REVIEW | The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

The Deets:
Title: The Queen of the Tearling
Author: Erika Johansen
Series?: Book 1 of the Queen of the Tearling trilogy
Genre: Fantasy
Big Issues: Politics
Rating: ★★★★☆

Goodreads Summary:
Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.


I really, really enjoyed this book. I picked it up in the spur of the moment after hearing about it for quite some time and I'm happy that I did. While there were a variety of things in this book that I wasn't crazy about, my overall enjoyment - and a killer third section - really made up for that.

I adore Kelsea. Right off the bat, I appreciated that this wasn't going to be a Chosen One-esque story. By that, I mean that Kelsea has known about her mother, her position, and her eventual duty since she was a child. I was so happy that we weren't dealing with a "oh, by the way... " situation. One minor complaint that I did have about her was having to go through the "I'm so plain, I don't look like a Queen" thing but, at the same time, it really seemed like the idea of beauty equaling royalty and goodness was being subverted as the story went on. Watching Kelsea grow into a ruler was really interesting. She never really acted out against her position or made a scene about not wanting to be Queen and I really liked that - the focus was on her decision making and her maturation, not her rebellion against the Crown.

Expanding off of this, I thought that the excerpts that Johansen started each chapter off with were super interesting! These little bits of information helped me to see what sort of role Kelsea was eventually going to have in her rule because, while she did make some great choices and is off to a good start as Queen, it's obvious that her growth is not over.

I adored some of the supporting characters. Mainly, I adored Mace and the Fetch. I need more of the Fetch. I demand it. Mace and Kelsea's bond and - dare I say it - friendship is just incredible. They have such a wit and connection between them; it is terribly fun to read. I couldn't help but smile when Mace told the story of him delivering Kelsea to Barty and Carlin. I appreciate that this book doesn't have a major romance line. Yes, Kelsea does have a little crush on the Fetch - who wouldn't?! - and yes, maybe something will develop in later books but, what a breath of fresh air! I didn't have to constantly worry about the story being dragged down by romance (don't hate me if you do enjoy a little bit of lovin' in your fantasies, guys).

Barty and Carlin. Need I say more? What incredible people. I wish we had seen more of them, instead of just in stories and whatnot, but I won't complain. They did a great job in raising Kelsea and I teared up when Kelsea and Mace were talking about you-know-what towards the end of the book. They get their own paragraph in this review because I just love them that much.

Overall, the writing was really favorable. There were some times when descriptions got a bit long-winded and didn't really add anything to the story but, generally, I loved the prose and I thought the dialogue was natural and fit with the characters. This book does have a lot of discussions about rape and slavery/human trafficking, though, and some of that was really hard to read. I kind of go back and forth on these sorts of issues in fantasy books (you are creating an entire world where anything can be reality so why do you need to go back to these sort of topics?) but, here, I can kind of rationalize why it works. These countries and these societies were started because a man wanted a utopia and, obviously, that didn't work out for him. This society kind of resembles our own reality in that we can want perfection and goodness but those things just aren't realistic. Anyways, yes, this book does deal with really hard things but it also helps to correct those things - Kelsea wants to fix them, even though she knows it will be hard and unrealistic to do so in one fell swoop. Finally, I did enjoy having the perspective of some alternate narrators. Even though I didn't really like these characters, I thought it was interesting and valuable to have their insight into the world and their place in it.

As a result of watching and reading some other reviews about this book, I know that the story takes place in the future, albeit as a regressed society. From the book, I can gather that a man wanted to form a utopia of sorts, which resulted in the Crossing. I desperately want to know more about this world, though. I gather that a lot of people have this same complaint after reading the first book and I have heard that there is more solid world building in the second, so I'm not too overally concerned about it. I did really love the little nuggets of information that kind of tip the reader off as to when this story is taking place (collecting pennies, electronic books essentially stopping the printing market) and I thought that they made for an excellent subtle bit of history. As I mentioned, I'm not that worried, but if I come out of the second book with the same questions I have now, I'll probably be a bit more disappointed.

Final thoughts: I was teetering between a 3.5- and 4-star rating but Book III completely changed the game for me; I was blown away. In the next book, I hope to see more history and foundation set for this world. If the Fetch doesn't show up, I'll be mad. I can't wait for the Red Queen and Kelsea to meet face-to-face.