Queens of the Realm Book Club 2019 discussion

Alright guys, this is where you get to post your general thoughts about the book, the writing style, and all the vague stuff about the plot. Got a spoiler you want to talk about? Go to the spoiler thread. I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about this one!

Cheers!

Hello all,

I have read the first 60 pages of the book. Not quite feeling it so far...the structure could be intriguing but feels a bit disjointed for my taste.

It feels like we are being presented with different scenes/ vignettes and it is unclear how/ if it will come together. This can work, however I am missing strong character or theme to pull the story together and/or forward.

Has anyone else begun yet?

Hi, I am more than 80 pages in. I like it and two timelines will probably come together somehow but I am waiting for something that will grab my attention, to pull me in more. I am happy to say it is much better than last months read. :D

I just finished it and I have to say I have mixed feelings. I liked second half of the book. It was only one timeline so it was less confusing and we spend more time with characters and the story. The worst part for me were too many new characters in the first half of the book and some hinted conflicts in the second half that will probably play huge role in next books. I don't plan to continue with the series but I want to know how will those play out.

Definitely liking this more than the January book. There is not a lot of sophistication to the writing or depth to the characterisation but I like the way the story seems like a saga or tale from Celtic mythology. I'm intrigued by the different timelines and the way that the characters and story play out in each timeline. I'm enjoying the audio book and plan to continue the series until this storyline plays out (4 books I think).

I am just beginning this book and I wanted to tell everyone that you can get the audio from Hoopla for free. Yes, I am running a bit behind, but I hope to catch up!
Procrastination can be exciting.

Alright y’all, I’m finally starting this thing. I’ve had so much else going on reading wise, that I’ve procrastinated this longer than I should have. I’m doing a mixture of audio and physical book. The audio narrator has a good voice, but her pacing is very odd. It’s as if she doesn’t pause at appropriate moments or something. Anyway, it’s an enjoyable enough listen. So far this is a good story, I’m interested to see where it goes. But it definitely feels dated. I’ll be interested to see if it starts to feel a bit more modern as the story takes shape, but the beginning is very typical and the dialogue is a bit cringe at points. Like I said, enjoyable enough. Definitely an improvement from January’s pick (though that’s an admittedly low bar haha) 😊

Angie wrote: "I'm a little over 200 pages in and I'm pretty conflicted. This is a re-read for me and I have read the whole series, albeit a long time ago (the inside cover has a Feb 2000 date, so exactly 19 year..."

Angie, thank you for your thoughts.

Interesting how our reading tastes shift over the years.

I, too, found myself rolling my eyes occasionally, yet mostly I was just not interested in the story. It did not grab me at all. Thus rather than "slog-read" my way through it, I returned it to my library.

Looking forward to next month. I have read the first novella in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells and loved it.

Okay y’all. I’ve been trying the audio book. And the narrator isn’t bad. The story wasn’t awful. The characterization was rushed tho. I was still willing to finish it tho as an easy audiobook listen. And then I got to a certain scene. And that scene pissed me off so much that I’m giving up. I’m so sick and tired of this particular thing happening in fantasy books. As this is the non spoiler thread that’s all I’ll say here. But I’m giving up. I really don’t understand why authors think this is a good narrative device. I’ve only ever seen it done well once in any fantasy book. I have DNF’d so many fantasy books over this particular plot point, and I don’t regret it at all. So yeah not for me unfortunately.