The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel
“Call it The Hunger Games of Thrones. Erika Johansen’s debut novel is a genre mashup: medieval fantasy meets dystopian future. . . . The setting, combined with Johansen’s deft hand with character and plotting, really does work. . . . An addictive and enjoyable adventure. . . . The Tear is just as easy to get sucked into as Westeros or Hogwarts or Panem.” —USA Today
Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.
On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.
Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.
But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.
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Community Reviews
It was kind of slow paced, but In this book It was necessary to appreciate it and understand it better.
*Some spoilers*
I hope that in the sequel we see a lot more of "the Fetch".
I was surprise to learn that Carlin and Barty were dead, that was sad and shocking.
Wonder what is going to happen to Javel. I want to see more of him in the sequel to.
*Some spoilers*
I hope that in the sequel we see a lot more of "the Fetch".
I was surprise to learn that Carlin and Barty were dead, that was sad and shocking.
Wonder what is going to happen to Javel. I want to see more of him in the sequel to.
Random POV Land
Holy, freaking, goodness. There were so many random POVs in this story and for NO REASON! They added absolutely nothing to the actual story, or plot, or movement, or… well, anything! They were just there for the sake of being there? Maybe because the main character was so gosh darn boring and annoying and BLAH BLAH BLAH that we have to try and relieve your desire to bash your skull against a wall so we throw in random POVs. RAWR!
Implausible Main Character
My. God. Kelsea was raised in isolation with literally no human contact outside of two aging caretakers and has never seen the world outside of a little cabin in the middle of NOWHERE and yet she knows EVERY GOD DAMN THING ABOUT EVERYTHING?!?! Are you kidding me right now?! How does she know what a circus is? Did you happen to read THAT in a book too?!?! Oh. Don’t even get me started on the excessive need for book-plugging in this story…. Too late. (see below)
But first! One more thing about Kelsea (okay, two more because there’s more below). Kelsea is extremely annoying for two reasons:
Her excessive need to contradict herself CONSTANTLY. One minute she says ‘no’ and the next she says ‘yes’ and it’s not like there is ANYTHING in there that caused the change because she definitely goes BACK to ‘no’ like three seconds later!! GOD! Do you even know who you are?!
Why are you so Gosh Darn vain? This is such a huge topic in this story and it really bothers me how it’s approached and how Kelsea approaches it and how it’s such a BAD thing. Vanity is bad, yes, but being pretty isn’t. Stop preaching your personal views in your fiction. NOW!
Books are a Freakin’ Godsend (said every fantasy story EVER!)
“Books are amazing!”
“Books are everything!”
“Books teach us so much!”
“Books are more important than people and being smart and blah blah blah!”
“OH! And you know the best book? Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. Hobbit! NAME DROP! NAME DROP! NAME DROP!”
GOD! Stop name dropping popular modern day books in your broken, futuristic fantasy-society. All you’re doing is making me hate your main character more because she APPARENTLY only likes mainstream fiction. ESPECIALLY because books were supposedly completely obliterated and lost and what not and yet OF the billions upon trillions of books that exist nowadays, THOSE are the ones that made it?! Not like… a Gutenberg Bible or… Shakespeare or… Dr. Seuss?! Uh-uh. I don’t believe it. Just stop already. Kay, thanks!
Also, why don’t you stop making the entire story about books and actually get to the plot or the politics or, I don’t know, ANYTHING OTHER THAN BOOKS. I swear books came up so often in this story that I don’t think Kelsea was actually the main character. I think books were the main character.
Self-Righteous BS
What’s more? She’s self-righteous as absolute crap! Why don’t you stop pointing out all the flaws that caused modern day society to fail and create your futuristic society and get on with the damn story! Or, I don’t know, write a story at all! The main character is so implausible that it’s atrocious!
You know why else I hate the fact that Kelsea is self-righteous? Because it just sums up the package of why SHE makes the PERFECT queen. She’s self-righteous. She’s accepting of everyone. She’s plain and therefore not vain. She’s super, mega powerful for no apparent reason. She is going to save the kingdom despite having NO political training or ANYTHING. Oh! And none of the actions of this long-lost princess who’s been in hiding and has suddenly come out of nowhere to reclaim her throne, has ANY consequences. God. Perfect, mary-sue main character, much? Yeah. No.
Science in Fantasy
Oh. I… I don’t even know where to start with this because this particular piece is the MOST infuriating out of everything else in the story. You know what that is? A fantasy story with magic throwing in SCIENCE like they know everything. YOU DON’T! You got it wrong! Stop teaching people WRONG things about science! I am SOOO damn annoyed with people putting FALSE science in their fiction and making it the reason for a plot. STOP! Stop screwing with things you don’t know because you’re just FUCKING it up! That is NOT how it works and therefore should NOT be used for your plot or reasoning. GOD!
Holy, freaking, goodness. There were so many random POVs in this story and for NO REASON! They added absolutely nothing to the actual story, or plot, or movement, or… well, anything! They were just there for the sake of being there? Maybe because the main character was so gosh darn boring and annoying and BLAH BLAH BLAH that we have to try and relieve your desire to bash your skull against a wall so we throw in random POVs. RAWR!
Implausible Main Character
My. God. Kelsea was raised in isolation with literally no human contact outside of two aging caretakers and has never seen the world outside of a little cabin in the middle of NOWHERE and yet she knows EVERY GOD DAMN THING ABOUT EVERYTHING?!?! Are you kidding me right now?! How does she know what a circus is? Did you happen to read THAT in a book too?!?! Oh. Don’t even get me started on the excessive need for book-plugging in this story…. Too late. (see below)
But first! One more thing about Kelsea (okay, two more because there’s more below). Kelsea is extremely annoying for two reasons:
Her excessive need to contradict herself CONSTANTLY. One minute she says ‘no’ and the next she says ‘yes’ and it’s not like there is ANYTHING in there that caused the change because she definitely goes BACK to ‘no’ like three seconds later!! GOD! Do you even know who you are?!
Why are you so Gosh Darn vain? This is such a huge topic in this story and it really bothers me how it’s approached and how Kelsea approaches it and how it’s such a BAD thing. Vanity is bad, yes, but being pretty isn’t. Stop preaching your personal views in your fiction. NOW!
Books are a Freakin’ Godsend (said every fantasy story EVER!)
“Books are amazing!”
“Books are everything!”
“Books teach us so much!”
“Books are more important than people and being smart and blah blah blah!”
“OH! And you know the best book? Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. Hobbit! NAME DROP! NAME DROP! NAME DROP!”
GOD! Stop name dropping popular modern day books in your broken, futuristic fantasy-society. All you’re doing is making me hate your main character more because she APPARENTLY only likes mainstream fiction. ESPECIALLY because books were supposedly completely obliterated and lost and what not and yet OF the billions upon trillions of books that exist nowadays, THOSE are the ones that made it?! Not like… a Gutenberg Bible or… Shakespeare or… Dr. Seuss?! Uh-uh. I don’t believe it. Just stop already. Kay, thanks!
Also, why don’t you stop making the entire story about books and actually get to the plot or the politics or, I don’t know, ANYTHING OTHER THAN BOOKS. I swear books came up so often in this story that I don’t think Kelsea was actually the main character. I think books were the main character.
Self-Righteous BS
What’s more? She’s self-righteous as absolute crap! Why don’t you stop pointing out all the flaws that caused modern day society to fail and create your futuristic society and get on with the damn story! Or, I don’t know, write a story at all! The main character is so implausible that it’s atrocious!
You know why else I hate the fact that Kelsea is self-righteous? Because it just sums up the package of why SHE makes the PERFECT queen. She’s self-righteous. She’s accepting of everyone. She’s plain and therefore not vain. She’s super, mega powerful for no apparent reason. She is going to save the kingdom despite having NO political training or ANYTHING. Oh! And none of the actions of this long-lost princess who’s been in hiding and has suddenly come out of nowhere to reclaim her throne, has ANY consequences. God. Perfect, mary-sue main character, much? Yeah. No.
Science in Fantasy
Oh. I… I don’t even know where to start with this because this particular piece is the MOST infuriating out of everything else in the story. You know what that is? A fantasy story with magic throwing in SCIENCE like they know everything. YOU DON’T! You got it wrong! Stop teaching people WRONG things about science! I am SOOO damn annoyed with people putting FALSE science in their fiction and making it the reason for a plot. STOP! Stop screwing with things you don’t know because you’re just FUCKING it up! That is NOT how it works and therefore should NOT be used for your plot or reasoning. GOD!
This book could easily be labeled as "life changing," or an "awakening of some sort." I don't usually read books like this, which is something i keep saying with all of these fantasy books that i keep reading. lol
But I kept being recommended to read it, and as I finished the final chapter I see why. This is the first installment of what will be a trilogy. It is a dystopian book, but it isn't super futuristic with complex computers. No this post apocalyptic society has been pushed all the way back to medieval times, no power, no computers, no phones, no modern marvels. It is very "Games of Thrones-ey" with queens, reagents, queens guard, invasions, over throwing, lots of killing... (sounding familiar?)
But what is the most impacting subject here is that, the main character is a 19 year old girl, Queen of the Tearling. The kingdom is to be run by Queens, therefore it is very pivotal that this queen makes it back to her kingdom to begin her reign. Kelsea is her name, and she is so bad ass. So many parts to try and recall right now, but i still can't get over her yelling at the General of the Tearling Army, not taking any shit from his authoritative arrogant claims. We pretend we are brave (females) but when she had her moments when she stubbornly held her will against doubters, I thought to myself, man I have to step up my game, I need to learn to not back down more.
This author is incredibly descriptive, incredibly so that I could smell the grass, the humid air before rainfall, the iron of blood splattered everywhere. When characters in the book began to feel nervous about something, i also mirrored the suspicion. It was one of the reasons, i think, that it took me so long to finish. i didnt want to skip anything, i wanted to soak in all these explicit details, and it was lengthy, boy was it lengthy. To someone who isn't an avid reader, they would give up. But something about my connection to Kelsea kept me going, even when i felt overwhelmed by the elongated chapters.
I too now hold the task to inspire other readers, women, men to read this book... So thank you to the people who eventually convinced me to read this. Thank you, thank you.
But I kept being recommended to read it, and as I finished the final chapter I see why. This is the first installment of what will be a trilogy. It is a dystopian book, but it isn't super futuristic with complex computers. No this post apocalyptic society has been pushed all the way back to medieval times, no power, no computers, no phones, no modern marvels. It is very "Games of Thrones-ey" with queens, reagents, queens guard, invasions, over throwing, lots of killing... (sounding familiar?)
But what is the most impacting subject here is that, the main character is a 19 year old girl, Queen of the Tearling. The kingdom is to be run by Queens, therefore it is very pivotal that this queen makes it back to her kingdom to begin her reign. Kelsea is her name, and she is so bad ass. So many parts to try and recall right now, but i still can't get over her yelling at the General of the Tearling Army, not taking any shit from his authoritative arrogant claims. We pretend we are brave (females) but when she had her moments when she stubbornly held her will against doubters, I thought to myself, man I have to step up my game, I need to learn to not back down more.
This author is incredibly descriptive, incredibly so that I could smell the grass, the humid air before rainfall, the iron of blood splattered everywhere. When characters in the book began to feel nervous about something, i also mirrored the suspicion. It was one of the reasons, i think, that it took me so long to finish. i didnt want to skip anything, i wanted to soak in all these explicit details, and it was lengthy, boy was it lengthy. To someone who isn't an avid reader, they would give up. But something about my connection to Kelsea kept me going, even when i felt overwhelmed by the elongated chapters.
I too now hold the task to inspire other readers, women, men to read this book... So thank you to the people who eventually convinced me to read this. Thank you, thank you.
The Queen of the Tearling garnered my respect as time went on. I went from thinking halfway through that this was definitely one of the best reads I'd experienced in some time, to realizing I had found a new favorite. Kelsea is a phenomenal heroine. Even when the covers are closed, her voice lingers. I greatly appreciate her respect for knowledge and its sharing, as well as for empathy and its implementation into judicial matters (as stated by the "lecturer" quoted in the last few pages).
I am impressed. However, I do in truth give this book 4.5 stars. This is because of what felt like a slower start, but for a story well worth the wait. Onto Invasion of the Tearling next! Thank you, Erika Johansen. And another not-so-small thank you for your shout out to Jo! ;)
Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/123162867/playlist/13ovvtWXJmTS0BxUsXhfEG
I am impressed. However, I do in truth give this book 4.5 stars. This is because of what felt like a slower start, but for a story well worth the wait. Onto Invasion of the Tearling next! Thank you, Erika Johansen. And another not-so-small thank you for your shout out to Jo! ;)
Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/123162867/playlist/13ovvtWXJmTS0BxUsXhfEG