Scan barcode
alexwonnacott's review against another edition
3.0
This book was a real page turner. It was fairly predictable but it was a good story
jesscath18's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
reclusivebookslug's review against another edition
Darker tome than I'm in the mood for. Very unlike The Spellshop, which is what made me want to read more from this author.
solseit's review against another edition
4.0
I feel that the book painted a wonderful picture when it was allowed to get going; but it felt more like a stop-motion of the importnat moments in this story. A very different approach to story telling and I did not mind it at all. This allowed for a nice peeling of the onion on world building; less so in character development (but it is also a relatively short story).
It is a cool world building, that's for sure.
It is a cool world building, that's for sure.
xnavireadsx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Queen of Blood is a book that keeps me coming back to Renthia over and over again through the years. The magic I felt when I first picked up this book still captures me every time I reread it. It gives the essence of epic fantasy with its fair share of dark themes. The worldbuilding in this series is fantastic. The characters are memorable. The pacing leaves a little to be desired as some areas of the timeline feel rushed, but overall this is one of my favorite fantasy series since I first picked it up in 2020.
snomak's review against another edition
3.5
The timeline of the story telling was rather odd. Some time periods were long and felt like it shouldn’t have been and then others were over too fast. Ven and Fara’s “relationship” made no sense and took away from the story. The world and story in general was good, it was just one of those books where it is not good enough to continue the series.
m838499's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.0
brittney_tyler's review against another edition
5.0
Star Rating: 5 stars!!!!!!
My local library recently was able to get a finished copy of The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst early so I decided to pick the 1st one up off my library shelf and read it to see if I was interested in the series and wanted to read the new one. The 1st one is called The Queen of Blood and it is the story of a girl called Daleina who at the age of ten goes through a very traumatic experience- her entire village is destroyed by rampaging nature spirits with her family being the only survivors due to her discovering an ability to control the spirits. Because of this experience, she decides to learn more about her ability and, potentially, use it to save others from going through an experience like hers.
One of the best things about this book is the setting and how that setting plays into the story. Renthia, the land in which this book is set, is filled with different kingdoms that have different environments, mostly due to the fact that each land has an affinity for a certain kind of nature spirit. There are the mountains of Semo, the frozen wastes of Elhim, the meadows of Chell, the islands of Belene, and the kingdom in which this story is set, the forest of Aratay. Within the towering forests of Aratay, the citizens have adapted to their environment by building their entire infrastructure within the boughs of the giant red-wood height trees, connecting them with zip-lines, bridges, and ladders. With every structure that is built, though, the forest spirits become angry because they want nature to stay pristine and not be touched by anyone, and since humans leave such a scar on the land, they are particularly vindictive towards them. It is the job of the queen, her champions, and her heirs (girls trained to take over in the event of her death) to keep these spirits from wreaking havoc. This ancient conflict adds an interesting perspective to the story because it gives the land a voice and allows Durst to show us what the land would feel about our actions concerning it. It was a nice change to the whole villain troupe too because most books have a human/magical creature as a villain, but in this one Durst makes the very land itself the villain and it was just a nice shakeup to the traditional villain troupe, which is a breath of fresh air for those of us who read a lot of fantasy.
Speaking of shaking up troupes, Durst does that multiple times in this book. Whereas books usually feature a “chosen one” as the main character, Durst chooses a girl filled with self-doubt that is at the bottom of her class as her hero. Daleina desperately wants to become a hero and she has the right intentions at heart, but she doesn’t have the power that heroes traditionally have, not like Merecot. Merecot has al l the traditional traits of a hero, but she has no desire to be- all she wants is power. By flipping these two troupes, Durst gives the story a whole new meaning by showing us that you don’t have to be perfect or have all the power or answers to be the “chosen one.” You just have to willing to step up and do the right thing even when no one else will. Another example would be Ven, the disgraced champion. Instead of being the young, dashing warrior whom everyone loves, he has fallen out of favor with the queen and is now forced to roam the forest taking on mercenary jobs. However, while all the other champions are ignoring the signs concerning the queen (trying not to give spoilers), he sees them and sets out to do something about them, even if it means forsaking everything that he loves. By the end, he proves that he is willing to make the hard choices for the good of Aratay, thus proving that, again, just like Daleina heroes can come from surprising places.
When it comes down to it, this book spoke to me on a deep emotional level because it had the immersive quality that I loved so much and characters that I could relate to. I started this book and was, immediately, able to sink into the story and get lost. I see this as the hallmark of a good book, if it can help an anxious, socially awkward person get out of her head and away from people who don’t understand her. It gave me the escapism I crave and allowed me to go on an adventure which I would never have the courage to go on by myself. If you like atmospheric books with classic themes told in interesting ways, than this book is for you!
My local library recently was able to get a finished copy of The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst early so I decided to pick the 1st one up off my library shelf and read it to see if I was interested in the series and wanted to read the new one. The 1st one is called The Queen of Blood and it is the story of a girl called Daleina who at the age of ten goes through a very traumatic experience- her entire village is destroyed by rampaging nature spirits with her family being the only survivors due to her discovering an ability to control the spirits. Because of this experience, she decides to learn more about her ability and, potentially, use it to save others from going through an experience like hers.
One of the best things about this book is the setting and how that setting plays into the story. Renthia, the land in which this book is set, is filled with different kingdoms that have different environments, mostly due to the fact that each land has an affinity for a certain kind of nature spirit. There are the mountains of Semo, the frozen wastes of Elhim, the meadows of Chell, the islands of Belene, and the kingdom in which this story is set, the forest of Aratay. Within the towering forests of Aratay, the citizens have adapted to their environment by building their entire infrastructure within the boughs of the giant red-wood height trees, connecting them with zip-lines, bridges, and ladders. With every structure that is built, though, the forest spirits become angry because they want nature to stay pristine and not be touched by anyone, and since humans leave such a scar on the land, they are particularly vindictive towards them. It is the job of the queen, her champions, and her heirs (girls trained to take over in the event of her death) to keep these spirits from wreaking havoc. This ancient conflict adds an interesting perspective to the story because it gives the land a voice and allows Durst to show us what the land would feel about our actions concerning it. It was a nice change to the whole villain troupe too because most books have a human/magical creature as a villain, but in this one Durst makes the very land itself the villain and it was just a nice shakeup to the traditional villain troupe, which is a breath of fresh air for those of us who read a lot of fantasy.
Speaking of shaking up troupes, Durst does that multiple times in this book. Whereas books usually feature a “chosen one” as the main character, Durst chooses a girl filled with self-doubt that is at the bottom of her class as her hero. Daleina desperately wants to become a hero and she has the right intentions at heart, but she doesn’t have the power that heroes traditionally have, not like Merecot. Merecot has al l the traditional traits of a hero, but she has no desire to be- all she wants is power. By flipping these two troupes, Durst gives the story a whole new meaning by showing us that you don’t have to be perfect or have all the power or answers to be the “chosen one.” You just have to willing to step up and do the right thing even when no one else will. Another example would be Ven, the disgraced champion. Instead of being the young, dashing warrior whom everyone loves, he has fallen out of favor with the queen and is now forced to roam the forest taking on mercenary jobs. However, while all the other champions are ignoring the signs concerning the queen (trying not to give spoilers), he sees them and sets out to do something about them, even if it means forsaking everything that he loves. By the end, he proves that he is willing to make the hard choices for the good of Aratay, thus proving that, again, just like Daleina heroes can come from surprising places.
When it comes down to it, this book spoke to me on a deep emotional level because it had the immersive quality that I loved so much and characters that I could relate to. I started this book and was, immediately, able to sink into the story and get lost. I see this as the hallmark of a good book, if it can help an anxious, socially awkward person get out of her head and away from people who don’t understand her. It gave me the escapism I crave and allowed me to go on an adventure which I would never have the courage to go on by myself. If you like atmospheric books with classic themes told in interesting ways, than this book is for you!
cmagnan's review against another edition
2.0
First of all, a bizarre number of typos. Every book has a few, but I counted three in a single chapter. They were all things like "been" instead of "be" or "thing" instead of "think," the kind of error that spellcheck won't catch. It was bad enough to throw me out of the story and start researching if this was really published by a professional house.
What I liked:
The story begins with conflict that has a mystery behind it, so I was interested right away. People live in treehouses and get around on ziplines, which is cool. The basic rules were set up at the start: spirits kill humans, the queen controls the spirits, oh god this should not be happening if only a protagonist would come along and save us all. There is some romance, but none of that angsty stuff and there's no hang-up about the protagonist's virginity or any of that nonsense.
The magic is interesting and rather different. Again, the rules are set well and understood what was going on. Generally speaking, the action was clear to picture as well. The plot, generally, makes a lot of sense, and I really appreciated the good guys' plan toward the end to solve the (they think) final conflict.
The antagonist is super-flawed, but the motivation was clear and believable in a tragic human condition sort of way.
What I didn't like:
We start when the protag is about nine, which I think was the wrong place. Yes, the event that made her who she is happens then, but do we need to be there. Flashback or filling it in would have worked. The problem for me, really is that the destruction of her village in chapter 1 (chapter 1 = not a spoiler) is supposed to be her motivation for training and fighting etc. That makes sense, but I never really felt it. Since it is such a logical reason, I feel like its taken for granted. I get a strong Katniss vibe, where everything she does is to protect her little sister, but I don't actually feel that desperation in this book. Instead of showing us the event that inspired her, I think scenes that show the protag making tough choices and sacrifices would have resonated more. Also, we're told in summary that the family visits over the years while she's in training, but we don't see it; that's another missed opportunity for the feels.
Structurally, the biggest problem I had with the book is the "mystery," which falls into the same trap I see a lot of books do. The protag and other main characters don't know something really important, a piece of the puzzle that they must figure out before they can solve their problems. That's great! I wish the author hadn't given me, the reader, scene after scene with the antagonist and her cohorts, which revealed exactly what the mystery problem was. While the good guys didn't know who the real antagonist was, I did, and that always makes them look like absolute dummies. It also means that a lot of the problems they are dealing with, which they think are major, I already know don't matter because the real conflict and the real antagonist is elsewhere. It's deflating when the tension should be ramping up, but I've been standing at the top of the ramp for 200 pages waiting for the main characters to catch up.
The time jumps didn't let me settle in. I don't feel like the story really begins until protag is older and trying to earn a mentor, but that's after a decade of story time. We skip all of the school stuff, and we're told she's become close friends with lots of people, but it feels like reading the first Harry Potter book, then the fourth, then the seventh. Those middle parts probably matter. Or they don't and we should have started when she was older, struggling to succeed and then a weird mentor came along to scoop her up.
The writing was fine, other than the typos, but overly descriptive in the wrong places, I think. I don't need a page describing the forest or the city. I'd rather see the characters immersed in deep, logical way than get the description out of the way at the start of every chapter. I skipped a lot of paragraphs when my head was full of imagery that didn't matter. Despite the publisher's blurb, I did not find any of the lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss.
The confusing:
This section will be spoilers.
Ven is a champion. And a man. Only girls have the power to sense and control spirits. But Ven is a champion. And a man. And he can clearly sense spirits. He can't control them, aye, but he can sense them. Not only is the lone male champion never explained, no one else in the book ever once remarks upon it. Did I miss something? Again, the world has rules and I like them and can follow along, and then there's this guy that violates the rules, but no one even acknowledges that, so now I feel lost.
At the end, when the spirits are immobilized, we find out that without them there is no wind. No one can make a fire, even with flint and timber. Nothing anywhere will grow at all. This is interesting. I didn't realize just how dependent this world was on the spirits. But why didn't I know that before the final 5% of the story? And it didn't even matter, really, because it was temporary.
How did ... that one character (I'm not going back to look her up) who was powerful but cheating on exams actually cheat? She did, but how? And why was she in the book? She doesn't come back. Of course, the answer is she'll be back in the sequels, but I feel like that was a lot of the trouble. Protag has clearly been learning that the spirits can be cooperated with and not treated like slaves, but that doesn't actually pay off because that will be the pay off of the trilogy (or whatever).
It was okay. Full of potential, but ultimately, didn't capture me, and while the hook was interesting, I wasn't surprised by anything plot-wise. Also, you may have noticed that a few days after reading it, I can't remember the protag's name. I'm a dunce when it comes to names, but still, that's pretty telling.
What I liked:
The story begins with conflict that has a mystery behind it, so I was interested right away. People live in treehouses and get around on ziplines, which is cool. The basic rules were set up at the start: spirits kill humans, the queen controls the spirits, oh god this should not be happening if only a protagonist would come along and save us all. There is some romance, but none of that angsty stuff and there's no hang-up about the protagonist's virginity or any of that nonsense.
The magic is interesting and rather different. Again, the rules are set well and understood what was going on. Generally speaking, the action was clear to picture as well. The plot, generally, makes a lot of sense, and I really appreciated the good guys' plan toward the end to solve the (they think) final conflict.
The antagonist is super-flawed, but the motivation was clear and believable in a tragic human condition sort of way.
What I didn't like:
We start when the protag is about nine, which I think was the wrong place. Yes, the event that made her who she is happens then, but do we need to be there. Flashback or filling it in would have worked. The problem for me, really is that the destruction of her village in chapter 1 (chapter 1 = not a spoiler) is supposed to be her motivation for training and fighting etc. That makes sense, but I never really felt it. Since it is such a logical reason, I feel like its taken for granted. I get a strong Katniss vibe, where everything she does is to protect her little sister, but I don't actually feel that desperation in this book. Instead of showing us the event that inspired her, I think scenes that show the protag making tough choices and sacrifices would have resonated more. Also, we're told in summary that the family visits over the years while she's in training, but we don't see it; that's another missed opportunity for the feels.
Structurally, the biggest problem I had with the book is the "mystery," which falls into the same trap I see a lot of books do. The protag and other main characters don't know something really important, a piece of the puzzle that they must figure out before they can solve their problems. That's great! I wish the author hadn't given me, the reader, scene after scene with the antagonist and her cohorts, which revealed exactly what the mystery problem was. While the good guys didn't know who the real antagonist was, I did, and that always makes them look like absolute dummies. It also means that a lot of the problems they are dealing with, which they think are major, I already know don't matter because the real conflict and the real antagonist is elsewhere. It's deflating when the tension should be ramping up, but I've been standing at the top of the ramp for 200 pages waiting for the main characters to catch up.
The time jumps didn't let me settle in. I don't feel like the story really begins until protag is older and trying to earn a mentor, but that's after a decade of story time. We skip all of the school stuff, and we're told she's become close friends with lots of people, but it feels like reading the first Harry Potter book, then the fourth, then the seventh. Those middle parts probably matter. Or they don't and we should have started when she was older, struggling to succeed and then a weird mentor came along to scoop her up.
Spoiler
She gets about three days of training with Ven, and then the rest of the plot picks up. She succeeds? I don't buy it. He taught her to zip line and throw a knife.The writing was fine, other than the typos, but overly descriptive in the wrong places, I think. I don't need a page describing the forest or the city. I'd rather see the characters immersed in deep, logical way than get the description out of the way at the start of every chapter. I skipped a lot of paragraphs when my head was full of imagery that didn't matter. Despite the publisher's blurb, I did not find any of the lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss.
The confusing:
This section will be spoilers.
Spoiler
Why do they live in trees? They all do, but other than convenience because the spirits can build them, I don't get why. Is it to avoid earth spirits? What about tree and air spirits? Why aren't they a problem? Too far into the story, I think, we find out people can be green or tree-bark brown or have gold and orange hair. That's not odd in this world. It doesn't denote nationality or element affinity. It doesn't even get passed from parents to children as far as I could see. I think the tree houses and the skin color are good examples of the world building in this book. They are there to be odd so you know you're in a fantasy, but they don't really matter to the plot or give the world direction. They haven't been thought through. Imagine if you read Dune, and everyone lived in a desert with giant worms and no water, but they just walked around in normal clothes and didn't worry about their feet vibrating. The sand and the worms would still be cool, I guess, but only for a few minutes. I wouldn't remember them twenty years later were it not for still-suits and characters random stepping across the desert.Ven is a champion. And a man. Only girls have the power to sense and control spirits. But Ven is a champion. And a man. And he can clearly sense spirits. He can't control them, aye, but he can sense them. Not only is the lone male champion never explained, no one else in the book ever once remarks upon it. Did I miss something? Again, the world has rules and I like them and can follow along, and then there's this guy that violates the rules, but no one even acknowledges that, so now I feel lost.
At the end, when the spirits are immobilized, we find out that without them there is no wind. No one can make a fire, even with flint and timber. Nothing anywhere will grow at all. This is interesting. I didn't realize just how dependent this world was on the spirits. But why didn't I know that before the final 5% of the story? And it didn't even matter, really, because it was temporary.
How did ... that one character (I'm not going back to look her up) who was powerful but cheating on exams actually cheat? She did, but how? And why was she in the book? She doesn't come back. Of course, the answer is she'll be back in the sequels, but I feel like that was a lot of the trouble. Protag has clearly been learning that the spirits can be cooperated with and not treated like slaves, but that doesn't actually pay off because that will be the pay off of the trilogy (or whatever).
It was okay. Full of potential, but ultimately, didn't capture me, and while the hook was interesting, I wasn't surprised by anything plot-wise. Also, you may have noticed that a few days after reading it, I can't remember the protag's name. I'm a dunce when it comes to names, but still, that's pretty telling.