The Hundredth Queen by Emily R. King
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I really had a hard time determining what I thought about this book… For one, I figured I should love it, because so many people were hyping this book on Goodreads a time ago, I believed that I, too, would fall in love. And another reason, was because sometimes I do get suckered into reading about “speshul” snowflakes, and actually enjoy what I’m reading, because sometimes I am simple like that…
But unfortunately for me, The Hundredth Queen just didn’t quite cut it. I didn’t exactly find it horrible, and did enjoy one thing that I will address, but overall, I didn’t love it.
Let me first mention what I actually liked:
I appreciated the loyalty Kali had towards those she cared for. I’ll admit that I can be the type that finds it excessive if the loyalty goes beyond what I feel is necessary (in my case, it’s mostly due to my impatience), so though there were moments in which I wanted to roll my eyes because of Kali’s naivety, I appreciated the fact that she genuinely cared about people.
Okay, now for the bad…
As I was having the hardest time getting into this book (the pacing was just so uneventful), I realized how much I didn’t like the idea of these women (one hundred wives and countless courtesans) fighting in order to gain a better rank among themselves, just to please one man. I didn’t like that they might be powerful women, but it meant nothing if they couldn’t survive these battles. They scarred each other, lost limbs, or died in order to improve their ranks, or in the case of a courtesan, to hopefully become one of the wives.
Then, of course there’s instalove!!! The relationship between Kali and her love interest is so boring and dry. There’s the whole ‘falling for each other at first sight’ thing, but they’re forbidden, since Kali is intended for someone else. So, yes, this means a lot of stolen moments that are cheesy and boring.
Before I end this review, I wanted to be sure to add that the whole idea of the women being lowly in this book, is something that Kali does work to overcome. I won’t get any deeper into this because it’d be too much of a spoiler, but I can give credit to Kali for not completely bowing to submission and actually attempting to show strength when she’s up against someone more powerful than she.
I did find myself intrigued enough with how this book ended to possibly read the next book, but because I didn’t like this one all that much, I probably won’t rush it.
And as for recommending it? Can’t say that I will be doing that.
Thank you to Skyscape, courtesy of Netgalley, for giving me this copy in exchange for an honest review.
midorireads 