#regards reads the queen of the tearling

[regardstosoulandromance]

the queen of the tearling chapter one: there’s an evil woman called the red queen

me: sounds hot tell me more.

[secretlyatargaryen]

thehummingbirdsound

It does bother me that we don't see other forms of govt besides monarchy. I guess we don't really know how the air nomads society was structured, but the Fire, Earth, and Northern water tribes all seem to be monarchies and the show never questions it. It just implies that you need good monarchs to rule people, which isnt great.

Yeah, and like I said, I’m kind of whatever about it because it’s a fantasy cartoon show, and tbh part of the problem with Game of Thrones was that they tried to have their cake and eat it too in this regard, and ended up with a mess by trying to pretend it was more democratic for Bran to be god-king at the end with his sister getting to be an independent queen through nepotism. I’m not sure if the high fantasy genre CAN answer those questions in a satisfying way specifically because of the trappings of the genre. The only place I’ve seen it addressed well was in Queen of the Tearling, specifically because the world is established as a monarchy that was created from the ashes of a future dystopia, so the characters DO have a reference for what a more democratic system looks like, but I remember the second book being iffy and I think there’s a third book that I never read so I don’t know if that series ever pulled it off.

[shadowtearling]

does The Raven Cycle count as fantasy? Adam is a well of quotes about this theme.

you could try His Dark Materials. i’m thinking specifically of Will’s trauma— but honestly that series is traumatizing to the reader

also I know you haven’t read it, but The Invasion of the Tearling deals with this theme HEAVILY. there’s some level of it in Queen and some in Fate but in Invasion, it’s fully there.

idk if you’ve read it, but The Sea of Ink and Gold series by Traci Chee also deals heavily with trauma regarding the love interest bc of his past. it’s touched on in all books. book one is kind of the acknowledgement of it, and books two and three are working through it. book three specifically has scenes with signs of PTSD.

ALSO i’m not sure of its fantasy status but A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is just the most devastating thing ever. and a bonus, if you haven’t read it yet, you can finish it in a couple of hours (+ some sobbing)

I’m working on a project guys, and if you wouldn’t mind giving me a little help. I’m trying to find quotes from fantasy novels about trauma or survival. So if you know books that deal with those themes, could you send them my way, even if you know I’ve read the book. In fact, I’m trying to only use books I have read so I know the context. But just submit any book or a specific quote, just make sure you have a source.

[whittybooks]

So as we can see I have been TERRRRRRIBLE about keeping up with this.  I will try and do better!  I need to go back and review the books I have read so far.  It hasn’t been many thankfully.  I’ve had a slow start this year.  

King’s Cage

re-read of Queen of the Tearling and The Invasion of the Tearling

The Fate of the Tearling

The Name of the Wind

The Wise Man’s Fear

The Slow Regard of Silent Things

The Queen of the Night

[feminist-dreaming]

Yesterday Julia and I managed to get a butt-ton of bookstagram and book club stuff done! We also took a crazy amount of photos for the newest #bookofthemonth for the #livthebookclub book club! In July we are reading #TheGlitteringCourt by @reallyrichelle! This sounds like a mix of The Selection, Throne of Glass, Red Queen & Queen of the Tearling so I'm super excited to dive into this one 😍 . . This photo was styled by the amazing @jujuthereader and snapped by me. Shout out to Juju for being the best book club co-host & best friend a girl could ask for! 😘 . . 📚| •The Glittering Court •The Selection •Throne of Glass •The One •Glass Sword •A Court of Mist & Fury . . ✨Follow @livthebookclub for more information regarding the book club and read-along! . . {#bookstagram #bookishtower #booktower #jujuthereader #livthebooknerd #livthebookclub #bookclub #booktube #bookworm #booknerd #booknerdigans #redqueen #theglitteringcourt #wintersong #throneofglass #acomaf #acourtofmistandfury #theselection #theelite #theone #kieracass #victoriaaveyard #richellemead # #sarahjmaas #blog #blogger #bookporn #}

[inkdropsreviews-blog]

The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johansen review

Rating:  ★ ★ ★

I had been dying to read this novel. I’ve heard only great things about it, and so when I got my hands on it I was so excited to finally tear through this female-oriented fantasy adventure novel. Although this book was a great read, and I enjoyed the political side of it and the protagonist, I think it was just a bit too uneventful.

The story follows Kelsea Raleigh, daughter of the late Queen Elyssa of the Tearling, who takes to the throne of her troubled kingdom at 19. Kelsea has been brought up in hiding, away from those who are trying to kill her. Although she has always known that she will be Queen, the downside to this form of being brought up is that Kelsea knows next to nothing about the problems plaguing her kingdom, from the black market trade, to corruption within the Keep and widespread poverty. 

Unfortunately, this aspect to the story is something that I really didn’t understand. Kelsea’s upbringing and education has been so deficient considering that her foster carers are supposed to be raising her to be Queen. She isn’t told anything about her kingdom, current events - nothing! I understand that they were under strict instructions to do that, but apart from the previous Queen being shortsighted and not realising that her daughter might need to know something about the country she was supposed to rule, I couldn’t see why this was necessary. 

On the other hand, the actual setting itself is interesting, and the only positive to the illogical nature of Kelsea’s upbringing is that we learn along with her. We get to see her learn about all the things that have happened to her people, and decide how she will rectify it. The setting itself is interesting as well; it is set in the future, but society has reversed back so that it is a more medieval rather than futuristic society, and I was intrigued by the suggestive hints regarding what happened to make our society reverse so drastically.

My favourite thing about this book was that, despite being about a lost princess, it did not fall into a ‘princess character’ trap. Kelsea is anything but your usual princess. I loved that the emphasis is not on Kelsea’s appearance – not because I have a thing against pretty characters, but because it was nice to see her build her reputation based on her decisions and leadership rather than her looks. Kelsea is smart and knows what she wants. Even though she doubts herself, you know that she will deliver what she says, and I almost felt like I was cheering her on for most of the book, wishing I could whisper in her ear that she can survive! Also, I feel like Erika Johansen deserves a massive round of applause just because she took the pretty brave step of not forcing a romance into this book.

Unfortunately, most of the aspects of this book that I liked are tempered by the fact that this book was just so slow. Reading about Kelsea’s decisions as a new Queen was exciting, but the whole second half of the book was building towards something (spoilery) that never happened. The ‘Red Queen of Mortmesne’ sounded like a brilliant villain, but we never got to see her do anything related to the story itself. I couldn’t put the book down, but mainly because I was eager to see what would happen, and nothing did. I felt like rather than this book being part one of a trilogy, it could have been condensed to become the opening of a book. 

I hope that I will get to read the sequel of this book soon, although to be honest, it is not high on my list of priorities. I feel pretty betrayed by the fact that nothing much happened in this book, and I doubt I’ll be rushing to get The Invasion of the Tearling. 

[regardstosoulandromance]

update on reading the queen of tearling: electronic books????????????? what do u MEAN electronic books? what is the lore here