Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Queen of Roses

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn

9 reviews

strawberryymoonlight's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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dxmxus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

While this is definitely a slower paced book, primarily focusing on world building and plot development, the characters are easy to connect with. Definitely a difficult book to put down, however, there are moments where the main character seems almost too naive. Readers see through much of the foreshadowing well before the character realizes the warning signs.

I fully plan on finishing the series, however, I hope the next books focus more on character development as the MC feels somewhat flat and unwilling to learn unless absolutely forced into it.

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allisonamber's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Definitely a slower pace but because of that it helps the world building. A different spin on Arthur and the knights of the round table mixed with fae. The FMC is very innocent and naive so not always relatable or a character with a lot of depth but I’m sure that will help develop throughout the series.

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madelinel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Waaayyy too violent for me. The only character I liked was Lancelet and she was barely in the story. Would not classify as a romance.

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lilybonilla's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5⭐️/5⭐️

That this was a solid book and a pretty fun read. I think the authors twist on King Author was interesting and entertaining. This is a VERY slow burn enemies to lovers with little spice, but I’m excited to see the development of the main characters relationship in the next book.

I loved the story building in the book. The author took a lot of time to explain and give proper backstory for this fantasy world. I think the downside to this was that it made the book feel a little slow paced. The plot does move along and is entertaining, but I think the first book lays down a lot of ground work for the rest of the series which is why it feels slow.

One thing I really liked about this book is the characters themselves. The way they were written invoked a lot of emotion. I deeply hated a lot of characters and also really loved others. Each character had depth and a purpose. Until the end, I didn’t know who to trust and believe. I also loved how diverse the characters were!

Overall, it’s a pretty solid book and I’m already planning on reading the next book! Happy reading🫶

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cakins28's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The first in the Blood of a Fae series by Briar Boleyn, this novel follows Morgan Pendragon, sister to King Arthur, as she discovers her true identity and the power that comes with it. Morgan, first born child of King Uther, is stripped of her right to inherit the throne of Camelot when her younger half-brother, Arthur, is born. Despite this fact, she never holds any ill-will toward her brother. She grows up alongside him, loving him and trying to protect him from their drunk, power mad, abusive father. In the end, though, it’s not enough to stop Arthur from becoming a bigger tyrant than even their father was.

Narcissistic, power mad, Arthur is paranoid of everyone and everything around him, including his older sister. But this is more than a simple sibling rivalry - Morgan is part-Fae, making her a social and political outcast, even in her own family. When food in Camelot becomes scarce, and the civilians begin to get restless, Arthur decides that he has to rely on his sister to retrieve the legendary sword, Excalibur.

Embarking on a quest, in the middle of the night, with the captain of the Royal Guard, Kairos Draven and a rather detestable mercenary named Whitehorn, Morgan steps into the great unknown and will discover her true power and identity.

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars based on the following:

The world building was exceptional. While the geographical and political terrain of the kingdom aren’t terribly complicated, the world of Queen of Roses is just complicated enough to hold interest. Each area within the kingdom has it’s own distinct features. The fact that the world is much larger than Morgan originally believes it to be is an important detail that makes the political aspects of the book much more intriguing.
The characterization in the first half of the book is excellent, and the characters act exactly within their characterizations throughout. There is never a moment when I thought “I can’t believe that character did that!” The choices made by each character fit precisely within the boundaries of how you expect the characters to act.
Despite the fact that it is a romance novel, the adventure and fantasy were much stronger than the romance was. Of course, there’s romantic, and even sexual, tension between Morgan and Draven, but it isn’t such a huge part of the story that it detracts from the rest of the plot. The love triangle is short-lived, which makes it much more bearable. Morgan’s naivety makes the love-triangle and subsequent betrayal much more believable.
The fact that the twists were predictable does take away from the story somewhat. I do enjoy being right when my predictions come true, but I would still like some surprises to remain surprises.
I predicted Arthur turning on another nation very early on. I predicted the reality of who Draven was, I predicted that Morgan was more powerful than anyone realized, I predicted that the medicine she was taking was actually meant to subdue her power. All of those “twists” were glaringly obvious from the outset of the novel.
F-boy (whose name I genuinely can’t remember) got his comeuppance too quickly. I genuinely hated him, and assumed that he would be going with Draven and Morgan on their quest. His death came to early in the book. He definitely deserved what he got, but we had just been introduced to the stakes of Morgan’s success/failure. Removing him from the equation before she set out for her quest removes some of her personal interest in the success of the quest.

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mileapo's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

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soniajoy98's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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lastblossom's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

tl;dr
An interesting take on Arthurian legend. Too dark for me, sadly.

Thoughts
I keep telling myself to give dark fantasy another chance, and I should stop telling myself that. My feelings on this book are split. On the plus side, some great twists on fae and Arthurian legend. The story had some great reveals, and I liked all the supporting friends. But it turns out I am tired of things being miserable always and at all times. While this doesn't go all the way into "gritty" territory, the storyline is definitely dark enough, with our MC constantly being kicked around from all directions (mostly from her really terrible brother), with barely a sliver of relief. At one point, I started to wonder why she was even still doing the quest, when she'd probably be better off just running away. Or perhaps using the time away to build that secret army her brother thinks she's got going on. But if you want a dark fantasy, this book absolutely fulfills the prompt. There's also a decent amount of spice, and a very slow burn romance (that looks like it won't really see completion until later installments), and I liked the world building.

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

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