Summer Queen by Amber Argyle

Summer Queen by Amber Argyle(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Nelay never wanted to be queen.

Poised to become the most powerful priestess in Idara, Nelay doesn’t have time to become a pretty bauble for the king. She’s too busy saving her people from the invading army sweeping across her kingdom.

But in defeat after defeat, Nelay begins to realize a bigger power is at play than that wielded by mere mortals. Only she can stand between the cinders of her once-great nation and the vengeance of a goddess.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]

One of the things that drew me to Summer Queen in the beginning was the idea that this was finally some different fantasy.  In the beginning of the blurb it sounded pretty typical but then things quickly got good so I decided to sign up for the tour.  And in the end I’m glad I did because Summer Queen is anything but typical.

We start off meeting our main character Nelay preparing to seduce a king.  Not because she’s particularly interested in him or seduction in general but because she wants to distract him while she makes her move to escape.  The king, Zatal, is not marrying her because she’s sooo beautiful or the usual tropes but rather because the High Priestess of the fire goddess has told him he must marry an acolyte of the goddess in order to save his crumbling kingdom that used to be an enormous empire.  Naturally, Nelay was chosen because she’s a high ranking priestess who is quickly looking like she’s going to challenge Suka, the old High Priestess for her job.  But Nelay really doesn’t want anything to do with this man (who is in love with his thoroughly unsuitable mistress, not her); she wants to find her family.  So she hires the smuggler Rycus and escapes.

Nelay is a very resourceful character.  Not only is her butt-kicking awesome but in general Nelay is very analytical and thinks things through before doing them.  She can sometimes be impulsive but at least she can also come up with plans while she’s doing the impulsive thing.  It’s really nice to have a strategic thinker as a main character, despite her flaws like arrogance and the occasional bouts of selfishness.  All of her more strong emotions are tempered quite nicely by Rycus, who is very easy going and thoroughly attractive.  In the beginning Nelay and Rycus aren’t exactly buddy-buddy but through all of their adventures in the desert, in the various towns under enemy occupation and in the last standing city in the Idaran empire they start to realize that maybe they’d make more than just a good fighting team.

The plot of Summer Queen is actually quite fast for a high fantasy novel but Amber Argyle never sacrifices background information for plot.  She maintains a nice steady pace with frequent bursts of pure action but at the same time readers get a pretty clear picture of the history of her fantasy world.  And the history we learn through Nelay’s eyes isn’t necessarily the real history as we find out later when other characters come clean.  Let’s just say that assuming things in Indara aren’t all that they appear to be.  This rings especially true throughout the final battle as Nelay takes on more responsibility than she ever thought possible and learns that sometimes you have to sacrifice a little of yourself to save your people and even then it might not be enough.

Basically, if you’re looking for some well written and diverse fantasy, I’d recommend Summer Queen.  It’s a great departure from a lot of typical fantasy tropes and Amber Argyle has clearly done her world-building.  Technically speaking it’s not the first book in a series but apparently all of the books in this series can be read separately with complete understanding, just like I did.  This is the first book of Argyle’s that I’ve read but it was so good I know it won’t be my last.  Just go try it out!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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AmberAmber Argyle is the number-one bestselling author of the Witch Song Series and the Fairy Queen Series. Her books have been nominated for and won awards in addition to being translated into French and Indonesian.

Amber graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in English and physical education, a husband, and a two-year old. Since then, she and her husband have added two more children, which they are actively trying to transform from crazy small people into less crazy larger people.

To learn more about Amber, visit her blog at amberargyle.blogspot.com

You can find Amber on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

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The Tour Hosts

Week One

6/15/2015- Curling Up With A Good Book– Review

6/16/2015- The Mad Reviewer– Review

6/17/2015- Arkham Reviews– Review

6/18/2015- In Love With Handmade– Review

6/19/2015- In Libris Veritas– Review

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive the eBook bundle of The Faerie Queen Series. International!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/ZTIzODliYTI4ZTEzMGVjODBhNzA2MmFmMTU3YWM3OjMwOA==/?

I’m Considering Moving to WordPress.org

Well, I’ve been blogging for three and a half years as of two days ago and I’m starting to think quite seriously about which direction I want The Mad Reviewer to go.  What do you want to do with your blog?  People have been quite reasonably asking me that since I started blogging and I haven’t really found a good answer.  Talk about books with like-minded people, for the most part.  But what if I wanted to expand into a more professional sort of setting?  WordPress.com is fine for free users but I think that WordPress.org is a lot better for more serious users like the one I want to be.  Plus, there’s also not the threat of an arbitrary suspension hanging over my head again because an automated spam bot flagged me and the staff doesn’t give a rat’s arse.

With WordPress.org I’d have to become a little more tech-savvy but if I pay for a guided transfer (that includes hosting on Bluehost) and a redirect for this site so that people who are used to coming to this address automatically go to my new one I think it will be worth it.  Of course the costs will be a little high to begin with but that’s part of the reason why I took Penny Sansevieri up on her offer of paid honest reviews and why I’ve kept a change jar where I’ve put aside any change I got toward my blog.  I do have enough money to make a go of it.  The only question really is when should I do it?  As of now, I’m not quite sure.  I may do it before the craziness of July or I may do it this winter when I have a little more time to myself.

That’s why I wanted to ask you guys what you think.  Do you think I should transfer over to self-hosting?  If you’re self-hosted, what are some of the pros and cons you’ve faced?  When is the best time to do the transfer?  Do you have any other thoughts or comments on the move?

Please, I would love it if you would share your thoughts and any feedback you might have.  This is a big step for me and I want to go into it informed.

Lazy Sundays: Mother’s Mercy (Game of Thrones Episode 5.10)

Okay, wow, let’s get into this, shall we?

1.  Yay Sansa and Theon for probably escaping!  Theon finally stood up to Ramsay’s authority and Sansa was working on a plan to get out anyway.  Now that the two are together on the run I really hope they’ll make it to safety.

2.  The Meryn Trant scene was very, very disturbing I must admit.  There’s something about a teenage girl killing a man slowly (and clearly enjoying it) that is disturbing, no matter how horrible a person the man in question was.  I think Arya will never truly be a Faceless Man because she’s so attached to her identity as a Stark but she could be a pretty fearsome assassin one day.

3.  And Stannis is dead!  I never really liked Stannis in the books and I really, really didn’t like him in the show.  After killing Shireen I had no doubt he’d die but I didn’t think it would be that soon.  With Selyse and Shireen dead and Melisandre abandoning the cause, Stannis had nothing to live for.

4.  Hmm…Brienne choosing revenge over duty to Sansa?  I wonder what consequences that could have in the future…

5.  That was quite the pity party with Daario, Jorah and Tyrion.  I think it’s awesome that Daario and Jorah are going on a road trip despite the bad blood between them (“She’s in a good mood”, anyone?).

6.  Two eunuchs, a dwarf and a woman ruling a city like Meereen that’s not known to be all that progressive?  That will be very, very interesting next season.  I really can’t wait to see Tyrion back in power.

7.  And Daenerys got captured by a khalasar just like in the books.  It does not bode well for her but at least she had the sense to drop her ring in case anyone is tracking her.

8.  I can’t believe Myrcella died!  Well, actually I was sort of wary after that moment between her and Jaime but I just didn’t expect the Sand Snakes to kill her.  In the books they wanted to crown her, not kill her.

9.  Cersei’s walk of shame was just as brutal as it was in the books and I think Lena Headey did such an amazing job with it.  She didn’t overdo the emotion but you could clearly see her degrading mental status as the brutality of the mob got to her.  I was so relieved when she finally made it to the Red Keep.  At the same time, after she gets out of the streets there’s almost a look of determination in her face.  Will she go completely soft like in the books or go on a murder spree and make sure she keeps her promise to that awful septa.

10.  Ah, so we finally see Zombie Mountain.  I wonder what role he’ll play in the future?

11.  Poor Jon Snow; I think we all saw that coming (except for some people on Twitter, who were just totally shocked).  But is he really dead?  Sure, he was bleeding out and sure Kit Harington has said he’s truly dead but there has to be a reason for Melisandre coming back to Castle Black.  Could she revive him in true Thoros of Myr style, believing him to be the new saviour instead of Stannis?

So what did you guys think of the finale?  Are you as anxious as me for season 6?

Upcoming Schedule Changes

I’ve got some big things coming up in July so my schedule around here is probably going to change quite drastically.  I’m working hard on saving up posts so you guys won’t be left with nothing all July but I’m really not going to be around much.  Also, sorry for being so cryptic right now but I will give a proper heads up when I know more about my July schedule.  The end of August will be crazy too because of my big move to the city but until I find out more information myself, I can’t give out more information about July.

So sorry about that but to sum up: July is going to be pretty sparse posting-wise.

The Taking by Terra Harmony

The Taking by Terra Harmony(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Eighteen-year-old Serena now reigns as queen of both the Undine of The Deep and the wolves of The Dry. The alliance between her maidens and the werewolves is shaky when all at once the basic necessities of food and shelter are taken away and both their worlds fall apart. After decades of war, the two societies must work together if they want to survive what lies ahead. A promised land is theirs for the taking, but first, they must survive each other.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received an ebook copy of the whole trilogy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

The Taking picks up almost exactly where the second book, The Betrayed ends: with Serena deciding to move her entire civilization to a more hospitable environment.  And since she’s now officially Queen of the Werewolves after Alaric’s death and the werewolves are back on the side of the Undine, that means they’re moving too.  Moving two species who have been at war for almost two decades isn’t exactly going to be easy and Serena has no illusions.  But ever since the werewolves were given an eviction notice from the protected park land, they really have no choice but to move with the Undine to a place where no one in the government will take notice of them or otherwise bother them.  Lo and behold, they find a place up in the Arctic where it isn’t as polluted!  But how does one get from around Vancouver Island to the Arctic on ships without having to land and go through customs?

The answer is to join up with the annual boat race, but that puts the move on an extremely tight schedule.  Serena and the Undine must pack up the remnants of their civilization, transform into human form and keep that human form for almost three weeks.  As we saw in previous books, the Undine tend to dry out when out of water for more than a day and it gets extremely painful after that.  Not only that, the werewolves will have to learn to work with their former enemies and tensions are still high after Alaric’s death.  Hmm…put two different species who have hated each other for two decades together on a cramped space for three weeks and see what happens.  But as Serena makes clear to everyone, they have absolutely no choice.  Still, some Undine choose to stay behind because they’re old and set in their ways.  The move will decrease the pressure on the ecosystem because fewer Undine will be eating the sea life but the acidity of the ocean will eventually kill anyone who stays behind.  Still, as Kai and Liam tell Serena, it’s not her decision.

Serena is now a mature young woman.  She’s still struggling with being Queen at the age of only 18 but she’s really coming into her own.  Now that she has political clout she’s finally free to ditch Murphy and mate with Kai, who is patient with her and doesn’t want her to do anything she isn’t comfortable with.  Murphy takes the whole thing in stride because it means he can be with who he truly wants to without pretending to love a much younger woman.  Amidst the uprooting of almost their entire kingdom, most of Serena’s subjects can’t be bothered and Serena has the confidence to do what she thinks is right.  Still, things aren’t going to be easy sailing both literally and metaphorically because of the aforementioned former enemies being forced to live in cramped quarters together for almost a month.  There are lots of bumps on the road to a new start.

The plot is of course interesting because by this point I was very invested in the characters.  It was also quite a bit more fast-paced than the previous two books because of the time-crunch nature of the Undine/werewolf move.  At the same time, the ending almost felt a little too rushed.  It was exciting and thrilling but I really missed out on the little details of how everyone was going to survive and adjust up in the Arctic.  The journey to their Arctic haven in the end was very rushed.  I wish Terra Harmony had slowed things down just a little bit; enough to maintain the excitement without sacrificing her descriptive writing.

Still, The Taking was an enjoyable conclusion to what has been a good trilogy.  If you haven’t started the trilogy I’d definitely recommend downloading the first book for free and giving it a try.  And if you’ve stuck with the trilogy thus far you’ll enjoy the ending.  I know I did.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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