Reviewed by inlibrisveritas on
When we leave off in Queen of the Tearling Kelsea was beginning to prepare for the oncoming invasion from Mortmesne (mort-main) and was establishing herself as a queen with a mind for ruling both smartly and fairly. For better or for worse. Now the threat is drawing ever closer and Kelsea is introduced to new players and new powers. At this point I’m pretty sure I’m in love with this series. The bizarre nature of the land they live in is one that I’ve questioned since book one, and I hated that it was never truly explained because we know the settlers came from a world like ours but very little mention on how and why they made the Crossing. We get this backstory in the form of visions through Kelsea, and we begin to see the life of a Pre-Crossing woman named Lily. She lives in a world a little more advanced than our own technology-wise, but a lot of the rights and freedoms we are accustomed to are gone. I loved getting to know Lily, but damn was it painful She’s a tad naive, but she doesn’t like her life and the moment the idea of more dawns on her she can’t get it out of her head. Her struggle was painful but I think she became a stronger woman because of it, she just needed the space to grow. Back in Kelsea’s world war is raging and society is facing some rather important issues thanks to the constant pressure of the Holy Father and the Arvath. One could argue that this book takes on too many social issues (i.e. birth control, women’s rights, LGBT, etc.) but while there were a lot to be handled I think they were handled well and in a way that it didn’t sound overly preachy in getting it’s point across.
The only problems I had with this book lie with Kelsea herself. She’s a strong woman, and at only 19 she has some self confidence issues that she’s been struggling with since the first book. I loved that about her. I loved that she knew her worth was more than what her face looked like, but she still couldn’t help but worry at it…I’ve been there plenty of times. I also loved her love affair with the new power she’s gained thanks to her jewels, and the spiral it sends her own. Her path definitely gets a bit darker in areas and lighter in others, and the internal struggle she had with these were excellently done. My problem however lie in her “I must be more adult” mantra that she’s taken on. Personally I found this ridiculous because when you look at what she’s doing on a daily basis (ruling a country for example) the fact that she finds herself lacking simply because she’s a virgin is just idiotic. I mean I know all young adults venture into that mindset at some point, like it’s some odd race just because you hit an age where you feel you need to be attainable…but seriously? Why is this a worry? If people are looking at you like you’re a kid simply because you haven’t had sex yet, they are a bunch of idiots and you need to get away from theme. Plus added to the fact that no one but her (well and the Holy Father who insists upon marriage) really even cares what goes on in her bedroom I found this to be a weirdly immature inclusion. Understandable? Yes…Likeable? NO
The narrator, Davina Porter, was a great choice for these books. She has a great repertoire of voices for the characters and her pacing was excellent. Definitely another one of those storybook type voices perfect for a hold nothing back fantasy novel.
Overall I really enjoyed it, and I can’t wait for the next book…especially since the ending was so open. These books are not for the faint of heart and contain both the horrors of war and the horrors of domestic abuse, if you don’t like detailed conflicts of either nature it might be best to sit this one out.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 2 July, 2015: Finished reading
- 2 July, 2015: Reviewed