I received this book for free from Purchased in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows Published by Katherine Tegen Books on March 10th 2015
Pages: 400
Genres: High Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
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Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.
Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.
I purchased my copy of The Orphan Queen with great trepidation. I don’t usually just buy Hardbacks without having read the ARC first, so I was breaking a cardinal rule of mine. Yet Jodi Meadows seemed so awesome and cool on twitter that I decided to risk it, and I’m glad I did.
The Orphan Queen was well constructed with a tense, fast-paced, well plotted storyline that just didn’t ease up on the tension no matter how much I sometimes wanted it to. I was like, “Hey Meadows! Give my blood pressure a break, okay?”
She was like:
The book, titled appropriately for an Orphan Queen trying to regain her kingdom from an invading army, find our heroine, Wil, fighting to take back her throne. She’s doing this with the other orphaned nobility from her kingdom who now call themselves The Ospreys. Plagued by a vigilante, Black Knife, who is stalking her, Wilhemenia has 99 problems but kicking ass ain’t one of them.
The Writing for The Orphan Queen is quite well constructed. My only issue was in how some of the action scenes were written. It became hard to visualise the action and they felt a little muddled to me. But otherwise I enjoyed being in Wil’s head and enjoyed her thought processes.
For me, reading “The Orphan Queen was a lot like reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. I think fans of that series will find a lot to enjoy in The Orphan Queen. It has a similar kind of romantic set up, suspenseful storyline and high fantasy vibe.
The only thing I’d say about it though was it was kind of forgettable once it was done. It didn’t stay with me and I had a hard time talk about it in this review because I had to keep going back to refresh myself on what happened. Maybe that’s just me though and the kind of frame of mind I’m in.
Go ahead and buy a copy, I rather think, like myself, you won’t regret it.
Kat Kennedy
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Bieke @ Istyria book blog
Twitter: Istyriabookblog
I have a copy of this one thanks to a friend! Reading it soon. 🙂
Bieke @ Istyria book blog recently posted…{From Page to Screen} Books I’d Love to See on the Big (or Small) Screen
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
Twitter: morganameridius
I actually thought about it quite a bit after finishing, so that’s funny! Definitely agree with the Throne of Glass comparison; I was afraid it was too similar at first but TOQ really grew into it’s own. I found the first half ordinary but loved the second half! Wil was great and I really liked the romance and the wraith part of the plot. Very intriguing. Great review Kat, I’m glad your purchase paid off! 🙂
Carina Olsen
Twitter: CarinaOlsen
Awesome review Kat 😀 I’m so glad you ended up liking this book. <3 But aw, I'm sorry you didn't fully love it. But almost is good 😀 Thank you for sharing sweetie. <3 I really loved this book, hih 🙂
Carina Olsen recently posted…Cress Tuesday #80