♥!The Young Adult Book Club!♥ discussion

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine



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.

This was so close to getting the dreaded DNF. I found myself extremely annoyed with almost every character. The only chapter POV I was enjoying was the evil queen's. Every one else was whiny and stupid. But the action kept my attention. The ending was satisfying. Just enough action to get the blood pumping. I just hope that the next book learns from this one's mistakes.

I wasn't a huge fan of this one. It's young adult fiction, yeah, but it was extremely juvenile. It lacked depth. I noticed several plot holes. There were a few parts that had me very interested, and there were parts that were good, but overall I didn't like it very much.

Amber wrote: "I wasn't a huge fan of this one. It's young adult fiction, yeah, but it was extremely juvenile. It lacked depth. I noticed several plot holes. There were a few parts that had me very interested, an..."

I felt the same way. I'm holding out hope that the next book will be better.

You guys are describing how I felt when I read Defiance. I had high hopes but the book fell short for me, and now I'm worried I won't be impressed with this one either =/

I loved Defiance but didn't love the other books in that series. I couldn't even finish the last book.

I actually ended up liking this one more than Defiance and rated it 3.5 stars. It felt like she wrote almost the same exact plot again then threw in some Snow White characters to try to make it different though. I would actually continue this series, unlike the other one (even though I already have all the books)

This series just seems like it has more promise.

Tracey wrote: "This series just seems like it has more promise."

I agree. Defiance ended like (view spoiler)[well I want to kill him but we need him so I guess we can let him get away for now (hide spoiler)] whereas this one ended like a standalone and the sequel can have a totally different plot if she wants.

Actually, I think that's how the series will be. Each book can be read as a stand alone novel and each sequel will retell a different fairy tale.

I'm a day late in finishing, but I actually kind of liked this book. I'm not entirely sure why, because it wasn't a deep read or have major character development. It was quite light in both areas. But I think it was the fact that Lorelai could wield magic just finally made the character of Snow White feel a bit cooler to me, and she was actively fighting for her kingdom. Plus dragons are cooler than dwarves, but maybe that's just my opinion. I think the story has the potential to be something good if she fleshes it out more in her next book. I might even pick it up.