When I first started reading The Midnight Queen I was worried I was walking into another version of Pride and Prejudice, just with magic and the old gods. I was pleasantly surprised to find, however, that while this book may have a lot of "proper behavior" and there is a love story, its central theme is something else, a story about attempting to prevent a regicide.
I really wish I could shower this book with praise, but the fact of the matter is, for me, this book was mostly "meh". There were several gems that kept me from being completely bored. Probably the biggest laugh I got out of this book was when Gray was scolded for bringing all his books along when they were running for their lives. His response, "I am a scholar, after all". And Joanna's reasoning for marriage to happen, "He is...rather an odd sort of man altogether, but as you are rather odd yourself-"*.
But as for the vast majority of the book, well, it did little to keep me focused. It was a quick read, don't get me wrong, but the story seemed to read out like a longer version of a fairytale. This may have been what Hunter was going for, in which case, bravo. However, for me, I probably would have preferred more tragedy, trials, or tribulations. Certainly not all of these, but just that little something more.
It is probably just me, because the book has all of the elements of a story that I like, but I cannot sing the praises such a book may deserve. Perhaps it was simply the structuring of the pieces didn't work for me. I do not wish to discourage anyone from reading The Midnight Queen but it is probably not a book I will readily recommend to others. I'm afraid I can only give 3 hoots.
I really wish I could shower this book with praise, but the fact of the matter is, for me, this book was mostly "meh". There were several gems that kept me from being completely bored. Probably the biggest laugh I got out of this book was when Gray was scolded for bringing all his books along when they were running for their lives. His response, "I am a scholar, after all". And Joanna's reasoning for marriage to happen, "He is...rather an odd sort of man altogether, but as you are rather odd yourself-"*.
But as for the vast majority of the book, well, it did little to keep me focused. It was a quick read, don't get me wrong, but the story seemed to read out like a longer version of a fairytale. This may have been what Hunter was going for, in which case, bravo. However, for me, I probably would have preferred more tragedy, trials, or tribulations. Certainly not all of these, but just that little something more.
It is probably just me, because the book has all of the elements of a story that I like, but I cannot sing the praises such a book may deserve. Perhaps it was simply the structuring of the pieces didn't work for me. I do not wish to discourage anyone from reading The Midnight Queen but it is probably not a book I will readily recommend to others. I'm afraid I can only give 3 hoots.
Hoot!
Hoot!
*I laugh at this because it's similar reasoning to why Fluxxdog and I got married.
***The digital proof for this book was provided by the publisher via First to Read. This does not affect my review.
No comments:
Post a Comment