Review: The Shadow Queen

The Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine
Series: Ravenspire #1
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

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.

Irina’s smile disappeared. “I don’t require all of the princess, huntsman.”

A chill raced over Kol’s skin. “I don’t understand. Our oath said—”

She leaned forward, her eyes pinning Kol where he stood. “You agreed to do whatever I asked of you. And I am asking you to bring me the princess’s heart.”

I feel like this book wants to be a mixture of Snow White and the Huntsman and the Grisha series and failed spectacularly at both, not least because it was so jaw-achingly dull. You’ve got your terrifyingly long Russian-sounding names (Kolvanismir Arsenyevnek, really?) random-ass magic that was never really explained, ogres, shape-shifting dragons, and…well, this.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most powerful of them all?”

Commence eye-rolling.

This book is generic and boring, there’s no denying it. The main character is beautiful, of course.

The girl’s brown eyes were guarded. She had a smudge of dirt on one pale cheek, and her long dark curls were tangled from her sprint through the village, but even so, she was beautiful in a way that made Kol want to keep looking.

And, she can fight and do other things. Blah blah blah.

The girl’s brown eyes were guarded. She had a smudge of dirt on one pale cheek, and her long dark curls were tangled from her sprint through the village, but even so, she was beautiful in a way that made Kol want to keep looking.

Retellings are supposed to be familiar, but in order for them to be successful, it has to either have spectacular writing, or provide a different element to the original tale. This book is your general YA high fantasy/retelling and nothing more.