A review by ailsaod
The True Queen by Zen Cho

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

Borrowed this from the library as an eBook so I had a 3 week deadline to read this. I haven't read the first book and while I feel that would have provided further context to the actions of a few characters this was fine - I understand that this book focuses on different characters and has a central plot that is not particularly connected to whatever took place in book 1.

Things got off to a bad start as I did not enjoy the first fifty to a hundred pages at all and it took me almost two weeks to get through them but then the plot takes a turn and I enjoyed it much better! The main reason for my lack of enthusiasm is that the beginning of the book has strange pacing and I really couldn't stand Sakti.

If you pick this up because of the 'fake it till you make it in magic school' element of the synopsis then you'll probably be disappointed as the book actually takes a fairly different direction (one I personally preferred but I am aware a lot of people are fond of their magic schools). This story is more focused on the central mystery surrounding our main characters, Muna and Sakti, which actually turned out to be pretty interesting.

What really redeemed this story for me was the setting: I have a massive weak spot for Regency period fantasy and the Malaysian aspects of the story were extremely interesting (though certainly not the focus of the story!) - I certainly wouldn't object to reading more Malaysian fantasy! I also really enjoyed Muna and Henny's relationship which was pretty cute and the way Henny's family problems were solved was very entertaining. 
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