NetGalley Review: Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston

Hey all, Sam here.

I’m kind of on a roll here, and I’m loving it. Of course, I don’t expect to keep this awesome fast momentum going the whole time, but for now I’m totally okay posting every day. My minimum is the Manga review on Monday, the book review on Tuesday or Wednesday and then the Weekend Writer post on Friday. Anything more than that is just a happy bonus.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, which is book release day, one of my favorite days of the week. Although some weeks it’s more favorite than others. It just depends on what books are coming out and how many are coming out. Oooh…I should probably do an anticipated releases post soon. Okay, look for that later this week.

Let’s just jump into today’s review.

A stunning Celtic YA fantasy adventure set in the ancient kingdom of Eire, inspired by the legend of the first true queen of Ireland, perfect for fans of Shelby Mahurin and Adrienne Young.

In the kingdom of Eire, banshees chill the air, and water-wights lurk in the rivers. But magic is outlawed by the king, and jealously hoarded by his Druid priests.

Neve is the youngest daughter of the king, and Ronan is a Druid’s apprentice-turned-thief, making a living by selling stolen spells. They should be enemies, but their shared hatred of the Druids-and a dark magic that has marked them both-makes them unlikely, if uneasy, allies.

When Eire is threatened by a power struggle, Neve must seize the chance to take her rightful place on her family’s throne, with the help of Ronan and the realm’s most dangerous outcasts. Their journey takes them to the outskirts of Eire where magic still runs free . . . and where an outlaw and a warrior princess might carve out a future with spells and swords.

Lesley Livingston vividly reimagines Irish legends and fairytales to craft a YA fantasy adventure that will captivate readers of Brigid Kemmerer and Tricia Levenseller.

My Thoughts

My rating: 4 stars

I’ve had Lesley Livingston on my TBR for a while, most particularly her “The Valiant” series which follows a female gladiator. That sounded really interesting to me…and I just haven’t actually picked it up yet. So this is my first experience with her writing. But I’m also a sucker for books based on legends and fairytales and mythology, and I find Celtic tales to be fascinating, so that definitely made me keen to pick this one up.

A lot of terms and names get thrown out into the story in the beginning, and it can be a bit difficult to follow for a little while and get your bearings near the start if you don’t have basic understanding of Celtic lore. But stick with it, and the pieces will begin to fall into place.

Both Neve and Ronan are interesting characters, and between the two of them there is plenty of tension and conflict, which brings about action and magic. That is what kept me going in the early parts of this book, the fact that these two characters were so compelling. I wanted to know more about them.

The summary of this book says it is for fans of Shelby Mahurin, Adrienne Young, Brigid Kemmerer, and Tricia Levenseller…well those are some big comparisons to try and make. I can see where the stories have similar elements and vibes. But I didn’t fall into this story as quickly as I do with books by the aforementioned authors.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this book. After I really started to get drawn into the story, it didn’t take much longer to devour the rest of the story. The magic and lore and action and mystery of it all kept me flipping pages late into the night.

So…I guess this means I should probably pick up The Valiant sooner rather than later.

---

Queen Among the Dead will be released on January 17th!

Well, that is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.