The Queen of the Tearling
Hey guys,
Today I am bringing you the review of one of
the books that I rea don February. It´s obvious that as I only post once a week the reviews come a little bit
late, but the point is that they arrive sooner or later and because I took
notes I have everything really fresh and ready to review.
The Queen of the Tearling was a Christmas present
from my Godparents and I was looking forward to read this book. I had seen many
review and thanks to those I figurate it out that The Queen of the Tearling is
one of those books that you will love or hate, there is no in between. Except
maybe in my case, you know I like to go against everyone.
This will be a spoiler free review so you can
keep reading until the end.
The Queen of the Tearling narrates the story of
Kelsea, the queen of the Tearling, who has been hiding until her 19th
birthday. During all this time the Tearling has been ruled by a regent. Now
Kelase goes back to the capital to be crowned Queen of the Tearling, a very
poor nation that is subrogated by Mort.
The plot sounded interesting and for the
synopsis I gathered that there will be a lot of political intrigue as well as
fantasy. Besides, in the case that you don’t know, there is an adaptation in
the way that will be produced and stared by Emma Watson, who wrote one of the
blurbs in the back of the books.
I am going to be honest: the book is
interesting, but the book was really heavy for several reasons that will be
exposed in the following lines.
The characters are very flat, sometimes
egocentric and the main character is way too obsessed with her appearance. I understand
that the author wanted to make a point, creating a character that is different
from the stereotypes, but I don’t think Erika
Johansen was able to fulfil this aim. I believe that the issue arises when the author
keeps reiterating in all the book that Kelsea is ugly and chubby. On the other
hand, I don’t think that
her personality is well defined and sometimes is contradictory.
I haven’t quite like the style either. The rhythm
of the story is not well carried and sometimes I feel like she doesn´t know how to make transitions
between scenes so she will write several pages that won´t contribute to the story at all: it´s not world building, neither to
meet the characters any further. Also, I think it´s important to highlight that in
some parts the story turn out to be pure chaos: you have been reading from
Kelsea point of view for a great part of the story and all of the sudden it
will change to some random character. The story overall is very obvious and predictable.
For what I say in the previous paragraph there
are some things that won´t add to the
story, I think that of almost 500 pages, at least 200 are surplus. And the
chapters were way too long and I felt like I was not advancing in the book and
so I felt like I was reading at a slower rhythm that usual.
But that doesn’t mean that everything was wrong. Somehow,
I want to keep reading this saga because there is something that have caught my
eye. There are a couple of characters that I have liked and see potential in
Kelsea to improve as a character. I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars.
Have you read this book yet? What are your
thoughts? Leave a comment down below or tell me on Twitter (@martapasperez1)
Don’t forget to follow the blog.
See you all next Wednesday.
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