— thanks to #netgalley and the publisher BooksGoSocial for providing me with the arc of #tokillaqueen in exchange for an honest review.

this book had an interesting premise, i went in expecting a new fantasy world to get sucked in. unfortunately, the story fell very short for me. the plot felt really linear and there was no sufficient material to make me connected to any of the characters or what's happening to them. i was so close to dnf-ing this but i kept going back to give it another chance. i wish i'd loved this, but the execution of the premise did not deliver.

To Kill a Queen is a story that follows Princess Raine, a reluctant heir to the throne, trying to find her older sister. She sets on a quest, with a companion, where they face adventure and danger.
I felt the world-building was okay, but it needed a bit more. It felt either rushed or there were moments where I felt was super important, yet wasn't brought up again or dismissed. If there will be a sequel, which is implied, I hope the worldbuilding improves. The story isn't bad at all. Kudos to Uliano.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the Arc for an Honest Review.

This book sounded promising, but I found it hard to keep coming back to reading this one, and DNF'd it around the 50% mark.

The premise and world-building at the beginning of the book I felt were done well, however after that I felt that the rest of the "magical world" and even the magic system lacked a bit of depth. The magic system made some sort of sense, but not enough where I would immediately understand what was happening when magic came into play.

The characters were alright, but I did not find myself connecting with any of them, or even caring for them for that matter. I would have liked to have seen the main character Raine's relationship with her older sister Alana (who disappeared) explored a bit more - I remember it being discussed once that their relationship wasn't great, but only from Raine's POV which never offered potential explanations for her sister's behaviour towards here.

I think the story overall has potential, and there are definitely key elements there, such that perhaps with a bit of rewriting/reworking would make for a good book.

This novel is totally up my alley. I love the whole dark dynamic with the royalty and the dark prophecy. This book had such an amazing level of adventure and intrigue. Many parts left me wanting more because of how rich and detailed this story was. I am definitely getting the physical copy of this book.

This book has all the elements that are expected from a fantasy book - okay world-building, magic system, etc, and names that you haven't heard before. It had an original plot-line but the main downfall was that the story lacked "life".
It felt like a fast overview of a deeper story. It was a bit hard to keep going because the first 50 pages are basically a ride down the memory lane. Plus, the backstory at times felt a bit too shallow. For example, the first heir had disappeared and there were no concrete actions taken to look for her. They had searched the castle, and had found no foul play and had reached the conclusion that she had left on her own. That's it! No other actions were taken. Why? Because there was another heir to the throne.
The story starts on a good note - it has the typical ya character who doesn't want to be the queen and get married because she secretly loves someone else in the palace. There were assassins, mages, magicians, and even a seer but I almost DNF'ed at the 75% mark because it felt like the author was dumping facts on you and telling you what you feel about the characters instead of letting the readers form opinions. There was a lot more "telling" rather than "showing".
But, as I said, although the plot was original it felt a bit shallow at times and the execution was not commendable.
I had really wanted to like the book because the synopsis really intrigued me and the cover pulled me right in. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations :(

The characters were well developed, and the plot was interesting. Overall a very nice read! Lately it’s been hard for me to get into certain books, because the characters seem very shallow or the plot is not original. But this book really held my attention from start to finish! Thanks for the author and publisher for this book!

Raine's sister - the heir to the throne - has been missing for 3 years. Their father is sick and his health is deteriorating and with her sister missing Raine is next line for the Throne, she is desperate to find out more about her sister's disappearance and sets out on a journey to find her.

I will start with the positives and say that the plot line for the book is very intriguing and had potential but unfortunately fell flat for me in every way.

First of all, the romance occurs in the first few chapters between Raine and Kirin - a mage who she grew up within the castle who she considered a brother. Even though in the book she describes their friendship, as a reader we don't get to experience this and so her confessing her love for him so early into the book was weird, uncomfortable, and unconvincing because he also suddenly comes to terms with his feelings for her. Raine is an immature, impulsive character who is prone to throwing tantrums. At one point she was jealous of an older woman who was Kirin's former trainer!

Aside from the characters, the world-building was poor. It was underdeveloped and the magic system was barely described. We have mages, elves, dwarves, and necromancers. However, there was no historical or cultural mentioning regarding their existence (this doesn't even have to be factual). There weren't many of them either, there was one elf, some mages, one random necromancer who revealed himself as one later in the book, and a few of the dwarves.

As for the plot, although intriguing, it wasn't executed well at all. Whatever tension or conflict in the book is based on petty jealousies but within this 'conflict' there isn't enough suspense that makes me hold my breath or hastily turn the page to see more. There isn't enough build-up, most of it was predictable. I didn't connect with or like any of the characters. There's also a dark force in this book which is a big part of the plot which didn't fit well with the story and how it was written. It was all very cliche in my opinion.

I greatly enjoyed this story and I hope to read more from the author in the future. The writing was good along with the story.

Unfortunately, this novel fell very short and flat for me. The bones of the story and premise are very intriguing, but I feel it failed to ever be fleshed out or go beyond feeling one dimensional. I also feel that for a book that is meant to be the first in the series, by the end there weren't any driving questions or events that would require/make me want to read the rest.

I've decided to DNF this book. I managed to get about 15% in but the writing style felt a bit jumpy and I was unable to click with it.

The premise of the book really intrigued me with Raine, a reluctant heir and her missing sister.

I felt like the scenes with Raine and Kirin were too jumpy and there wasn't enough development/ we didn't get enough of the history between them before it jumped into love interest time.

I didn't care much for the main character or her interactions. They felt forced and I just couldn't get into it. I think the concept of the book is really great unfortunately I don't think it was executed very well. It has all the making of an epic fantasy, but it felt rushed and forced.

I read the description and it felt like it would be a book that I would love, but within the first few chapters I had a bad feeling about it. I have it 3 stars because I do think it has all the making for an amazing book, but something got lost in traslation.

I found myself skimming the book to get it over with. I think the idea is great but it wasn't what I wanted it to be.

I genuinely enjoyed this book, however, I think there’s a few key issues that readers will find a little frustrating while experiencing this book.

This story is about Raine, the reluctant heir/ princess, who is trying to find her older sister alongside a bunch of very interesting characters and friends; a mage, an assassin, and a seer.

The general premise of this book has the drive to be a fantastic leap into a new and interesting fantasy world, but for me, the book needed to be more in depth with just about everything (world and character building, character relationships, timeline development, predictability), for me to have had really sunk into it.

This books is also meant to be a part of a series, but I don’t understand how the author intends to continue on with these characters when their ‘quest/ mission’ have already been completed.

Again, I did like this book, I just think it needed to be revisited and worked on a little more before it was published.

I received an e- copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and Nancy Uliano for the opportunity!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be continuing with this series.
The plot synopsis wasn't anything new and I've just read it done better many times before.

I think this could have done with another few rounds of editing. I don't know if this is this author's first work or not but it definitely read like that and suffered from a few traits typically found in debut fantasy books.

The writing was the biggest issue for me, even just down to sentence structure. The style of writing just came across a bit too amateur for my taste in fantasy. Sentences ran on too long and repeated way too many "ands". This is just an example that took me out of the story and why I felt it could benefit from more editing.

There was a lot of info-dumping, not just in the first chapter but anytime we had new information given to the reader. Again, this just falls into the category of beginner writer issues. Leading on from this, I found some of the dialogue between characters just unrealistic and only there to serve as background and world building for the character. Which is fine in and of itself but when it's just done so clunky I find it difficult to immerse myself into new worlds.

Lastly, I really didn't enjoy any of the characters. The main princess character, who we're supposed to feel for the most just ended up getting on my nerves. She was naive and childish. While the argument can be made for character development and growth throughout the book, I found myself disinterested in her arc.

This may be more suited to people just getting into fantasy perhaps, but unfortunately, I don't think this would be first on my list to recommend to customers down to the writing.

I received this book for Netgalley so I could give an honest review.

This book had the makings of a great series, There was a start of a fantastic group of friends in the first book, a princess who doesn't want to be a princess, a mage, an assassin, and even a seer.

I could not finish the book, and the story just fell short for me. A tiring first chapter where the entire back story is brought up as fast as possible followed by several chapters of filler scenes. Which did not really seem to matter, like the magic ritual to find the lost sister, doesn’t affect the plot and the rest is just random waffling about. A romantic couple without a romance. Also the point of view changes randomly from paragraph to paragraph, which was very confusing.

I'm honestly pretty bummed. This had all the makings to be a really good, if not great book. But for me the narrative choice not solely follow the character who is supposed to be the MC, but to tell it in third person on top of it made things feel a little detached for me. It was really hard for me to connect with any of the characters. Some of the dialog, to how things were described felt and sounded too real-world and modern at times and for me it took me out of the story a little. One of the biggest narrative issues I had was that seemingly nobody cared that the crowned princess, Alana, went missing some-odd years ago. From how things were told, there wasn't any full-scale investigation or search for her. She went "missing", and everybody was all "well, I guess Raine is the Crowned princess now, moving on with life." It just didn't sound realistic to me.

Raine was a decent character, but to the point where I got, there wasn't anything special about her. Other characters, Kirin mostly, says that "the people love and respect her." but we never get to see this before she goes on her journey.
Speaking of Kirin, he was also pretty flat for me. I saw nothing about him that made him a compelling love interest for Raine. It's alluded that he did some questionable stuff while training to be a mage and it's unclear how long he was gone, how old he was when he left and how long it had been since he got back from his training. There was also a little explained as to why the King distrusted magic, and why exactly Kirin was allowed to stay. This was one of the biggest issues, too much was focused on Kirin and not on Raine, the MC.
Where I left off, they had met some elf lady, assassin... or something, Thora. She hits on Raine, gets both Kirin and Raine arrested for talking to her. She even had a POV segment in a chapter, I have no idea why, hopefully it wasn't pointless. I will never know since I DNF'd before any more was explained. But any POV for her feels wasted when more time could have been given making Raine a more compelling MC.

I'm mostly bummed by this book than anything, it has the skeleton of a great story, but it for me, it needs a lot more polishing and rounding out the MC to make her more compelling early on.

DNF at chapter four. Well written, but the frequent POV changes between paragraphs was jarring. Lots of telling versus showing and it felt like it moved too quickly between the protagonist and Kiren, one second he doesn’t quite know what his feelings for her are and the next he’s apparently always been into her and stayed in the country for her? Just didn’t make any sense. Same with her wanting to contact her sister and then through the process deciding she hated her? Like did these characters not exist before the beginning of this book? Lots of inconsistencies and really just didn’t draw me in.

To Kill a Queen by Nancy Uliano is a fantasy novel about Princess Raine Blackwood and her quest to find the truth about her sister Alana's disappearance, to find her and bring her back to the kingdom to take her place as Queen. She is accompanied by her loyal friend Archmage Kirin, along the way they meet an elf woman, Thora, who is instantly smitten by Raine. Their quest leads them to uncover a cult and their plans to use Raine for their benefit. They endure many hardships, and Raine eventually grows as an individual and takes her place as Queen to rule over the kingdom of Altria.

I do not like to criticize a book because I know that the author has put in time and effort into creating a story and it is the hard work and feeling of completion that drives an author to pursue writing other stories. I am not criticizing the author in any way, however, I am giving my honest thoughts on what I liked and disliked about the book, as well as my disappointments with some aspects of the story.

Normally, I would jump at the chance to read a book regardless of the situation, but I could not continuously read this novel, it was a struggle. It felt l was doing a job I did not like, but I was committed to finishing it and so I did. The sole reason I chose this book was because of the cover and the description seemed promising. I began reading and stopped at 14% which took me a little more than a week. I normally finish reading a book within 2 to 3 days of choosing it. However, with this one, I was at a standstill. I would say, I took over 3 weeks to complete this book, which did not sit alright with me. It did not seem engaging enough to pursue on, I was not pleased that I had to ‘fight up’ to complete it. The early chapters were quite boring, and the development of the story was not remotely interesting.

However, what I did enjoy about the story was the relationship between Kirin and Raine and their dependence and support of each other. Thora’s character was exciting as she is an elf, and her occupation is something that always intrigues me. I instantly hated Alana’s character, because she hated almost everyone, and her treatment of people is distasteful.

With that being said, I don’t know if I can recommend this book to readers because they will not find it as interesting and engaging as a fantasy novel should be. The characters themselves did not have room to grow beside Raine who needed to step up and face her responsibilities. I also found that most of the story revolved around Kirin, I felt that Raine was more of a supporting character throughout the story, as Kirin had most of the responsibilities and journey. I also did not like Raine’s character dependence on people and her inability to fight her own battles. She is a princess after all; her character should have been more independent and stronger.

I am rating this novel a 3 out of 5 stars because I did not enjoy the first few chapters. It felt like I was watching a boring TV Series, during the finale it became slightly exciting but not as much that I would sit and watch till the end. I can’t say I enjoyed this book as I thought I would, but I applaud the author for her efforts.

I received this book via netgalley. I really wanted to like this book the story was good, it was compelling and interesting, but the execution of the book was just not up to the standard of the storyline. I got about 38% of the way through this book and then decided that it just wasn't vibing.

I was extremely sad to put this book down as the story was sooooooo good, but with the combination of poor execution and delivery I just couldn't continue.

Nancy would switch perspectives in the middle of pages and it got slightly confusing as to who you, as the reader, were interacting with. I would have liked to see more world-building and more POV's in the story. The set up felt rushed and like Nancy was trying to create a brand new Fantasy world, but keep it fast-paced. And while I love a good fast-paced book that doesn't lag at any point, I also want to connect with the world that the characters are in. I want to be absorbed into the story and this book just didn't have that aspect. :(

Loved the story idea though.

A fast-paced high stakes fantasy, with a touch of romance, To Kill a Queen is the intriguing first installment of Nancy Uliano's The Awakening series. To Kill a Queen features an expansive world of varying kingdoms and a diverse cast of characters who form a unlikely group of heroes charged with saving the world from certain doom. This books is great for anyone who enjoys fantasy RPGs like Dragon Age series and Divinity series.

I recieved an e-arc of this from netgalley.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story starts with our main character Raine Blackwood, princess of her kingdom telling us her father is dying and her sister has disappeared, leaving Raine as heir to the thrown, something she doesn't want. The start of the book follows Raine debating on if she should attempt to find her sister. Kirin,  a young magician in the court and her closest friend, gives her a spell that could possibly locate her sister. When she is told by her father she is meant to marry a Prince from a ne4boughing kingdom, Vai. Raine must decided if she will go to find the sister who hates her or will she take the throne?

I found Raine to be very selfish, her father is dying and all she wants to do is find her sister so she can be free from the throne.
I couldn't connect with her character at the start at all but began to like her as the story progressed.
Kirin also didn't have much of a personality outside of his eagerness to learn magic.
We meet Thora, who is a smartass with an attitude but I liked her from the start. The trio meet and stay together due to Raine taking a liking to her.

They meet Kirin's teacher Celestine, the seer of Kadar. She asks Raine what still will do if her sister does and doesn't return to the throne. The seer says that Raines sister has adjusted to her new life and is where she needs to be.





I would say the start of the story, while it progressed quickly in time line (ie within a matter of day) the plot was slow to start of with and gain momentum. My interest was slightly peaked when the duo met Celestine and even more so when Prince Vai was introduced. From then on I enjoyed the plot and its pacing. The plot began to become a little obvious around the 160 page mark but I didnt mind too much.

I look forward to seeing where the story goes in the future.