God Save the Queen (Immortal Empire, #1)

by Kate Locke

The Year is 2012 - and Queen Victoria still rules with an immortal fist.

She's the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where technology lives side by side with magic, where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath) and Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day.

Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it's her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But things get complicated when her sister goes missing. Xandra will not only realise she's the prize in a dangerous power struggle - but she'll also uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire itself.

• ISBN10: 0316196126
• ISBN13: 9780316196123
• Publish Date: 1 July 2012 (first published 3 June 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Orbit
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I was expecting a Steampunk setting, but that is not what I got at all. The only thing "alternative" about this London is that Victoria is still on the throne, women still wear corsets, and men wear cravats. This honestly felt like modern day anywhere with its flashlights, cell phones, motorcycles and alarm systems. Of course, none of these modern commodities are called by their modern names, but they're still there (there's a glossary in the back of the book!). Like I said, the only thing old fashioned is the fashion, and that was not enough to make this Steampunk. In fact, the world building probably would have felt more complete if it had been a modern day London with an undead Victoria as queen.

Once I started thinking of it that way I was able to enjoy it more. I was still thrown off by mentions of Sid Vicious, MP3 players, and television though. Unfortunately, about 200 pages in I couldn't take it anymore: there was a reference to the Die Hard movies. I just could not accept that this "alternate" history somehow ended up being exactly like today, right now. There is no way. Nothing is different except that the fashion is slightly updated Victorian fashion. Maybe this was suppose to be a unique twist in the setting, but it was bothersome and not creative at all.

The way paranormal creatures came to be was interesting though. Basically it's all due to a mutation caused by the Black Plague, and paranormality runs in the Aristocracy (with the occasional lower class woman giving birth to a "halvie," of course). It's a unique idea, a little confusing on the specifics, but still an interesting twist on the origin of vampires, werewolves, and goblins.

The author's writing was fine, but there was a MAJOR over-usage of hyphens - in almost every paragraph. Sometimes it was something important that shouldn't have been an aside - but mostly it was random, useless tidbits. A lot of the time there was simply no grammatical need for the hyphens at all - a simple comma or "and" would do. The book could have been significantly shorter if all of those extra phrases were cut out - they slowed the story way down.

Xandra is supposedly 22, but from the first few pages I assumed she was maybe 15, with a potty mouth. If you clean up her language some, she does seem younger, but that may be due to her reckless and stubborn personality. I did like how she was fiercely loyal to her missing sister, Dede, and also to her queen, whom she is a guard for. She's also not one to take anything at face value, or believe everything she's told. Although this sometimes makes her look paranoid and ignorant. Oh, and she also proudly states that she's a bigot at one point. Bottom line: she's unlikeable.

As for the plot, I mostly enjoyed it. It starts off as Xandra trying to find her sister and the reasons behind her disappearance. Then it morphs into some conspiracy involving the Aristocracy, and somehow Xandra is unknowingly in the center of it. While I did want to know what the heck was going on and how all of these deaths, disappearances and missing records were related, I was super distracted by my disappointment in the setting. I know I already dedicated two paragraphs to it, but I was really looking forward to vampires in a Steampunk world, and that isn't even close to what God Save the Queen really is - a major disappointment. The last 60 or so pages kept this one being a total disaster, but I can't honestly recommend it.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

When I heard about God Save the Queen, I thought it sounded awesome, so picked it up quite quickly. What I didn't realise was just how awesome this book was going to be!

I don't even know where to start, but I think I should address the description above first, as it's slightly misleading. Other than the fact that this book contains paranormal creatures, there is no magic. And even with the paranormal creatures, that's more down to biology than magic. But to the story. This isn't a story about Queen Victoria, despite what the title suggests. She is a character in the book, but she's not the main character, or even an important secondary character - this book is all about Xandra. Xandra is a halvie - half human, half paranormal creature, in her case, vampire - and is part of the Royal Guard after years of training. She is badass, and she's only 22 - sorry, I mean two and twenty. She is extremely loyal when it comes to her family, so when her younger sister, Dede, goes missing, Xandra is determined to find her. But her sister's whereabouts isn't the only thing she discovers...

I really can't tell you more than that. Right from the very beginning, we're thrust onto a roller-coaster of twists and turns, lies and deceit, and a conspiracy. Something is up, but neither you nor Xandra can work out what they hell is going on. You have no idea who Xandra should trust when she is told something different by each person she meets, when people are holding out on her, and things she thought were so for most of her life turn out to be the complete opposite. What starts off as a search for a loved one ends up becoming a search for the truth on a much larger scale, with political intrigue and questions concerning herself. They say when you don't know who to trust, trust yourself, but how can you do that when you're not entirely sure who you are?

Despite the paranormal world Xandra lives in and her job, God Save the Queen is more a mystery than an action-packed novel. There are a number of fights and squirmishes scattered throughout the novel, but this story is more about using your head and your smarts more than your fists and your Bulldog revolver. Kate Locke is simply amazing, because you're constantly kept guessing as to what is really going on. I had several theories going on, but it never all really clicked into place for me until one page before it did for Xandra. It's absolutely thrilling to never really know what is going on, or who to like. Despite the lack of lots of action which I'm used to in an urban fantasy, I was constantly excited by this novel and eager to see where things led.

The world building for God Save the Queen is just brilliant! There is science! Yes, science! Not hard to understand science, but an actual credible explanation for the existence of vampires and werewolves in the Aristocracy, all because of the plague! And it makes perfect sense! Though, if some people have some trouble understanding it, it's explained brilliantly at the end of the book - all genetics and biology! Then there's the world itself. It's London, England this year, but not the London we know. Due to the paranormal Aristocracy, certain events in history didn't happen, and because of this, 2012 in Queen Victoria's reign is very different. Women still wear corsets and dress in ball gowns for royal events. There is technology, but it's very different from out own; people can ride around in horse-drawn or motorised ones, or their version of cars and motorbikes. You will recognise mobiles, computers, even fax-machines, but they're very different from our own with different names. Even CDs and DVDs have their own cylindrical counterparts in this world! There's no clockwork, so it's not a steampunk novel, but this topsy-turvy modern-historcal London makes for a fascinating read.

There are so many other things I could talk about, but I would come close to spoiling the book, so I'm going to leave it here. Basicially, God Save the Queen is a fantastic, intriguing, exciting paranormal mystery that will have you turning the pages faster than Xandra can run - and that's saying something! I cannot wait for the sequel, The Queen is Dead, which is released in February 2013. This was completely unputdownable, and every bit as gorgeous as the cover!