C.J. Redwine's The Shadow Queen takes you into a world where dragons and magic exist. Where an evil queen presides over a kingdom that does not belong to her. Where a rebellious princess is lying in wait for the perfect time to take back what's hers, and where an irresponsible prince is put into a position that he was never expecting.
All in all, the idea for this story sounds intriguing. The Shadow Queen is a retelling of the classic tale Snow White. Recently, I've been rather into fantasy novels, especially stories with kingdoms and monarchies. (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, Falling Kingdoms etc.) And if you follow my reviews, you might know that I found a new favorite book, A Court of Mist and Fury, which is the second book to A Court of Thorns and Roses, a very loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Basically what I'm trying to get at is I was really looking forward to reading this due to the fact that the idea for this story was totally down my alley. As you may be able to tell, I'm about to say a negative.
Unfortunately, this novel was disappointing. The ideas in it were nothing new. Sure, I don't mind some cliches, but the way they were used in this story were rather annoying. Reusing old ideas is fine, as long as you mix in new ones with it. There weren't really any great new ideas here. There was nothing in this book that made me feel any connection to any of the main characters. Princess Lorelai? Interesting, but nothing particularly special. Queen Irina? Eh. Couldn't really bring myself to care about her. Even care enough to dislike her. Prince Kol? Attractive, but nothing really new.
The plot was also not particularly interesting. I believe the main issue about it was how quickly it was moving. While too much exposition is boring, not enough exposition makes the novel very hard to grow attached to. This story just rushed into everything. It was even hard to grow attached to any relationships in it. The romance? It was very quick and honestly? Not very interesting. There was a certain death that I'm fairly sure was supposed to affect me, but I really couldn't bring myself to care.
This is all very harsh, I know, and I apologize. It wasn't as if this novel was horrible, but I actually just couldn't bring myself to care about much of anything in it. I tried, but there was nothing for me to particularly connect with. Usually the Kol like characters are the ones I instantly fall for, not this time.
Synopsis:
Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.
In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.
But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.
All in all, this novel was not for me, but if the synopsis interests you, please feel free to get it. It may not have been the perfect story for me, but it was a pretty interesting plot. I'd give The Shadow Queen 6/10 stars. Its non originality bored me and so did the characters and the plot. Nothing particularly stood out.
If there was a second book, I doubt I'd be interested enough to read it.
Anyway, sorry for such a negative review, but thanks for reading.
-Anj
All in all, the idea for this story sounds intriguing. The Shadow Queen is a retelling of the classic tale Snow White. Recently, I've been rather into fantasy novels, especially stories with kingdoms and monarchies. (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, Falling Kingdoms etc.) And if you follow my reviews, you might know that I found a new favorite book, A Court of Mist and Fury, which is the second book to A Court of Thorns and Roses, a very loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Basically what I'm trying to get at is I was really looking forward to reading this due to the fact that the idea for this story was totally down my alley. As you may be able to tell, I'm about to say a negative.
Unfortunately, this novel was disappointing. The ideas in it were nothing new. Sure, I don't mind some cliches, but the way they were used in this story were rather annoying. Reusing old ideas is fine, as long as you mix in new ones with it. There weren't really any great new ideas here. There was nothing in this book that made me feel any connection to any of the main characters. Princess Lorelai? Interesting, but nothing particularly special. Queen Irina? Eh. Couldn't really bring myself to care about her. Even care enough to dislike her. Prince Kol? Attractive, but nothing really new.
The plot was also not particularly interesting. I believe the main issue about it was how quickly it was moving. While too much exposition is boring, not enough exposition makes the novel very hard to grow attached to. This story just rushed into everything. It was even hard to grow attached to any relationships in it. The romance? It was very quick and honestly? Not very interesting. There was a certain death that I'm fairly sure was supposed to affect me, but I really couldn't bring myself to care.
This is all very harsh, I know, and I apologize. It wasn't as if this novel was horrible, but I actually just couldn't bring myself to care about much of anything in it. I tried, but there was nothing for me to particularly connect with. Usually the Kol like characters are the ones I instantly fall for, not this time.
Synopsis:
Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.
In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.
But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.
All in all, this novel was not for me, but if the synopsis interests you, please feel free to get it. It may not have been the perfect story for me, but it was a pretty interesting plot. I'd give The Shadow Queen 6/10 stars. Its non originality bored me and so did the characters and the plot. Nothing particularly stood out.
If there was a second book, I doubt I'd be interested enough to read it.
Anyway, sorry for such a negative review, but thanks for reading.
-Anj
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