Shadow of a Dark Queen (The Serpentwar Saga, Book 1)
Shadow of a Dark Queen (The Serpentwar Saga, Book 1)
A dread darkness is descending upon a great land called Midkemia—a powerful and malevolent race of monsters that has slipped through a hole in the dimensions. And two unlikely young heroes—a bastard heir denied his birthright and an irrepressible scoundrel with a penchant for thievery—must take up arms in the struggle to protect their besieged world…two friends chosen by Destiny to stand at the fore of the battle that is to come against the gargantuan reptile army of the terrible Emerald Queen.
List Price: $ 7.99
Price: $ 2.50
The Prophet (The Graveyard Queen)
My name is Amelia Gray.I am the Graveyard Queen, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. My father passed down four rules to keep me safe and I’ve broken every last one. A door has opened and evil wants me back.In order to protect myself, I’ve vowed to return to those rules. But the ghost of a murdered cop needs my help to find his killer. The clues lead me to the dark side of Charleston—where witchcraft, root doctors and black magic still flourish—and back to John Devlin, a haunted police detective I should only love from afar.Now I’m faced with a terrible choice: follow the rules or follow my heart.
List Price: $ 7.99
Price: $ 4.22
Lots of fun,
Well, I picked up my first Feist novel about 10 years ago, and have enjoyed his writing ever since. The Serpentwar Saga is set perhaps 50 years after the end of the Riftwar. If you have not already read Feist’s riftwar saga, then I suggest you do so before picking up this book. Also, you should read Prince of the Blood and The King’s Buccaneer, because these two “in between” books chronicle the events that lead up to the “Serpentwar”.
In general, Feist’s writing is clear and entertaining. These books rarely bog down, and are generally a quick read. There is nothing particularly new or genre-altering in Feist’s work, but his novels are quite a bit of fun all the same.
I would wholeheartedly recommend the Serpentwar saga to anyone who has already read the Riftwar books and is looking for more. These books won’t change your life, but you’ll certainly have a great time reading them.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Feist shows a new side of Midkemia,
Shadow of a Dark Queen is the newest adventure set on the world of Midkemia. Set approximately twenty five years after the last book, this novel introduces the reader to an all new cast of characters.
The story evolves around young Erik von Darkmoor and Rupert “Roo” Avery. Gone are the great heroes from earlier novels, such as Arutha, Pug, Lyam, Borric, and Jimmy the Hand. While a few members of the original cast have brief appearances, the story is largely comprised of all new characters and takes place in the land introduced in King’s Buccaneer, Novindus.
Unlike previous Feist novels, inside we find characters who are in the gray area between good and evil. The characters appear to have been written to be more identifiable by the reader, but I think I related more to the original cast more. Most of the new characters are basically good, but not in the same vein as Arutha conDoin and Mara of the Acoma. Where Mara and Arutha were fighting for the Kingdom and the Empire, Erik and Roo fight for their lives and their families. Expect a different feel from this new series than you got from previous works.
Overall, the story was very good, only getting bad marks for being a tad on the technical side. If you are a military buff, you will thoroughly enjoy this book, as will most readers who have liked Feist’s earlier books.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Shadow of a Dark Queen,
In the Shadow of a Dark Queen is a thrilling book by Raymond E. Feist. In it a boy becomes a man, a old war is reinvestigated, and an evil older then time itself reappears. The book is suspenseful, and keeps readers on the end of their seats. I give it a five star rating. I thought that it was a wonderful example of sci-fi fantasy. It is comparable with Tolkiens Lord of the Rings. It delighted me and sort of made me feel like I was in the story. Feists books don’t give a lot of character depth, but they are fun to read and make you want to be one of the characters. The storyline will not work if you do not read Magician 1&2, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon, Prince of the Blood, and The Kings Buccaneer. It is overall a wonderful book
Was this review helpful to you?
|Ghosts and Contemporary Gothic Creepiness,
This third book in the Graveyard Queen series was filled with the same Gothic creepiness that infused the first two volumes. If you haven’t read the first two books in the series, you might want to stop reading now and quickly find yourself copies of The Restorer and The Kingdom because this story begins shortly after the events of The Kingdom.
Amelia is back in Charleston. She quickly gets back involved in the life of John Devlin. John is a Charleston police detective that she met during The Restorer. They had started a romance but Amelia ended it because John was still being haunted by his dead wife and daughter. Losing Miriama and Shani left him feeling both grief and guilt. Seeing ghosts herself, Amelia had been raised by his father to never have anything to do with a haunted man.
Getting close to Devlin, allowed other ghosts to come to her too. In the mythology of this story, ghosts are like “parasites drawn to our energy, feeding off our warmth. If they know you can see them, they’ll cling to you like blight. You’ll never be rid of them. And your life will never again be your own.” The most persistent and least ghostlike of the ghosts that haunt Amelia is Robert Fremont. He, Devlin, and Tom Gerrity all graduated from the police academy together. He and Devlin were rivals for the affection of Devlin’s dead wife. He wants Amelia to find out who murdered him. Amelia is also haunted by and sympathetic to Shani who was Devlin’s four-year-old daughter.
Her efforts to find Robert Fremont’s muderer and find a way to send Shani to her rest lead Amelia to explore a lot of the ancient African beliefs of the Charleston area. She has to deal with spells, and potions, and magical visitors. She also manages to learn a lot about the relationships between Devlin, Fremont, Gerrity, and Ethan Shaw. Shaw is another forensic anthropologist and the son of a paranormal investigator who has been acting as a mentor to Amelia.
As Amelia untangles the twisted relationships between all the players and delves more into the magic around her, the creepy atmosphere gets even more intense. This was an excellent mystery with wonderful paranormal aspects. I recommend it to fans of ghost stories.
Was this review helpful to you?
|The Best Yet! Spooky, Romantic, and Smart.,
This series has been a wonderful ride since book one and I am so pleased to say that book three, The Prophet was an easy five stars for me!
Amelia is back in Charleston in this one and Devlin is back in her life full force. As Amelia comes to terms with the fact that she has gotten the attention of some scary sort of ghosts from the other side, she also deals with her feelings for Devlin. Should she stay away like she knows is best? Should she tell him about his ghosts? I really loved that we were back into this story line, it felt almost like coming home after book two’s detour into a new setting and new love interest. This book made me love Devlin more than the first, I’m not sure why. Something about him in this book was even more sexy. Maybe because he and Amelia spend some more quality time together and we get to actually learn more about him.
At the end of The Restorer, book one in the series, we met Robert Fremont and discovered he was actually a ghost – one that can come out during the daytime, speak, and appear to be fully human. We learned that he is very powerful and that he wanted Amelia’s help to solve his murder so he could finally rest in peace. Of course, in attempting to do this, Amelia’s path crosses with Devlin’s time and time again as she learns more about he and Fremont’s friendship prior to his murder. I was really interested in this plot line and I thought it was laid out nicely. Although I figured out the culprit before Amelia, I still thought everything was well written and not overly predictable.
Alongside this plot there is also the ongoing situation with Devlin’s ghosts, his wife Mariama and daughter Shani. This was my favorite part of the plot in book one, and I was disappointed that both ghosts were pretty much nonexistent in the sequel. So I was super excited that they were back in this book! Mariama is as creepy as always, hanging on to Devlin and showing her obvious disdain for he and Amelia’s “relationship”. Shani is my favorite ghost in the series, as I would imagine she would be for many readers since all the other ghosts are terrifying! Shani reminds me of that scary little girl in The Sixth Sense that at first is completely horrifying but then we come to learn that she just wants Hayley Joel Osment’s help. That’s Shani. In this one she goes to extreme lengths to get Amelia’s help and I loved watching her story play out. We also get to learn much more about Mariama, her relationship with Devlin prior to her death, and her and Shani’s death itself. In fact, author Stevens really wraps up their story and leaves me wondering where the next book will go.
Did I say “next book”? Yep. Stevens recently announced that there will at least three more books in this series (*does happy dance*).
Reccommended for fans of: ghost stories, voodoo, cemeteries, and sexy police detectives.
Was this review helpful to you?
|Good but Missing a Key Element,
4+ stars. I liked this better than The Kingdom, but slightly less than the first book, The Restorer. I was glad for Amelia to be back in Charleston to continue the story line with Devlin and the ghosts introduced in The Restorer.
This book tied up a lot of questions raised in the first book. About Devlin and his relationship with his wife and daughter, the accident that killed Mariama and Shani, the reason for Shani communicating with Amelia, who killed Robert Fremont and why.
There were mention in this book by several characters that Amelia had changed but the change to me as the reader wasn’t an entirely positive one. Like in The Kingdom, she seemed more fearful and was very impulsive with her decisions. I actually found that her impulses gave her somewhat of a stalker quality, more than once she found herself hiding in the bushes eavesdropping!
One of the key elements I found missing in this book is the lack of continuity with the “door opening” that occurred in The Restorer in the night Amelia ran away from Devlin. That was a big part of the reason she stayed away in the first place but somehow it didn’t make an appearance in this book. That was a jarring inconsistency.
There were twists in the end that were unexpected but also made sense. The ending was intriguing but I didn’t like how it creates doubt as to the reason for Devlin coming back, was it his choice or was it because of Darius? No doubt that was the point.
Was this review helpful to you?
|