Unfortunately, as excited as I was about the premise of this book, I decided not to finish it. I don't make these decisions lightly, and have my reasons for not completing "The Queens of Innis Lear".

The book was very nicely written. The voice was pleasant; however, it was a bit too flowery for my tastes. Much of the book consisted of descriptions rather than getting to the heart of the story. I closed this book for good at the halfway mark, and the author had not yet even reached the main plot of the book. I still had no real idea of what the story was supposed to be about. This isn't a good sign, for the reader to be confused and floating in this constant state up build-up for over half of the book.

So the build-up was long with no real delivery. I tried so hard to power through this because I was so interested in the concept of this story, but found myself agitated and anxious for the book to be over. These are the reasons why I could not finish the book, although I'm sorry to say it.

I didn't realise this was a sampler, but it's made me want to read the full book even more.

From what I read of the sampler I enjoyed the writing style and the introduction of the characters has me intrigued.

A very interesting take on King Lear with a mix of that Three Dark Crowns feel, but still very much its own tale! I was intrigued from the very start, and I cannot wait to read it in print!

3 out of 5 stars

The Queens of Innis Lear is a modern feminist retelling of King Lear play. It is exquisitely written, well laid out and interesting.

Retelling is not quite what this book is – it is more of an expansion on the original play, with some characters completely changed, renamed or their stories adjusted to fit the narrative. The magic system is more flashed out and it is dark and lush and almost sentient. The whole book is something that will appeal to both fantasy & fiction audience.

However, I will say this, it is slow: so slow. The book is almost 700 pages long and it took 300 pages to get to the point where I was interested in what happened. It is also very modernized. As an English Major, I had a lot of problems with this, but this might just be me. Some of the words used in the novel did not appear in the lexicon until well after 17th century and it threw me. And yes, I understand that it is fantasy, however, I could not get past the fact that the setting and the characters are from the 17th century and it the behavior and views did not match the time. If Miss Gratton wrote her own book, without tying it to Shakespeare, I think it would have been a much better & more enjoyable a book. As it is right now, I just have very conflicted feeling about this book and the original play. I will say this – the ending was quite well done.

I would recommend this book for anyone who liked The Mists of Avalon.

SO so good! I love Shakespeare retellings and anything feminist so this excerpt was perfect! I can't wait for the book to come out so I can read the whole thing!

I currently have no interest in reading samplers, so I'm a bit disappointed this one doesn't actually SAY "sampler". I am still totally excited for this book's release, but this kind of publicity-kicker is a bit disappointing. I will of course still be reading this book when it releases.

I did not realize this was a sampler and was a bit let down by the abrupt ending.
Will hold off on publishing a full review until the book is released. Most samplers on Netgalley have some mention somewhere that this is a sample, Queens of Innis Lear must have slipped through the cracks.

I did like what I read and the look forward to the release.

Did not realize this was a sampler and not the full book. Will read the book when it actually comes out I guess. It would have been nice if somewhere within the netgalley description it said the book was a sample so those of us who have no interest in samplers could have avoided downloading.

As I was unaware this was only a sampler, I am unable to provide a full review but I do have a couple of initial thoughts to share.

The parallels between this book and the Shakespeare play are well done and it is different enough from the original to keep me interested. The characters are probably the strongest aspect of this book so far in my opinion and I'm excited to find out more about them when I can read the full book.

Because I was unable to read the entire book as this was only a sampler, I'm going with 3 stars as for me that indicates I liked it and it is a middle of the road rating which works for something where I didn't get to read the entire book.