What a fun ride! This book started off a bit slow for my taste, but once it got going I was hooked!

I particularly loved how magic was used, and the way it connected with the world-building and history of the world. It was really fun to learn about the different powers and types of creatures/people able to wield it. I also found it interesting how magic was used by those in power to control others.

Not only did I enjoy the magic and plot of this book, but I adored the characters. Neve irritated me a little at first, but she really grew on me as the story progressed. And Ronan was so delightful. I honestly just wanted to wrap them all in a big hug and keep them safe!

I would highly recommend this book if you like fantasy stories with magic and political intrigue, but also strong characters. I hope we get to see more from this world soon!

I’ve had Lesley Livingston on my TBR for a while, most particularly her “The Valiant” series which follows a female gladiator. That sounded really interesting to me…and I just haven’t actually picked it up yet. So this is my first experience with her writing. But I’m also a sucker for books based on legends and fairytales and mythology, and I find Celtic tales to be fascinating, so that definitely made me keen to pick this one up.

A lot of terms and names get thrown out into the story in the beginning, and it can be a bit difficult to follow for a little while and get your bearings near the start if you don’t have basic understanding of Celtic lore. But stick with it, and the pieces will begin to fall into place.

Both Neve and Ronan are interesting characters, and between the two of them there is plenty of tension and conflict, which brings about action and magic. That is what kept me going in the early parts of this book, the fact that these two characters were so compelling. I wanted to know more about them.

The summary of this book says it is for fans of Shelby Mahurin, Adrienne Young, Brigid Kemmerer, and Tricia Levenseller…well those are some big comparisons to try and make. I can see where the stories have similar elements and vibes. But I didn’t fall into this story as quickly as I do with books by the aforementioned authors.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this book. After I really started to get drawn into the story, it didn’t take much longer to devour the rest of the story. The magic and lore and action and mystery of it all kept me flipping pages late into the night.

So…I guess this means I should probably pick up The Valiant sooner rather than later.

Queen Among the Dead may be for you if you like…
Forbidden romance
Enemies to lovers
Internal conflict
Political intrigue
Mythology
YA

Pros:
-gripping plot
-magic system and its ties to politics was fascinating!
-It’s giving me Hawkgirl vibes, although I can’t pinpoint why. She was my favorite Justice League hero when I was a kid, so that’s a pro for me regardless😂
-Pulls heavily on Irish mythology, which I haven’t seen much in the mythology/retelling subgenre. Unique and compelling!
-The characters’ backstories were really intriguing to me!

Cons:
-love triangle-ish thing doesn’t add much to the story and is underdeveloped
-The writing itself seemed amateur to me starting out, both from writing style and beats in the pacing (rushing scenes, lots of infodumping, etc). However, I haven’t read any of Livingston’s other books and am not familiar with how she writes.
-The world building needed better execution. For example, How exactly does druid magic work? Additionally, the mythology aspect, arguably its biggest lure, was confusing, and the glossary is extremely brief. I kept having to remind myself of who’s who, what happened in the myth, etc.

I'm usually pretty wary of reading anything based in unfamiliar mythology (yet I continue to do so because maybe it'll be different), but Queen Among the Dead seemed too good to pass up. And Lesley Livingston's love of Celtic mythology definitely translated and sparked some excitement in the beginning.

Where it started to fall flat and maybe a bit dense was later on in the storytelling and world-building; it grew more and more difficult to understand where the world-building was contributing to building the plot vs. where it was there to educate the reader. Overall, I think it was something to be more mindful of both for the author while writing, and the audience while reading - potentially if I had different expectations going into it it would've been different. I also think that because the world-building had so much going on in the beginning, the world was less exciting for me to experience, and I couldn't focus on the characters as much as I would've liked.

That being said, I think I enjoyed Neve's character? She had a deep love for her people and that much was clear. But right when I was starting to get to know her more, I'd be interrupted by something irrelevant or misplaced. Overall, it wasn't bad, but I think with a bit more self-editing it would be a classic reread.

Release Date:1.17.2023
Review Date:1.10.2023

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own.

In the kingdom of Eire, banshees chill the air, and water-wights lurk in the rivers. But magic is outlawed by the king, and jealously hoarded by his Druid priests. Neve is the youngest daughter of the king, and Ronan is a Druid's apprentice-turned-thief, making a living by selling stolen spells. They should be enemies, but their shared hatred of the Druids-and a dark magic that has marked them both-makes them unlikely, if uneasy, allies. When Eire is threatened by a power struggle, Neve must seize the chance to take her rightful place on her family's throne, with the help of Ronan and the realm's most dangerous outcasts. Their journey takes them to the outskirts of Eire where magic still runs free . . . and where an outlaw and a warrior princess might carve out a future with spells and swords.

I was pretty excited to read this one after having loved the authors gladiator series, but I didn't enjoy this one as much. It was at least fast paced. I liked the characters for the most part and enjoyed that it was dual perspective. There were some plot points that I wasn't crazy about. It did manage to surprise me a little bit. Overall, I would recommend.

This book is an adventure and does not skimp on action. The opening is strong and sets the tone for the rest of the book. I enjoyed the incorporation of elements of Irish folklore and liked the history and worldbuilding present throughout.

Unfortunately, the characters are a disappointment. Although Neve, the main character, clearly has some growth to undergo throughout the story, this maturity happens almost all at once. Prior to this, she is an annoying character to read due to her consistent disregard for anything besides what she thinks is best. Neve is the only dynamic character; the others are flat and seem more like ideas of themselves as opposed to complex characters with their own backstories and motivations. The under-developed characterization leads to unrealistic, simplified dialogue which is clearly serving only to have something happen more quickly. The writing improves toward the end of the book and the pacing isn't bad, but the lack of life in these characters made this a slow read. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Irish folklore.

It has been a while since I dove into anything I would consider “high fantasy”—i.e. a fantasy narrative where character focus takes a backseat to world building. However, despite some pacing issues I did EVENTUALLY enjoy Queen Among the Dead.
As a novel, Queen Among the Dead draws heavily from Celtic folklore, but in a way that is a lot more focused on physical combat as opposed to ethereal magic systems. This magic system feels darker, and more about physicality and death magic as opposed to elemental magic. Think like shapeshifting as opposed to fireballs. As a reader, I found it quite refreshing. I also really liked the relationship between Neve and Ronan. It was very fun.
One aspect of the book I did not like was the pacing. I almost DNF’d this because the first half of the novel is so slow. I think this happens with a lot of high fantasy narratives, that because the world building is so complex a large chunk of the early narrative becomes dedicated solely to explaining or displaying said world. Looking back, I don’t think that the slow pacing at the beginning was entirely warranted. It could have been sped up and a lot of those early descriptions could have either been condensed or cut out entirely. This does improve, and the second half of the book does feel better balanced and more exciting.
I think while I would say I enjoyed the later half and the characters, Queen Among the Dead feels a little too cookie cutter fantasy with its tropes for me to consider it a stand out. Is it a good book? Mostly. Would I recommend it? Yeah, sure. Will I probably forget about it in a month or two? Yes. Yet, this definitely feels like the type of book some people will be absolutely obsessed with.

There are two elements that convinced me to read this book: the first is the fact that it is a retelling of the story of the first Queen of Ireland and the second is the fact that it is full of Celtic folklore. So considering that these are two topics that always fascinated me but knew very little about,I didn't let this opportunity pass me by!
× I admit that the beginning was a bit slow because the presence of a lot of Celtic culture terms with I was unfamiliar with... however, right from the start Lesley was able to transport me to Ireland and made me walk in its landscapes and feel the magic in the air.
& I loved the character of Neve: she is a proud character, who never tries to hide what she is and that embodies the essence of a warrior princess in a society ruled by men.
Ronan, on the other hand, I just want to hug him: he is a thief with magic running through his veins. And it was nice to see how in the course of the story he grew up learning to accept himself.
* What I liked most was the fact that I had the impression that I was reading a historical novel from the beginning to end: in fact, the author has included the element of fantasy while managing to remain faithful to what the places and culture of the time were, thus creating a great historical fantasy. So, if Ireland and its history have always fascinated you, I cannot help but recommend this read!

One will kill for her and the other will die for her.

This book is inspired by Celtic mythology and combines ancient histories, political intrigue monsters and magic into this fantasy novel which follows a young women who has to fight for her country, despite the fact that they say she is unfit to lead. As the second-born princess Neve is used to being ignored and spends her days escaping the confinements of the palace. Ronan is a former Druid apprentice turned thief who is hiding powerful magic that will get him killed. After a chance meeting turns into chaos Neve and Ronan are thrust into a journey of secrets, discovery, magic and an age-old battle between Gods which will decide the fate of Eire.


Short review:
Overall, the author was able to weave so much Celtic historic mythology into some well written characters. The journey they went through in the first quarter of the book was very enjoyable and I loved the constant mystery and anticipation over the impending battle! I always love rivals that span centuries and thought it was well done in this book. However, the plot lacked a satisfying ending that I thought could have been fleshed out a lot further. While I did enjoy the world-building I did get lost and confused a lot throughout the book because of the large amount of information dumped from page 1, luckily I was able to sort through the information and found everything so fascinating. While this was only a 3 star read for me, I do encourage you to pick this one up if you are even the slightest bit interested in Celtic mythology!


Longer review:
From the first page of the book the world-building and history was thrown onto the reader, you could tell how passionate the author was about this subject. However, I got lost throughout a lot of the book because I was confused or didn't remember some of the mythological elements which made the story what it is. The Celtic myths were an amazing addition to the book and I'm sure it will draw a lot of readers in, but for me it was a bit too much at once because I know nothing about Celtic mythology.

Putting that aside I can say that I loved the characters. Neve was aggressive, resilient and just never gave up. I love badass warrior girls and Neve was the perfect mc for this story. Ronan was so interesting from the start and I loved the slow mystery of discovering who he was and the constant plot twists about both characters hidden magic. Sakir had to be one of my favourites, he was just so dedicated to Neve and I feel so bad for him because she does not appreciate him as much as she should!

Another thing I enjoyed about the start of the book was the plot. I loved the mystery of everything and I was so excited to see where the story would go and ready for the epic battle at the end. Unfortunately I didn't get that epic battle. i felt like everything wrapped up so quickly in like five pages and just wasn't all that satisfying to read.
While this was only a 3 star read for me, I do encourage you to pick this one up if you are even the slightest bit interested in Celtic mythology!

Thank you to NetGalley & Zando Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lesley Livingston continues to surprise me every time I read one of her books. I adore that her stories always dive deep into whichever mythology the book is based on and I love that her female protagonists are always such badasses while also still being human. Yes, they can wield sharp weapons and prove their worth but they have emotions and personalities, too.

Queen Among the Dead follows Neve, a princess who wants to be something more than just second best. She wants to be king--that's right, king, not queen. Like all of Lesley's characters, Neve is freaking awesome. She's determined and smart. She knows what she wants and she goes after it with everything she has. I love her journey. I love what she does to maker herself into the king her people needs.

This book also follows Ronan, an ex-Druid who has more magic brimming inside him than he knows what to do with. Ronan is also an excellent character. He has that perfect balance of dark, broody boy and also a soft heart to care for Neve despite his best efforts to stay away from her. I also love his journey of coming to terms with who he is and embracing something different than expected.

I also love their relationship that starts off as wary allies, turns into sorta enemies, and eventually ends with them coming to terms with how entwined their lives are and that they are better off together. I also appreciate that the romance is a side plot that flows into the main plot and doesn't overwhelm it or take over.

This book also has awesome side characters, epic Celtic mythology and magic, excitement and adventure, and such a fantastic ending. While at first, the story started off a bit slow and I spent a lot of the book mixed up by all the Celtic names and references, the story really does pull through in the end. I can tell Lesley knows her Celtic mythology and I love how in-depth it was, even if I struggled to keep track of who was who and what was what when it came to the gods and stories.

But other than that, Queen Among the Dead is a solid YA fantasy with awesome magic and mythology and even better characters.

Such a fun YA fantasy romp!

Firstly, I’d like to say how much I adore this cover! It’s so lovely and I couldn’t stop staring at it while reading the book.

Secondly—this book! I was nervous because this has been an anticipated read of mine but I had no reason to be. I enjoyed the main characters and their relationships. Lesley does such a beautiful job curating these endearing and wonderful characters with seemingly real personalities and ambitions. I absolutely busted out laughing so many times! This book was so fun, twisty and honest!

Provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really don't like to leave bad reviews, especially on ARCs, but I want to be 100% honest here.

I was originally drawn to this book as it is inspired my Celtic mythology which I have not read very much of in the fantasy genre. I was hoping for an exciting and refreshing story that gripped me from start to finish. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

One of the issues I had with this book was characterization. Few of these characters had any discernible qualities, and even though it was a dual perspective story, neither of the narrators had unique voices. The characters needed to be fleshed out more and given more personality in order to make me care. Also, the chemistry between the characters were lacking. The dialogue was very flat and one-dimensional. I was hoping for more chemistry to shine through, but in the end I felt no connection to any of these characters.

The second part of this book I found issues with was the world building. Though I could tell the author gave a lot of thought to this aspect, the communication of the ideas to the reader was not executed well. Each chapter had somesort of info dump including terms that were not defined well. Not only do constant info dumps give a sort of whiplash to the reader being constantly taken out of the present story and then thrown back in, I could not remember what certain terms meant since so many were thrown at me at once.

The last issue I had was the plot. Or lack-thereof. Even being a third of the way through this book there were no goals, nothing being worked on by the characters, and I really could not tell where this story was going. There are many books where I can be "along for the ride" but in those cases, I need to care about the characters at least, which was an issue as mentioned before.

Would I recommend this? Probably not. The concept is intriguing but this book just felt like a blander version of a stereotypical YA fantasy Book I've read a million times, but with worse characters.

Queen Among the Dead
by Lesley Livingston
Pub Date 17 Jan 2023
Publisher :Zando Projects, Zando Young Readers
Genre :Romance | Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA

This is a lovely fast paced fantasy with Celtic mythology. Based on Celtic mythology, the book follows the kingdom of Eire’s princess and a Druid apprentice-turned-thief. There’s an interesting magic system and potential for a great enemies-to-lovers dynamic, so I was very excited to get an eARC of this one from Netgalley.I absolutely loved Neve and Rowan, but I felt like they were just on the surface, and I wanted to discover more about them.



@zando #NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads#romance #scifictionandfantasy #teensandyoungadults

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFwVomkf/

DNF at 30%

I was so excited for this book, but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations.

What To Expect:
▪︎YA Celtic Fantasy
▪︎Dual POV
▪︎A Thief and a Princess
▪︎Adventure
▪︎Fast Paced
▪︎Trigger Warnings ⚠️ (May contain spoilers)
*Violence
*Blood
*Death
*Grief
*Murder

You had me at the description. Honestly, it sounded like such an amazing book!
Unfortunately, I had some trouble getting into the book. While a glossary was provided at the beginning of the book, I had completely forgotten what everything meant the second I went into the first chapter. I was so confused by all the names that I had to constantly flick back to the beginning.

At the 30% mark, I still didn't quite understand where this book was headed. We had a really long, info-dumpy intro and we'd met our characters, but I didn't know what their goal was. It took too long for me personally to really get into the story.

The writing style is really good and I'm sure there will be loads of people who love this book, but sadly it wasn't for me.

* Received and ARC via NetGalley *

I am a lover of Celtic / Old-Age set stories, so I was very excited to give this a read. I ended up giving it 3 Stars; while I think the core story and characters are interesting and have a lot of potential, I felt this book suffered from structural, plot, and pacing issues.
• Terminology: While some definitions are given prior to Chapter 1, only some of the foreign terms are covered. With the large amount of use of said terminology throughout the book, it created a huge gap in clarity for the reader. I also would have found a pronunciation guide immensely helpful.

• World-Building: There is a LOT of world-building to be had in this book. While some of it comes across, a lot of it is given in summary explanation, rather than action or character dialogue. The rules of the magic, who has control of it, etc could be explained clearer. It also didn't make sense to me how early in the book Neve asks Ronan to help her control her magic, which doesn't happen, but then by the latter half of the book she somehow knows how to use it and seemingly control it. There was no transition period for her which would have coincided really well with her "ascension".

• Structure / Pacing: By 2/3 of the way through the book, there's still not a clearly defined goal for the main characters, so it feels somewhat slow. The latter 1/3 then feels very rushed, and the climactic events all take page within the last 50 pages.

• Character Emotions / Development: There were a lot of emotional 180's in this book. Neve's father spends the majority of the book deriding her and undermining her, and then flips with the barest of explanations. I also could not buy the fact that, when Ronan seemingly died at the end, she had NO reaction and simply continued on to confront the Scathach. After their whole journey together it seemed like such a wasted moment that could have been really emotionally impactful.

Positives: I love the three main characters: Neve, Ronan, and Sarik. While not perfectly drawn, there were captivating and I would love to see more of them. The triangle set up between them is great. I also love the female empowerment examined not only through Neve, but through the female warriors / Foadlach as well. It was arguably my favorite element of the book.

Overall I think with some restructuring and editing (and a pronunciation guide, PLEASE!), this story has a LOT of potential to be a great book and series.

I got a free e-arc through Netgalley, this in no way affected this review.

This book could have been so much more if the author only had taken the time to give us more world building and explanations throughout the book. This is heavily inspired by Celtic mythology, which I was very excited to read about, but it felt like I was missing information for the entire book.

There was a decent plot, but I feel like I would have been more invested if I understood more of what was going on. Because I can see the author is a good writer, but she lost me on a deeper level of the book.

I also feel like the two main characters would have been better of as friends instead of love interest for each other. There wasn’t a lot of chemistry between the two of them, but I did enjoy their banter.

Thank you Zando Young Readers and Netgalley for letting me read this book in advance!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. I don't ever review if I DNF but since this was an eARC in exchange for an honest review, I felt the need to.

First off I was extremely excited for this book! I was excited for the Celtic Lore and the story being inspired by the legend of the first true Queen of Ireland. I know Lesley Livingston has such a passion for Celtic mythology. So, I was ready to dive head first into this world.

This is however where my enthusiasm stopped. The story starts out abruptly. Celtic names and words are thrown at you and you have no clue of what is happening. There is a glossary at the beginning but it's very short; only a handful of terms. I wish there were more. Since I know some of her readers, like myself, know the basics but probably not much more then that. The plot felt like it wasn't going anywhere. The world-building was thrust upon you with no real context, so information dumping. And I like fantasy books that the world-building happens organically. There were formatting issues throughout. And what I did read; I missed quite a bit of because of the sentences being all jumbled on the page. Even though formatting bothered me this didn't lessen the stars. I know it can happen. What lessened the stars was that I felt the the story was going nowhere and everywhere all at once. I felt like I was just reading words on a page. Also, this book was marketed as enemies to lovers . However it is not true enemies to lovers. It's like mild irritation to lovers. So, if this is the main thing that drew to this story you will be a bit disappointed.

What To Expect:
▪︎YA Celtic Fantasy
▪︎Dual POV
▪︎A Thief and a Princess
▪︎Adventure
▪︎Fast Paced
▪︎Trigger Warnings ⚠️ (May contain spoilers)
*Violence
*Blood
*Death
*Grief
*Murder

However with better world building techniques and better character development, I think the plot would have been rounded out. I know there is such a thing with trying to keep the reader guessing but you still need a plot point.. even if it's the smaller plot point within the major plot.

I love books based on mythology, so when I found this one based on Celtic mythology, I couldn’t miss it.

The main heroine is Neve, second daughter of the King, and also the youngest. She’s not the typical princess and doesn’t behave the way she’s supposed to according to her father. In fact, she can’t avoid sneaking out of the castle and go on adventures, even if sometimes she ends up risking her life. It’s in one of these adventures that she encounters Ronan, and their lives intertwine. Even years later, their fate is connected. There is something wrong and evil brewing in the kingdom, and her father might be responsible. It’s up to Neve and Ronan to protect the people and figure out if the legends of their people have any truths in them.

I really enjoyed reading about Neve and Ronan and their adventures. Neve is quite spoiled although she’s not your typical princess. Ronan is the opposite, but sometimes he can’t see what’s going on around him because he focuses on himself. I enjoyed the storyline, but sometimes I was pulled out from the story due to the writing style that interrupted my reading flow. For this my star rating would tend more toward 3.5 stars.

This book is absolutely phenomenal. I loved it so much. Lesley Livingston does an incredible job fleshing out the history of Eire and describing the different forms that magic takes in this world. I adored the way Neve and Ronan’s relationship evolved, and Neve is undoubtedly an epic female fantasy character. This is an easy five star rating for me.

I loved this book. This was the first YA fantasy I have really enjoyed in a while. I was captivated from the very beginning.

Neve was such a fun main character to read about. I loved her strong, defient nature.

The magic system and world building was really unique and interesting to read.