Wednesday, April 1, 2015

"The Queen of the Tearling" by Erika Johansen


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This is the first book in a fantasy trilogy set in a post-apocalyptic world where most of modern technology has been lost, but the world somehow acquired magical/supernatural powers. Unfortunately, the plot and the world building did not work for me.

I wanted to like this book so much.... I was really excited to read it, but I feel that the beginning of the book lacks consistency and common sense in so many areas that it sets the wrong tone for the entire book. For one, Kelsea, the young queen of Tearling, is raised in complete isolation and gains knowledge only through books and conversations with her foster parents. Yet, during the first days in the outside world she shows so much "worldly" knowledge as to be simply unbelievable to the reader. For example, she can "read" people and faces even though she had interacted with only two human beings up to that point. Also, for a nineteen year old girl who had led a very sheltered life, she is way too comfortable with such concepts as violence, sex, rape, and immorality. I also found the way the guards were treating her very unrealistic and inconsistent with the overall storyline. If they were sworn to protect her and maintained loyalty to her even while she was in hiding, I feel they should have been exhibiting more respect towards her person from the very beginning, even if it was simply honoring the title rather than her personally. Their conduct and attitude around her during their travel to the capital city was just completely illogical.

Despite such a weak beginning, I decided to stick with the book and continued reading. The story does get better in the second half of the book and I am curious to find out what happens next. So I am giving this novel 3 out of 5 stars simply because it kept me interested and because it had so much potential. I hope the sequel is stronger.

UPDATE: Now that I read the entire trilogy, I do love and highly recommend this series. The first book just does not work very well on its own. Taken as a whole, the series is great, one of my favorites now. Cannot wait to re-read it!

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