The Queens of Innis Lear is a slow paced novel and that paired with the fact that the writing style did not work for me made this a book I have no desire to finish. I had a hard time connecting to Tessa Gratton's writing, she writes in a way that makes me feel detached from the characters. Additionally, I found it difficult distinguishing between the characters, they all just blended together in my head. But the biggest complaint I had with this novel is that it's boring. 10% into the audiobook (which is 67 pages into the novel) and still I felt that nothing was happening. I want more plot or character development or something from the first 67 pages of a novel.

I requested Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton just after I joined NetGalley. I didn’t expect my request to honoured, but I got one! I’ve heard about the book on Twitter and Instagram and the name itself made me curious. The ARC is only the first part of the book, so I can’t comment on the ending.

While this book is about three princesses waiting to hear who will become queen of Innis Lear, the princesses are all their own person. The warrior princess, Gaela. The elegant, dutiful Regan. And the star priestess Elia. I’d say that the story is all about these three women, but there’s a fourth, Innis Lear itself. The island lives as much as the people on top of it and that’s due to the magic originating there.

Ban the Fox is one of the few people who still talks to the trees and listens to the wind. I think he will get a bigger part later in the story. The magic of Innis Lear is hidden the old magic, and so far Ban is the most obvious option to heal the land. It would be a waste to create magic belonging to nature, kill it, have someone who learns the old ways and not use it.

The writing is poetic and it makes the magic more real, the women more interesting, and the story longer. It’s part of Gratton’s style and it makes the story more alive, but it’s not necessary. It slows down the story, and that’s okay. Queens of Innis Lear is the kind of book you want to last.

Queens of Innis Lear has earned four stars. The story so far is interesting, the characters are complex, and the world is magical. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t easy to read for me because of the writing style.

I was so, so excited when I got this book and it paid off!
It was interesting and well-written, I loved the concept of the two queens and I've always loved reading about royalty anyway. I certainly would rad more.

The story intrigued me and I actually completely forgot that I got this book off of NetGalley so that's why me review is so short and so late as well. But it was enjoyable and I liked pretty much everything about it. It was a bit slow in the beginning but everything else was top notch and i enjoyed it a lot.

A great start to a fantasy retelling of 'King Lear' although a little slow to get going. I'm intrigued enough to likely continue after reading the sample.

I was so excited for The Queens of Innis Lear. Now, I’ve never read King Lear, so I’m not sure how accurate it is as a Shakespeare retelling. I’ll tell you this: the world building is intense, the characters are so complex, and the plot is dark.

So overall, I enjoyed the novel. One of my favorite things was the fact that the sisters are black, and that their dark skin is never forgotten, which probably doesn’t make sense lol. You know how there’s been a whole string of novels claiming to be “diverse” just because one of the more important characters is ethnically ambiguous or is a POC but it’s only mentioned once. Yeah, so that’s why I liked that we’re constantly reminded of the sisters and their heritage.

While the characters are complex, I did think they were difficult to understand. Like, I know that some of the characters are morally gray, but they would say they were going to do something in one chapter and then just do the complete opposite the next chapter. With no indication of having planned it. So yeah, I got confused a lot.

Also, this book is long. Now, I knew that going in, but reading it on my phone was definitely a mistake. The only real reason I finished this book is because I forced myself to because I was bored in the car. If you pick up this book, I totally recommend getting a print copy if you’re able to.

3.5/5

This book reminds me so much of an adult and longer version of Three Dark Crowns. Minus the actual competition to kill each other for the crown. Apparently this is also a King Lear retelling.

In the land of Innis Lear, the prophesy-obsessed King has stifled the natural wild magic of the island. The land has become vulnerable and the surrounding nations are gathering to make their own moves. The kings three daughters, Gaela, Reagan & Elia, know the only way to revive the island is to crown a new sovereign. But the sisters want different things and the alliances are shaping up to tear them apart.

The world building was stunning, I felt transported by Gratton's writing to the land of Innis Lear and those surrounding it. I loved the magic system of prophesies from the stars and the wild magic of the ground. The conflict between the two was amazingly done. Elia was my favorite from the beginning, but the other sisters each had fascinating personalities.

Gaela was really interesting. She was definitely aroace, though it's not said bluntly. But there were so many times that Gaela hinted about how much she hated being a woman. It's hard to say whether she actually was transgender, or just wanted to be treated with the same respect men had, since women were constantly underestimated and under valued in their society. She was super brutal at times too, which was slightly terrifying.

Reagan was the embodiment of lust and manipulation. Her determination to be queen alongside Gaela and bear all the heirs was awe inspiring. I loved how much she was determined to get what she wanted, even if it was by suspect means.

Elia was a bit of a dream child. For the first half or so she constantly had her head stuck in the clouds. She was always expecting the best of people and it made her a tad naive. I really enjoyed seeing her grow and accept she needed to do what the island needed from her. I loved seeing her awaken the magic of the island and fall in love with it all over again.

The Queens of Innis Lear was a magical story about family, duty and the price of taking things into your own hands. While it was amazing, it was also quite long and I found myself bored many times and waiting for it to end.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I somehow wound up with three Netgalley e-arcs – one was a sample I got by mistake. One approval from the US site which I never expected to be approved for and one from the UK site (I have both UK and US residences so I use both sites).

Reading this book reminded me of the Charlie Brown episode “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown”. In the episode Charlie Brown’s class are assigned to read “War and Peace” over the Christmas holidays. A daunting task as it’s such a big book and throughout the episode poor Charlie Brown is trying his best but only ever seems to be on page 5 of the book. At the end of the episode his best friend Linus asks did he like the book? Charlie Brown replies he finished the book at 3a.m. and doesn’t remember a thing about it.

Which pretty much summons up my experience reading the Queens of Innis Lear. No matter how much I read, I barely seemed to make a dent in (it felt like I hadn’t got past page 5!) which I actually did. That being said – I absolutely completely fell in love with this book. I loved it so much I bought a finished US hardcover, a finished UK paperback and an audio version. It did take me well over a year to actually finish it.

The book is a fantasy themed retelling of King Lear – the mad king and the ungrateful daughters and a kingdom poised on the brink of war. King Lear is not a play I’m that familiar with and did have to read the Spark Notes a few times to familiarize myself with the original story. The novel is full to bursting, it’s richly written with the most excellent word building. It’s so lush in its details. It has the most wonderful history and magic woven into the story. There are a hell of a lot of characters to get to grips with, lots of different points of view. Emotional and romantic and violent and a myriad of other emotions.

I remember very little of the plot the characters, just that I loved it to pieces.

This story was a good take on king lear story and heartache. Great story and loved it all. I loved the turmoil and secrets being kept and how heartless the dad was in this story.

I hat ot finishing a book but I just couldn't connect with this and was left feeling very conflicted.

You will enjoy this more if you are familiar with the Shakespeare play King Lear. It is set up in 5 parts, like a play, but it is a little slow.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this since it was a sample instead of the full story but I'll settle right in the middle because the story was engaging and enough for me to want to continue on with it. I also really love that it expands/retells Shakespeare's King Lear, definitely a unique idea!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's taken me far to long to review this, I read some conflicting things about the author before starting the book and it ended up coloring my enjoyment of the story.

The prose is lyrical and enchanting though a little long winded, it led me to either skim or to set the book down for long periods of time. I wanted to love the story, I love Shakespeare. I just couldn't fully invest myself into this land or these characters.

I really Enjoyed this one SO much and can not wait for the next book! I did not do an official review, but I did Do coverage on Instagram via stories feature after I read It.

Tessa Gratton has quickly become a new favorite author. The Queens of Innis Lear was everything I wanted out of a fantasy retelling of King Lear. I loved this world she crafted around star prophesies and magic tied to the very roots of the island. The way all these different characters and plots were woven together was incredible.

A re-imagining of King Lear, it draws on the same interpersonal conflicts between complex, morally gray characters. It also infuses the world and societies with enough magic that it serves to elevate the characters in delightful ways! It also paid respect to the original King Lear play. There were at least 7 characters from whom the story was told, giving plenty of perspectives of the story itself. Once I was familiar with each of the core cast and who they were supposed to be in/mirror from King Lear, things got a bit easier to manage.

The prose was gorgeous and the character development was fascinating! A lot of effort went into character development, world-building and plot construction, making it a great stand-alone book to read! However the paragraphs were exhausting to read though and I often found myself skimming through them or even putting the book down because I couldn't stand to read the book in large doses.

DNF at 38%.

I’ve tried and tried to get into The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton but I have a hard time understanding the world, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, and the characters are boring. There are so many point of views that I get lost in them. I really wanted to like it but it’s just not for me. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange of an honest review.

I wanted to read this book so much and I am so glad that I did. This is Game of Thrones meets King Lear and it is brilliant.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must say right away when I saw this book up I had to request it, the description sounded fun and the cover was a catch as well. I think I liked it because it seemed similar to the Three Dark Crowns series and I liked the first one in that and wanted to see how this one had a take on the three sisters who could be Queen.

This book does a good job of letting you get to know the differences in the sisters so that is nice. And you get to know some of the supporting characters. I thought the plot was interesting, but I think there was more potential that could have been done to make the story a little better or more exciting. I was definitely rooting for Elia because she is the nicest of the sisters and the one that actually cares for her father. I definitely also didn't see it coming that her father would get so mad at her.

Not only do you have the sisters fighting over the crown, but you also have rival kingdoms fighting to take over the King's throne when he is gone. I thought it was interesting that there was magic wells and this king has decided to just cover them up, but there has to be something important about them that will change the way things are; it will be interesting to see the role this plays in the other book.

I thought overall it was a good read, with just some parts of the plot that could have been different to make it even more interesting. However, I do still want to continue to read the series to see what happens because it is still an interesting story.

One of the marks of a successful retelling for me is that there are moments when I've forgotten that I know the outline of the story and am surprised by something that I did, in fact, know was coming. And though Tessa Gratton's epic fantasy King Lear retelling diverges from the plotline of Shakespeare's original in a number of key ways, especially as it draws closer to the end, it's faithful enough that there were plenty of those moments for me, when I took a pause, shook my head clear, and said, "yes, of course, this IS King Lear."

It's a premise that, in retrospect, seems so obvious that I'm surprised it hadn't been done already. "Epic fantasy King Lear" makes a lot of sense the moment you think about it. Lear has all those hallmarks that have caused some modern fantasy epics to be branded as "Shakespearean," royal family drama played out on the political stage, underhanded betrayals, and, you know, a lot of people who die. And while the setting of the play is England, its source material is more legend and folk tale than history, and what the play is lacking in magical stakes, Gratton seamlessly supplies. I had actually worried, from the tone of some of the pre-release hype, that this book would end up being too grimdark and bloody for my taste, so I was pleased to find that its tone is actually much more slow and moody than brutal and violent, and that the tragic events evoke far more pathos than shock.

I'll admit that Lear has never been a favorite of mine. From context, I gather that it actually isn't one of Gratton's either. There are a number of things about the play that are just straight-up frustrating from a modern, feminist perspective, like how the play's ingenue heroine Cordelia, who actually instigates the entire story, gets shipped off to France by the end of the first scene to marry a minor character and doesn't show up again until the end, when she arrives just in time to die. What Gratton's version does is re-center the story awayfrom Lear himself, making the king's tragic decline more the given circumstance for the drama that unfolds than the main event. As the title suggests, Lear's three daughters, here named Gaela, Regan, and Elia, are all major protagonists (and Elia especially becomes the heart and soul of the story), but they are far from being the only point-of-view characters in this ensemble epic. Though the book starts at approximately the same point in the story that Shakespeare's play does, much of the story is revealed through flashbacks, and the many characters whose stories and histories rise to the surface give The Queens of Innis Lear a truly sprawling feel.

Innis Lear is a small, rugged island nation whose kings traditionally take the same name. But while the current King Lear, now declining into senile incompetence, may have once been a more competent ruler than he is now, it's clear that he was never a great one. His fatal error is his trust in star prophecies above all else, to the point of denying and forbidding the island's natural earth magic, closing off the wells of sacred root water. The stars correctly predicted not only the arrival of his beloved, foreign queen, but also her death, and it becomes clear that the loss of the queen (who doesn't factor into Shakespeare's play at all) is the tragedy that has fractured this royal family beyond mending. To Lear, it was an affirmation of the stars' power, and the source of his increased zealotry. Elia was a young enough child when her mother died that the event brought her closer to her father in mourning. Though she had a natural affinity for earth magic and the language of the tress, she forsook it to become the star priestess that her father wanted her to be. But Gaela and Regan both suspect that Lear had their mother killed in order to prove his star prophecies true, and they can never forgive him. It's worth noting here that Queen Dalat was a black woman, and so all three princesses are women of color, and their relationships with their mother's heritage is an interesting through-line.

Gaela, the eldest, expects to succeed her father to the throne. She believes in political and military power, not stars or earth magic, but she's had to make concessions to Lear's star-foretold expectations of her so that he will name her his heir, marrying an ambitious man she doesn't love, with no plans to ever let him have the real power he anticipates as her husband. Gaela plans to never bear children, and to rule as a warrior king in her own right with her sister Regan as her partner in power instead. Regan practices earth magic, and married for love, but despite her increasingly desperate efforts has been unable to produce the heirs that her and Gaela's plan relies on, suffering a series of miscarriages instead. So when Lear announces that he will divest himself of power in a manner that the stars have ordained for him, and his youngest and favorite daughter fails to respond as he expects, matters in Innis Lear are perfectly primed for catastrophe.

But it's not quite accurate to say that The Queens of Innis Learis just a retelling centered around the female characters, because Gratton makes Shakespeare's appealing but frustratingly underdeveloped villain, Edmund, another emotional pillar of her story, though here his name is Ban. In the original play, Edmund is the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester, whose scheming against his over-trusting father to supplant his brother is a secondary-plotline echo to what's happening in the primary plot with Lear and his older, unkind daughters. Like the other characters in the book, Ban is given a much more extensive backstory, and is presented as an extremely likable character nursing a lot of past hurts who becomes a compelling antihero, as his vendetta against Lear and his father takes him down an increasingly dark path of betrayal. He and Elia were childhood sweethearts, but they haven't seen each other since Ban was sent away to the mainland nation of Aremoria years ago. Talented in earth magic, he has become a full-fledged wizard and earned the trust of Morimaros, the king of Aremoria (Shakespeare's King of France). A covert mission for Mars brings him back to Innis Lear, and yes, it's King Lear, so you can guess some of what ensues.

Turning Elia and Ban into "star-crossed lovers" of a sort adds an interesting layer of emotional entanglement to the story, and the two characters are sort of poised as narrative counterpoints to one another, opposing forces around whom the fate of Innis Lear revolves. While Ban becomes entangled in Learish intrigue, Elia departs for Aremoria with Mars, whom she is expected to marry. Elia's journey is one of realizing that she can no longer be a passive character in her family's saga, and of the discovery of what she needs to become if Innis Lear is to survive its ordeal. Mars is also a very interesting character, balancing royal responsibility with his own personal feelings, as his increasing respect for Elia comes into conflict with his political schemes for her country.

Gratton fabricates a couple of other major characters who I think really enrich the story. One of the major downfalls of sidelining Lear in this story is that we also don't get to see a whole ton of his Fool. Gratton gives Lear's Fool a daughter, Aefa, who is Elia's attendant and confidante, and serves some of the same functions for Elia that her father does for the king. We also learn a lot about Ban's mother Brona, who is a witch and guardian of sorts to Innis Lear's beleaguered magic, commanding respect in her own right.

The magic of this world and the essential magical nature of Innis Lear are presented as beautiful and mysterious, which is just how I like the magic in my fantasy. It's the sort of magic where trees speak in their own secret language, and the land cares who rules it. I also enjoyed some of the more heightened language of the book, though it's inconsistent throughout. Though there are chapters where beautiful language is used for epic fantasy storytelling effect, it does sort of come and go. There are also scenes where the dialogue seems to be artificially heightened in order to accommodate lines of Shakespeare's text, while elsewhere in the book the same characters will speak in a much more modern, colloquial style.

As far as the story goes, I'm not sure that Gratton does quite as thorough a job with her reclamation of the two older sisters as she does with the youngest, though that's a pretty heroic thing to ask, all things considered. Gaela and Regan are both complex, flawed characters, whose actions and motivations you will completely understand, but they just don't get to carry quite as much emotional weight in the story as Elia does. Also, there are some minor elements of the ending that I might have preferred had gone a little differently. But for me, these are quibbles. I found this retelling to be utterly engrossing, and captivating enough that I'm tempted to claim it as my new headcanon version of King Lear.

I'd like to mention that several times during the writing of this review, I was tempted to go on a tangent of comparisons to Nahum Tate's totally nuts Restoration-era rewrite of King Lear, which I studied in college, and I would like a cookie for my restraint. You can look it up yourself.

I originally thought this was just a sneak peak! But it was much longer than the average sneak peak! It took me a bit to fall into this. The names were really hard to pronounce and remember and I kept getting mixed up. Maybe if I read more I’ll eventually pick it up easier but it was also formatted really oddly which was distracting for me. The premise of the book itself seems interesting and engaging but I just hard a hard time with it.