sexual abuse, a dashing “bad boy,” guards who are either loyal to the death, treacherous, or corruptible because of some weakness or other, and a very corrupt and evil Church. The series is being hyped (or discredited) as a mashup of “Game of Thrones,” “The Hunger Games” and “Maleficent.” But what really makes this book stand out is the character of Kelsea.
Kelsea, as mentioned above, is not stereotypically good-looking. Although she is 19, she has never been involved with any other children, much less any boys. When she tries to train to use weapons, she is a failure. But she grows up very fast, in almost every way. And she shows that value comes from what is invisible to the eye, to paraphrase The Little Prince. Kelsea is unlike any other YA heroine I can think of.
Evaluation: This series has its faults, but it makes for irresistible reading.
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to star Emma Watson as Kelsea, the main protagonist. In this future world, Kelsea has just turned 19, and therefore is scheduled to take over the throne of the Tearling, an area in what was once England. The Tearling was named for the person who established it several hundred years ago, after a crossing from America. Kelsea has been brought up by foster parents who have hidden her to protect her from enemies such as her uncle, who has acted as Regent and would like to keep that position. But now that she is at the age of ascension, she is taken by a group of her late mother’s guards to New London to be crowned. There is doubt, however, she will make it there alive.
We know she will, of course, since this is a trilogy, but the journey is full of surprises, especially about Kelsea herself. Most significantly, Kelsea is what might be described on a good day as “plain,” and is zaftig to boot. She is insecure about her looks only because she knows that men value prettiness, but she consistently manages to focus her concerns on (1) staying alive, and (2) righting the wrongs perpetrated on the kingdom by her incredibly evil uncle.
She becomes queen, and also inherits the two sapphires associated with the crown and said to have magical powers. Indeed they do, and the jewels are coveted by The Evil Queen of the neighboring evil kingdom, Mortmesne. In fact, the first thing Kelsea does as queen of the Tear is to antagonize that queen by putting a stop to the regular shipments of slaves paid as tribute - an arrangement made by Kelsea’s mother to bribe the Mort Queen not to invade Tear. But after Kelsea’s act of defiance, the threat of a war with the overwhelmingly superior forces of the Mort threatens the kingdom of Tear.
Discussion: There is a lot of physical and sexual abuse, a dashing “bad boy,” guards who are either loyal to the death, treacherous, or corruptible because of some weakness or other, and a very corrupt and evil Church. The series is being hyped (or discredited) as a mashup of “Game of Thrones,” “The Hunger Games” and “Maleficent.” But what really makes this book stand out is the character of Kelsea.
Kelsea, as mentioned above, is not stereotypically good-looking. Although she is 19, she has never been involved with any other children, much less any boys. When she tries to train to use weapons, she is a failure. But she grows up very fast, in almost every way. And she shows that value comes from what is invisible to the eye, to paraphrase The Little Prince. Kelsea is unlike any other YA heroine I can think of.
Evaluation: This series has its faults, but it makes for irresistible reading.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Fantasy — 2015)
Nutmeg Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2017)
RUSA CODES Reading List (Shortlist — Fantasy — 2015)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2014)
Lariat Adult Fiction Reading List (Selection — 2015)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2014)
RUSA CODES Listen List (Selection — 2015)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014-07-08
Physical description
380 p.; 5 inches
ISBN
0857502476 / 9780857502476