sarahjay
Written on Jan 8, 2017
Kelsea Glynn is the sole heir to the throne of Tearling but has been raised in secret after her mother – a monarch as vain as she was foolish – was murdered for ruining her kingdom.
For 18 years, the Tearling has been ruled by Kelsea’s uncle in the role of Regent however he is but the debauched puppet of the Red Queen, the sorceress-tyrant of neighbouring realm of Mortmesme. On Kelsea’s nineteenth birthday, the tattered remnants of her mother’s guard - each pledged to defend the queen to the death - arrive to bring this most un-regal young woman out of hiding...
And so begins her journey back to her kingdom’s heart, to claim the throne, win the loyalty of her people, overturn her mother’s legacy and redeem the Tearling from the forces of corruption and dark magic that are threatening to destroy it.
But Kelsea's story is not just about her learning the true nature of her inheritance - it's about a heroine who must learn to acknowledge and live with the realities of coming of age in all its insecurities and attractions, alongside the ethical dilemmas of ruling justly and fairly while simply trying to stay alive...
- ISBN10 0857502476
- ISBN13 9780857502476
- Publish Date 16 July 2015 (first published 8 July 2014)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
- Imprint Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 512
- Language English
Reviews
Ashley
Written on Dec 3, 2016
I ADORED this book! Kelsea was the best queen ever. The girl was a total badass and really stuck to her guns. I adored all the characters and was actually surprised at how invested I got into all of their stories.
My only gripe: WHAT IS THE BLOODY CROSSING?!?! It was thrown in here and there but never actually explained. It drove me mad.
Cocktails and Books
Written on Nov 21, 2016
I was bored with most of this story. I kept hoping as the story progressed, things would pick up. Maybe Kelsea would start to develop friendships with someone in the Keep. Maybe the Fetch would be back and liven things up. Unfortunately, those things never happened. It made it hard to get behind the heroine of a story when you don't feel a connection to them or care if they succeed.
neddieb
Written on Aug 3, 2016
Chelsea
Written on May 12, 2016
The characters were all fantastic to me. I loved our main character Kelsea because even though she didn’t grow up in the world she’s being forced into, she still tries to make the best of it. I’m excited to see more of our side characters like Fetch (umm yes please) and Mace because they seem so interesting but we didn’t get to see enough of them in this book. It was also really nice that there was no romance in this book though I’m sure one will develop over time. I’m actually really looking forward to a romance here because I think it can be done well. I also loved that we got to know some of her Queen’s Guard. I loved Pen especially, he was adorable. I’m mostly excited for the next book because I want to see more of all these characters.
The plot was pretty slow most of the way through the book for for some reason I really enjoyed it anyway. I loved seeing how Kelsea was learning to be a queen and not become her mother. Normally, I can’t stand slow plots yet I couldn’t put this book down. I guess I was just in the perfect mood for reading this book because it immediately sucked me in. I also loved that everything about this book (the plot, setting. character backgrounds) were all given to us but there was no massive info dump at any point in time. We got exactly the information we needed without being overwhelmed by everything.
What I Didn't Like
The world-building. I was so confused! I thought this was a completely different world and it kind of is, but not at the same time? Apparently it’s our earth that we’re currently living on (at least I am) but then there’s a new piece of land somewhere and that’s where this takes places. Not only that but they went back to a medieval-like time period when the rest of the world didn’t. I just found it weird that they were in this fantasy world mentioning things like Lord of the Rings and the internet which they don’t have here. It was just a strange world and there wasn’t enough detail for us to learn about it.
Who I'd Recommend To
I’d recommend this to patient fantasy lovers. I read this book with two other fantasy lovers and they had a hard time with it because of how slow it was. I think you need to be extremely dedicated to read this book because it is a slower paced book. Though if you’re a fan of some politics and like details of running a kingdom then you’ll be ok. It’s not as bad as some people are saying I don’t think.
See the full review at Books for Thought
maeyuka
Written on Aug 14, 2015
Emma (SCR)
Written on Jun 16, 2015
I had heard so much about this book that part of me was scared to read it in case it didn't live up to the hype. However my worry was soon gone once I started reading.
This book as a slow start but once you get through the first few chapters it becomes really hard to put down.
There is so much that happens in this book it's hard to know where to start. It's Kelsea's 19th birthday and she's being transported from the only life she knows back to the kingdom that should rightfully be hers.
Kelsea has a long and epic journey and when she finally returns she takes the kingdom by storm and decides she will not stand for any nonsense.
Fetch and Mace were my two favourite characters.
This book is set in a very different world to the one we live in but I really loved immersing myself in it.
I can't wait to read the 2nd book and continue this story.
inlibrisveritas
Written on Apr 3, 2015
The Queen of the Tearling has been labeled as young adult by many, but I find that it’s more of a New Adult age range. It pulls no punches and can be downright brutal, and there quite a few mentions of more mature content. As much as I hate when publishers reference other books in their summaries I would say the cross over of Hunger Games and Game of Thrones is fair, keeping in mind that it moves as quickly and ‘lightly’ as the Hunger Games but it has the feel of the high fantasy intrigue and danger as Game of Thrones..I personally didn’t find there to be any info dumps that caused me boredom, and the weirdness of the origin of this world had pulled me in. It’s rare to find a high fantasy set in our world, so to speak, that comes AFTER our society. I will admit that it was slightly confusing trying to figure out the when and where, but in the end I feel confident that this is something we’ll get more of an answer for later as a few things were revealed a bit later in the book.
Kelsea is my sort of main character. She’s intelligent, independent (when it’s not a hinderance), and very strong willed. To top it off she has a bit of an anger issue and in the face of attraction she doesn’t get incredibly distracted and forget she’s in charge of a kingdom. I love that she adores learning, but isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty if she needs to. And kudos to the author for leaving out an overlaying romance! THANK YOU! Not everything needs stolen kisses and love confessions in the first book…if it comes later, that’s great but at least now I know Kelsea and I know about the men & women around her. The whole story around the Red Queen is one so full of mystery that I wished we had more pov sections from here. She’s a nasty piece of work, but her whole existence brings even more questions and I enjoyed seeing the characters try to tackle the fact that she is fearsome because she is seemingly ancient and yet constantly present and young.
The story itself had a slightly addicting quality. As the new world was constructed before me I found myself more intrigued and encouraged by the unanswered questions than frustrated, and I felt that had to do with the rather neat way we were given some of the information. Most of the book is centered around Kelsea, but on occasion we get to see the world from other people’s eyes including the Red Queen. In addition there are also little quotes and excerpts at the beginning of each chapter that come from history books set in this world, that also give you glimpses of the impact the events being spread out before you have later on in the worlds future. Plus there is the added bonus of who narrated this well written tome, Katherine Kellgren! Bow down to her book reading prowess. She has a rather soothing tone that she can change to different accents, different genders, and keep you absolutely enraptured with the story she’s telling. She could probably read me War and Peace and I would be hard pressed to pause it.
Overall I think this is not one to miss out on! As a fan of high fantasy I though this to be a true gem, and I can’t wait to see what the next book has in store.
Rinn
Written on Sep 29, 2014
The Queen of the Tearling is a bit of an odd one, there’s no other way to put it.
I opened the book, expecting this huge fantasy epic set in an original world and – well, I’m not sure what the world is. There are frequent mentions of the ‘Crossing’, some big event that is never properly explained – why did it happen? Are the inhabitants of Earth still on Earth, or is it a new planet altogether? If they are on Earth, where are they and what happened to the UK and the United States (as they seem to be the only countries that are mentioned pre-Crossing)?
Actually, I had quite a few issues with this book. The strange-possibly-future-Earth was one of them, as was the sudden mention of things like The Lord of the Rings or people like J.K. Rowling. I hated that Kelsea was described as ‘plain’, like so many other female teenage protagonists. I also didn’t understand how she was so confident around other people, and giving orders and commands when she’d literally spent her entire life holed up in a cottage, and had only ever really known two people.
So my four-star rating might seem a bit odd at this point. But despite all my grumbles and issues (many of which I hope will be cleared up in the next book, but at least some explanation in book one would have been nice), I really did enjoy it. I’m not reading a lot right now, but every free moment I had during the six days or so it took to read was dedicated to this book – it was just addictive. Kelsea might not have been my favourite protagonist, but I wanted to know more about the Tearling and what consequences her actions would have on the people. I wanted to learn more about the dynamics of the Guard, and the history of its members.
The chapters with the Red Queen were also great, setting up a terrifying antagonist that I’m sure Kelsea will have to face soon. She is vicious, brutal and most of all selfish – pretty much a total opposite to Kelsea, who only wants to do right by her people. A queen who has a slave’s vocal cords severed for snoring is not one to be messed with.
Overall, this book was a great read, despite some of my issues! The mentions of the pre-Crossing countries like Britain and America just sort of popped out of nowhere and threw me a bit, and there were other areas that could do with more explanation, but it’s definitely a page-turner.
Jordon
Written on Sep 6, 2014