My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, Brutal murders
Gladiator meets Game of Thrones: a royal woman becomes a skilled warrior to destroy her murderous cousin, avenge her family, and save her kingdom in this first entry in a dazzling fantasy epic from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin series—an enthralling tale that combines magic, murder, intrigue, adventure, and a hint of romance.
In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.
But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.
Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.
But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.
Gladiator meets Game of Thrones? Yeah right... That comparison is
kind of laughable. This is like kindergarten compared to both of those. I
wanted to like this book so much, but unfortunately it wasn't what I was
wanting or expecting.
My biggest problem with it is that the main character is an idiot most
of the time. She completely ignores the obvious so many times in this
book I lost count. Also, pie baking and complaining is not a good way to
open a fantasy book. The main character comes off pretty whiny as she
complains about having to bake pies, and royal protocol when there are
people who have much bigger problems in her world. Needless to say, this
did not draw me into the story at all.
There were a lot of things that bothered me about the main character, but these are a few examples of what I really didn't like-
-She
has a very heightened sense of smell. She can smell things no one else
can, like people's emotions, the magic in gemstones, and poisons, but
somehow doesn't realize there is poison in the drinks that kill a lot of
people, even though it's the poison that killed her own parents. That
just doesn't make sense.
-She decides to kill the queen, as the
title eludes to, and rightly so after the queen has done so many
horrible things. But her big reason for wanting to do this is because
she was bullied by her, not because of all the murders she committed.
This was a little disturbing because it seemed to unintentionally send
the message that it's ok to kill someone who is bulling you.
-Don't
even get me started about the dumb dance thing, that coincidentally
ends up saving everyone's life later in the book. I couldn't take it
seriously.
This book reads so YA while adding in a protagonist
who is supposed to be well into her 20s. She came off so much younger
than that. There is also quite a bit of adult language in this book,
mostly in reference to the main character wanting to hook up with
someone, and calling other women bitches over and over. If that was
supposed to make it feel more adult, it didn't work. It felt juvenile to
me. I'm sad to say this series has been added to my abandoned pile.
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