The Queen's Necklace

The Queen's Necklace

by Teresa Edgerton

The age of nightmare and cruel enslavement is so far in the past that few believe it was anything more than a myth. But hidden in the shadows, the vengeful remnants of the Goblin master race recall their former glory all too vividly. And their dread re-ascendance is at hand.

The ensorceled gems that once held all humans in sway now power a hundred small kingdoms, but the monarchy of Mountfalcon is suddenly in dire peril.  For the Queen has unwittingly lost the realm-sustaining, jeweled Chaos Machine --  a castastrophe that could tear the kingdom apart.  Captain of the Queen's Guard, Wilrowan Blackheart has been entrusted with the Machine's recovery -- an undertaking that slowly reveals a horrific conspiracy spreading far beyond Mountfalcon's borders, as the deposed Maglore plot to reduce the unsuspecting human world to rubble and flames. But unbeknownst to him, another has also embarked on the same mission:  a determined crusader of strength and substance...the only woman Blackheart has ever loved, but can never possess.

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Fiction, Adventure, Adult

592 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

I believe I began telling stories as soon as I learned to talk. More than sixty years later I am still inventing them.

On paper, my life looks more glamorous than it was in actual fact (most peoples' lives do). My husband and I met at our local Renaissance Faire. I've made and sold puppets, spent twenty years as a professional fortuneteller, worked in a craft store, and been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. My hobbies are Halloween and Christmas.

Currently, I am working as an editor for Tickety Boo Press, heading a new imprint Venus Ascending, which will be publishing fantasy and science fiction romance novels. For submission guidelines http://www.ticketyboopress.co.uk/tere...

My own published work includes eleven fantasy novels, written under my own name and my pseudonym, Madeline Howard, as well as short fiction, reviews, interviews, and articles on writing.

I live with my husband, two adult children, a son-in-law, two grandsons, assorted pets, and more books than you might think would fit in the remaining space.

Reviews

[Mary Catelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

An early clockpunk work -- intrigue and drama in a world where the tyrannical Goblins, the Maglore, have been overthrown, but the hundred human realms are dependent on the hundred surviving Goblin "Jewels" -- in actuality, magical pieces of clockwork that do such things as maintain mines or keep the shores safe.

It opens with two of the allegedly extinct Maglore going to another Goblin -- one of the inferior breeds that are known to have survived -- to find a Maglore child.

A few years later, Wilrowan Blackheart -- Will -- is discouraged from attending court after a duel. His wife Lilli -- they had both been tricked into agreeing to the marriage by her ambitious father -- was off and about on secret studies of magic, as part of a secret society, and so much to his surprise, she's not at home.

Meanwhile, in another kingdom, King Jarred's cousin Lucius is about to go on a journey to work on his history, which doubts much of what is told. For instance, whether the Maglore actually existed-- they are an awfully convenient explanation for a lot of things. But when he leaves -- among others, to visit a land ruled from a madhouse, because the king is insane and does not have a regent -- the Maglore child, now grown, carries out a twisted Cinderella to bewitch Jarred. And all about the Jewels are stolen, trailing disaster in their wake as they move about the land, and worse when they come into proximity.

All of which weave together into a tale including a young woman who comes from a palace on the Moon (or so a mad king says), mirrors, drinking poison, the dangers of salt to Goblins, easing the servants out of Jarred's household, a great deal of gossip, how Will's grandmother survived the persecution of her family without ever coming to trial, ravens, the sect known as the Levelers and what they think is a miraculous child, and much more.

[Yve · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blurb for this book is accurate but makes it sound terribly boring, I'm glad that I just took a chance reading it. The world is populated by Humans and Goblins, the latter of which come in five different flavors. One of these Goblin subgroups now have a mythical status, having led an extremely oppressive empire that enslaved humans and gaining a reputation for both extreme cruelty and extreme aristocratic frivolity. The humans eventually rose up and nearly extinctified their Goblin overlords, keeping vestiges of their art and technology but dividing society up into hundreds of isolated kingdoms, to encourage a stagnation that is unsurprisingly threatened when (at the beginning of the novel) a Goblin plot to reestablish the empire through the theft of vital artefacts is set into motion. It's a rare fantasy novel with a large cast comprised entirely of nuanced and interesting characters. It jumps every few chapters to different characters and different locations (physical/temporal) but for all that it is surprisingly easy to follow. Wilrowan and Lilli are a bit like the Don and Betty Draper in that Will is a douche, Lilli's got a lot going on, and together they're sometimes the perfect unhappy romance to an annoying degree. Tremeur Brouilliard, on the other hand, is Edgerton's Nastasiya Filippovna and possibly my favorite character. I enjoyed the little Gormenghast references, and the refreshing absence of the pomposity that is an epidemic in 21st century fantasy novels. Edgerton's style is well-formed, and the story, while it seems pretty standard in structure, is extremely enjoyable.

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm conflicted with this book. Some things about it were enjoyable, but some things were just really bad. So I think it averages out to "just ok."


First, the good. I actually liked the writing style. It had a very Georgette Heyer-esque feel, and the author may even have been trying to imitate her style, and since I love Heyer, that was a plus. And it was actually done WELL. I've read other books where that style just feels forced, like the author tries to twist scenes and dialogue around in order to fit some of Heyer's commonly used words and phrases. But there was very little that felt forced in this book.

The world building was very good. Again, I contrast it with other books where the author basically writes Regency or Victorian England, just changes location names and calls it high fantasy. But, though this had some of the customs and language of Georgian or Regency England, it really felt like its own, unique world.

Now, the bad. First off, the book's description is a little misleading. It's not wrong, but it makes it sound like a garden-variety hero's journey, (which I like and was expecting) which it's not. The main plot of the stolen jewel didn't even start until almost a quarter of a way into the book. Literally 24% in, finally it starts. I don't mind a few chapters of world-building and establishing characters, but 11 chapters? I felt that a lot of that could have happened after the start of the main plot.

The absolute worst part though were the characters of Will and Lili. They were both so annoying, I couldn't decide who I hated more. The subplot of their relationship really dragged the story down. I really got tired of Will's childishness - his constant jealousy of other men Lili spent time with, taking offense at everything - he was not a likable character at all. Of course characters need flaws, that's what makes them interesting, but I feel like the author wanted to have everything with Will: Bad boy with a heart of gold, who's just misunderstood, but still bad of course, but sensitive, but possessive, but kind.... It was just a mess. Aside from that, he had no growth or character development at all! It would have been perfectly fine if he'd started out as a hypocritical cheating husband who's also jealous of any man his wife even briefly encounters, if, during the story, he'd realized what a jerk he was being, apologized profusely to his wife, was truly repentant, and became a better person. But no. The supposed turnaround in their relationship happens just because Lili is so angry at him one evening she decides to be all sexy and seduce him (huh?) so they have passionate sex and suddenly everything is fine. But he never apologizes or acknowledges what a jerk he's being, at least not to her. There's some internal thoughts of his near the beginning of the book that indicates he knows how bad he's treating her, but then both he and the author seem to forget about it. Now, I'm hardly a feminist, but this sort of thing just bugs me. In fact, what bugs me the most is Lili's response to all this! Especially the above mentioned "reconciliation" scene. I don't know if I'm just weird or what, but when I'm mad at my husband, the last thing I want is to have sex with him. If he tried to kiss me or initiate sex when I'm angry at him (as Will does in that scene) that would just make me even more angry, and my husband has never done anything near as bad as Will. An apology and sincere contrition is what I want when my husband has done something to make me angry or upset (which is rare, mind you). I could go off on a longer rant about the inexplicable behavior of female characters in wanting to jump into bed with a guy they don't like or even actively hate just because he's hot, but that would be getting away from the review of this particular book. Suffice it to say, I almost stopped reading at that point just because I hated the way that whole thing was written. I eventually continued, but I couldn't take Will and Lili seriously after that.

The other characters weren't nearly as annoying as those two, but just in general, characters sometimes made annoying leaps of illogic, or missed something obvious, or seemed unaware of something they should have been aware of. As just one example, near the beginning when Ys is preparing to go to the ball to meed Jarred for the first time, the main part of the preparation we see is the explaining of the invisibility cloak with which Ys will sneak from the palace kitchen into the ballroom, since she doesn't have an invitation and is unknown. Yet when she's being driven to the palace, she suddenly realizes they're not going to the main palace entrance and bizarrely thinks she's being kidnapped until the goblins driving her explain they're going to drop her off at the kitchen entrance. Um, since the whole point of having the invisibility cloak was to sneak from the kitchen to the ballroom, her being dropped off at a back entrance NEAR THE KITCHEN makes sense. What did she think? She was going to waltz into the main entrance, sneak to the kitchen, then sneak back to the main part of the palace? Aside from that, as meticulous as we're constantly told Madame is in all her planning and scheming, you'd think she'd have thought to mention that little detail to Ys of where she was going to be dropped off. It just made no sense and completely took me out of the story. And there were a dozen little instances of a similar nature.

Finally, the ending felt rushed and chaotic. Partly that could have just been me though. I was tired of the book and just trying to finish it at that point. But I still think the storytelling was rushed. Such a shame as it started out really good.

[Arwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantasy novel about Humans who have overthrown their Goblin oppressors. Apparently the Goblins are better at magic/science than the humans, and humans had been low class/slaves to them for thousands of years. That is until humans learn that glass, salt, and fire are instantly deadly to Goblins. They think that they killed all of the type of Goblin that made up the ruling class, and have switched the tables on the lower forms of Goblins. A Thousand years later the Goblins are the slaves and the Humans the rulers, but there is a plot afoot to return the Goblins to power. Interesting, but felt unpolished which is why is doesn't get a higher rating.

[Dantegideon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing style overly tortuous.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, and the one thing lacking was that we haven't gotten a follow-up book yet.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise but took way too long to get to the crux of the story: the journey to find the jewels

[Rachel Feeck]

Wilrowan is a neat name.

DNF at 15%.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, now I'm at the end, I need to gather my thoughts...

I really enjoyed the book. I liked the rich and complicated world and characters and I loved the idea of the goblin machines that were needed to support the existence of life. The frozen society that had been created as perfect and held that way was an excellent background to the characters -- few of whom were actually what they seemed to be, and none of whom did what they were told.

The relationship between Lili and Wilrowan was very well done -- the scene where they finally get together was lovely and the scene when Wilrowan caught up with Lili and Bastian brought tears to my eyes.

My favourite character was, of course, Wilrowan's grandmother, Lady Krogan. She was utterly marvelous and I sincerely hope that when I investigate Teresa Edgerton's other books I find that there is one which centres on her.

One way in which the book is hugely successful, for me, is in the absolutely real world with its history and mannerisms and expectations -- for such a rich and detailed book, the world-building is very light. It doesn't intrude on the story and it enriches everything. And it's different -- which was really exciting -- it was dark and strange and absolutely believable. One of those worlds that stays in your head even when you're not reading and colours everything you do. I recently read Daniel Abraham's The Long Price series, and the world-building seemed of a similar quality to me -- encompassing and excellent.

So I would absolutely recommend The Queen's Necklace, especially if you're looking for something a little different.

While I was reading, I worried that I didn't have anything negative to say so this wouldn't be a proper review. Now I've finished, though, I do!

And it's this: I need more!

The set up is extended and fascinating, and when the adventure begins, it's even more engaging. I coped fine with the switches between times (largely by not worrying too much about them) and it all made perfect sense. But the end needs more... Two fascinating characters vanish into the night and I need to know what happens to them! I like books which don't tie everything up at the end, I do, really, but if there is ever a sequel, I really want to know about it!

In fact, I did sometimes feel towards the end that I could have done with more depth on some of the characters and their fates. I feel a bit hypocritical saying this, because generally I don't like huge amounts of depth on minor characters, especially as everything is charging towards the climax and things are really exciting. The writing style in this book really suited me because there was depth without slowing things down. Still, I would have liked a little more on the queen's death, and I'd like to know if Nick survived (I have to assume not, I suppose).

To conclude: I loved The Queen's Necklace and, if it has a fault, it's that there isn't enough of it.

[Stephen Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In former times, many many years ago, the Goblins were the masters. After being overthrown, all except a few of these rulers are gone, with those few surviving driven into hiding. But now the time has come for the Maglore Goblins to repress and rule humanity once more. As they pull strings of power and advance their plans, it is a number of “jewels,” that are in fact weird devices, that are the key. But only a covert order called the Specularii believe that the Goblins still exist – and one other character, Wilrowan Blackheart…

Romance of a sort is also on the menu, in the form of Wilrowan and “Lilli” (Lilliana), with the latter being a member of the Specularii. As the Goblin conspiracy is revealed to be far wider and deeper than supposed, this romance twists in many directions.

Teresa Edgerton has pulled together a complex tale, sometimes a little twisty-turny perhaps, elsewhere with lots of pace and fun. The characters are broad-brush (“Will’s principle {sic} failings have always been his love of danger and an almost insatiable sexual appetite.”), although I have to say the women characters are better, or so it seemed to me. The cast though is large, and it’s a big task to keep track of them all.

The writing quality is really good, action and dialogue are well merged, and there are very nice descriptive passages. Though the royalty and toff quotient is high, I strongly suspect the author prefers the rough and tumble of her taverns and muddy streets, which have an even more vivid quality to them.

As with her super recent book Goblin Moon, this fantasy is a mixture of Regency era society – dancing and deportment, betrothal dinners, kidskin gloves, golden guineas – and also strange magics and one overarching quest. It is a standalone, however, which (to me) felt slightly odd, having read first and much enjoyed Goblin Moon. One is tempted to place the two novels together. But this one is its own book.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generations ago, goblins ruled humans impacably and mercilessly. They were overthrown, and all but a few of the former rulers (the Maglore) are destroyed. The few that survive are driven into hiding where they have remained for centuries, until all but a secret sorcerous order, the Specularii, have been convinced the Maglore were but legends. Now, the time is ripe for the Maglore to reclaim their lost thrones and crush humanity once more. Even as they subvert the current human kings and steal the various Goblin Jewels (really magical mechanical devices), no one but the Specularii and Wilrowan Blackheart even believe they exist, let alone stand in their way. The Maglore are great characters, and I love the world Edgerton has created, but Wilrowan’s clichéd romance with his sometime-rival Lilianna of the Specularri is horribly boring. The two main characters (Wilrowan and Lilianna) drag the story down; it’s an enticing adventure but for their presence.

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fair to middling fantasy of manners; my quest for something that will give me the same rush of a reading experience as The Element of Fire sadly continues. This one was hampered by weird pacing and chronology; alternating chapters weren't happening at the same time, and everything finally came together, I just went "Eh?" There are some great individual scenes--Lucien's first meetings with Tremeur come to mind, and pretty much anything with Raith is excellent--but they don't cohere into a very impressive whole.

[Aarti · Rating 4 out of 5]

A weaker effort than Edgerton's other quasi-Georgian novels (Goblin Moon and The Gnome's Engine), but enjoyable nonetheless. The characters are fun, though there are a LOT of them. It also seemed as though this one was being set up very heavily for a sequel that unfortunately never was written. Consequently, several storylines seem to be left hanging. Overall, an enjoyable storyline and an engaging cast of characters, especially for those who enjoy fiction set in the late 18th century.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few times when I was younger and always managed to come back to it, even though I'd already read it. Now as an adult I would like to either find the copy I had or find another copy and read it again just to see if I like it as much now as I did then. This was one of the books that really pushed me to love fantasy novels and I have yet to find another fantasy novel quite as intriguing to me as this one has been.

[Kaylynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had so many good things going for it. I liked the setting and society a lot, but the first half of the story dragged quite a bit. The end was good, but I was tired by the time I got there.

[Oyceter · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://oyceter.livejournal.com/543939...