ARC Review: The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine

The Shadow Queen

Author: C.J. Redwine
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Series: Ravenspire #1
Pages: Hardcover, 400 pages
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: February 16th 2016

Summary:

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose

Review:

DNF

I am really sorry but I just can't. It seems that lately every YA Fantasy I pick up is like this one. Totally a struggle to get through. So I did what I rarely do and decided, I ain't gonna torture myself.
I am done.

Maybe if this wasn't another book that felt more like a chore reading, one in a long line of disappointments I've been struggling through, I might have finished it.
BUT let's face it, I know this wouldn't have gotten loads of stars from me, no matter what.
Because my biggest issue with this is the writing style.

Rather surprising considering that I have read Redwine before, and quite liked her writing style. The Shadow Queen however feel rather woody. It felt constructed. I found the dialogues most of the time annyoing. The banter way to cliche. It's like Redwine tries really hard to incorporate the world building and the way she did it just doesn't work.

It's all too cliche to start with. The plot, the characters - I was hoping for an awesome different kind of retelling. But when you look at the plot we are in cliche-ville YA. There is absolutely nothing that stands out. It could be any old YA story, it's been done a gazillion time.

Which would have not been a huge issue for me, if this had great characters... Alas. I didn't thinks so.
Then add to that rather underwhelming world building... and we have a not completely terrible but honestly a forgettable book.

Which brings me back to the writing style. Because even if with all those faults I would have still read it. But I literally dreaded picking up the novel to force myself through another chapter. And at 20% I decided that enough is enough. I really don't like the way Redwine wrote this.

Pity really, because I like Redwine (usually) and I love the idea behind this.



ARC was provided by Publishers through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

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