Reviewed by Desere
Kelsea Glynn has spent her whole life in the confinement of the forest , tucked away in a house with her adoptive parents. Over the years she is taught how to fight, how to read, write, and act as a Queen for she is the sole heir to the throne of the Tearling.
On her 19th birthday she is scared but ready to be led back to her kingdom and start her reign as ruler who is fair and just, unlike her mother who was vain and made disastrous spur of the moment decisions before her death and unlike her uncle who only cares for sex and money, and the throne for added good measure to make sure he stays in the lap of luxury he has become accustomed to since Kelsea's mother's death.
Kelsea knows more than one attempt will be made on her life and she will have to along with the help of the royal guards fight her way back into the kingdom. But she also knows this is why she was born, he kingdom needs a fearless leader and if she has to kill her uncle and the evil always looking for her pond of flesh Red Queen so be it. And so starts the journey of one girl said to be the true Queen of the Tearling and her mission to rescue her people and to never give up till she knows just why the mysterious jewel around her neck has suddenly taken on a life of it's own.
The media has described this book as a Game of Thrones for woman, in a way it is that because we do have a brave heroine who kills and fights her way out of countless assassination attempts, and even goes as far as slicing the throat of a gone a stay guard. But also being mentioned in the media is that this is great fantasy romance, that I can tell you it was not. There are one of two glimpses of romance here and there but it 's gone just as quick as it appears. I will say this, from the story line I was able to pick up that in the next part of the series we will be seeing some more hard core romance, after all the heroine is only 19 years old and has never seen a man aside from her adoptive father.
As for the rest of this book it's all guts and glory , as body parts are chopped, burned and splashed all over the place. There is a wonderful mystery along with the true meaning of the jewels that are entrusted to Kelsea, there is also the question of who the real king is to the queen or rather who Kelsea's real father is.
In all honesty I am no fan of game of throne type of books fan, yet this book had me so intrigued I could not stop reading. I wanted to know more about the jewels, the lives of the royal guards and of course the Red Queen.
All of the characters were well written and each very mysterious in their own way, but sadly the author did not do so with the Red Queen , the character was under developed and at the end of the read she was just as mysterious as she was in the start. I presume that in the next part of the series we will get to know more about her and just exactly she is as evil as she is.
To sum up we have a courageous queen to be, a stunning set of royal guards sworn to our queen, a wide range of secondary characters, people dying, children having the life sucked of them by dark forces, an enemy queen that's is over a century old yet looks like she's 22 and an journey into a remarkable world where medieval times rule.
I recommend this read for anyone looking for something a little different than the every day read, and of course for the those game of throne junkies. Word to the wise : if you don't like the odd swear word here and there, then this read is not for you nor will it be if blood and guts creep you out.
4.5 star review
" To save her kingdom she needs to find her inner queen"
*** Copy provided by Random House Struik South Africa in exchange for a honest review
