I really enjoyed this. I learned so much about Irish mythology through Neve and Ronan’s journey of self discovery. The world is beautifully described and the characters are well rounded.

I will say however, that the magic system(s) and mythology could have been simplified for an easier read. The action constantly has to stop in order to explain the legends and background underpinning everything. This is even happening during the finale when all you really want is a climactic fantastical action scene. That said, the lore is fascinating and the world is brilliant, I enjoyed looking up the myths it was based on afterwards. In my opinion it just needed to keep the flow of the story a bit better and not worry so much about explaining everything.

A solid recommendation for fantasy lovers.

This Celtic Mythology fantasy was absolutely everything I wanted it to be. It reads like a cross between historical fiction and fantasy and brings a fresh perspective to the widely popular YA fantasy genre. As my most anticipated 2023 read, it was INCREDIBLE. The splash of political intrigue and literal kingmaking made it unputdownable. I will say, the first 50 pages is a bit of a (necessary) infodump, but survive that and you’ll love this novel! Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy.

Thank you so much Zando Projects Publishing for sending me an eARC to read and give an honest review!

"'Do you think Eire is invulnerable, lords? Impervious to assault? I don't think that. I can't know that. I only know this: in the face of a darkness rising - and darkness follows dusk follows bright daylight, always - an unjust kingdom will never stand. A false king will ever come to ruin. And faithless tuaths will, in the end, burn to ash and scatter on the winds.'"

*4.5 stars*

This book was SO good. I absolutely loved the Irish mythology, the political intrigue, the worldbuilding, and the characters! There is so much to say, but I want to start off with the one thing I did NOT like, so I can move on to all of the good parts: the beginning. Don't get me wrong, I loved the past and then fast-forward to the future, but there was also a LOT of info-dumping near the beginning, courtesy of both Neve and Ronan. However, that was truly my only complaint about the whole book.

Now to the good parts! The way that Livingston wrote about Irish mythology displayed her deep passion and respect for it. It was very well done (though I would have liked to see a glossary for the meanings instead of them being explained by the narrator). I read the first book in her other series, Valiant, in 2020 and enjoyed it for the same reason. I also enjoyed the political side of the worldbuilding. The reader is told that Úna understood and manipulated the politics in Eire, and near the end, we really see how the political system is important to the story

I have seen some complain that they couldn't anticipate the trajectory of the story since the characters had no clear goals, which led to them disliking the book. I personally enjoyed this fact (although I did have theories as to where it was going based on Livingston's subtle hints throughout the first couple of chapters), as it keeps the reader guessing and on the edge of their seats to see what happens next. Additionally, the pacing was perfect because it built suspense. It is definitely YA though.

Next, the characters were good. I suppose this is a minor complaint, but I feel like the side/main characters weren't QUITE fleshed out enough. Neve was pretty much the only one I felt was, as her characterization was on-point the whole novel: headstrong, stubborn, and not afraid of the consequences. She was kind of an anti-hero/ morally gray character too because she made decisions based on her desires. On the other hand, Ronan, Sakir, her father, her mother (who I wished I could've seen more backstory for, by the way), Úna, and Lorcan could've all used a little more characterization. However, the lack of this didn't affect my enjoyment of the book overall (I mean, I BINGED this book in one sitting).

And then the romance . . . enemies to lovers, a knife-to-throat scene, and a sarcastic thief? I mean, what more could I want?? Also, this was a dual POV story told in the third person, which didn't confuse me as I read that a lot (SUPER common in YA fantasy), but it can be confusing to some readers. Finally, while this is a standalone, I'm glad Livingston left the ending open so that we may one day return to the land of Eire.

All in all, a book I definitely would recommend readers check out when it releases in January!

I just loved this book so much! Everything was so amazing : the world building, the characters, the main story as well as the "side" stories... I think I could have read a thousand more pages of this adventure as I really got attached to Neve and Ronan... the writing is just so smooth and beautiful. Really a big YES for me and I truly hope there will be a sequel to this book as I feel like I can't get enough of this story!!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This book looked really promising yet i felt it wasnt what i was promised. I didn't lke the pacing and felt like the author was writing to spend time. NOTHING HAPPENED. The writing made the reading feel heavy and the enemies to lovers part was meh.
I liked Neve as a character. She was strong and loved her people soo much. I also loved the celtic mythology and learning about it.

Ok so I may have struggled to pronounce half the words, but I really did enjoy this story. A YA fantasy, rich with Celtic mythology (hence the words I couldn’t pronounce).

Neve is the youngest daughter of the king, who’s only desire is to live a life of adventure free from the confines of her palace. She is aware of what those in the kingdom whisper about her, but refuses to believe the rumors that her mother tried to drown her out of fear. When she repeatedly runs into a young man with traces of forbidden magic under his skin, Neve begins to unravel the rumors of her past as well as the truth in her future.

Neve is the strong female lead that every YA fantasy needs: “Queen…When I take the throne…I’ll do it as a king.” This girl knows she’s an independent woman that needs no man! Then there’s Ronan, the man she doesn’t NEED, but is certainly lucky to have. His character provided the right amount of humor in an otherwise darker story. Definitely my favorite character!

My only criticism is that the ending felt very rushed. We had these character building to an incredible awakening of power and intense battle, but every major conflict was over within moments. This easily could have been split into two books and allowed for a more impactful climax to the conflict. Plus we could have had more Ronan and Neve time and I’ll never tire of their interactions.

Regardless, I enjoyed these characters as well as their story and look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review!

The Stone of Destiny chooses the king. After the current king was chosen the stone went missing. The king has two daughters, wise and beautiful Una and fierce and headstrong Neve. Neve is always getting into fights and causing trouble. One night she calls up a banshee, an unwitting thief bands together with the princess to drive the monster off.

Seven years have passed but fate brings together the thief and princess once more. Magic has been driven from the land and the king and his druids spend all their time creating a great barrow. Neve uncovers a plot to seize power from her father. Soon she discovers that she may be the true king Eire was looking for all along.

Lesley Livingston’s Queen Among the Dead is a thrilling adventure full of magic and mythology. A fun book for fans of Celtic Mythology.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC I’m exchange for a review. Unfortunately, I DNF at 40%. The world building was a bit hard to follow for me and I just couldn’t get into it.

I have been waiting for Celtic mythology to step into the light and have it's moment to shine. So, when I saw this book, I leapt at the chance to read it. The author's passion for the subject matter was clear and, while this book didn't live up to my expectations, it is certainly a solid and refreshing addition to the YA Fantasy genre. We need more banshees in our lives!

Things I liked:
Female characters- Neve and Una really jumped off the page for me. I love to see strong female characters who have positive relationships. It is important in every genre, but especially YA.
Celtic Inspiration- as mentioned above
Setting- beautiful and immersive

What challenges me:
Flow- I never really got into a flow with this story. I worked hard to reengage as several intervals.
Main relationship- Enemies to Lovers requires a slow burn to feel authentic. I quite enjoy insta-love and friends to lovers stories, but this wasn't that either. They were just kind of grumpy with each other for a lot of the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This was my first Celtic mythology YA book and Love it. I found myself going down a rabbit hole of looking up Celtic myths after reading this book.

Unfortunately, Queen Among the Dead did not do it for me. I was interested in this book because of the comparison to Adrienne Young, but the world-building or story-telling did not feel comparable.

I fully believe that the author loves her story and the premise is extremely promising; it just did not work for me. I think a bit of solid hashing out details of world-building and fully fleshing out the plot and magic would go a long way.

I do appreciate the opportunity to read and review Queen Among the Dead. I give it a 3/5 because I wholeheartedly believe it has potential. I will likely pick it back up after it’s published to see if it is any different from the e-ARC.

It wasn’t what I expected at all, it definitely was a well developed story. The storytelling was unique and the characters were loveable and realistic which is a hard to find combo. I love the color of this cover btw such a pretty color. I thought it was gonna be mid but it was better than that, you should check it out once it’s out!

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston is a YA fantasy with an exciting premise. 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.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I felt like there was quite a bit of info dumping about the mythology in the first half of the book, telling us about the world instead of showing us. This was combined with a LOT of foreshadowing of ominous destruction to come. So much so, that once the disasters did start to strike and the action started happening I was underwhelmed because I’d already predicted it. And somehow I just did not connect with the characters as much as I usually do in YA fantasy novels.

Queen Among the Dead releases in January. This one could still be great for you if you enjoy an intricate supernatural magic system, badass female leads and Celtic-inspired mythology. I read this on my cruise vacation after finishing a handful of really stellar YA fantasy reads and it just didn’t measure up for me.

1/5 Stars

Thanks to NetGally and Zando Young Readers for providing the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Queen Among the Dead sounded very promising but unfortunately, failed to deliver.

The beginning was very hard to get into and it did not get any better with each chapter. Some chapters were just there to info-dump the reader for the sake of not leaving them blind and unaware of what is going on in the world. Some were there to move the nonexistent plot. I say nonexistent because up until the 60-70% mark you do not really see where the story is headed. Even later, you wonder why these events are happening near the end.

The characters were pretty much aimless and had no idea what to do with their lives.
Neve Anann Eriu of the Tautha Dé, the second princess, the daughter of the Dagda and beloved of the wolf, our main heroine was lost in majority of the story and had no idea what to do or what is going on, making rash and idiotic decisions here and there. She was just going with the flow until pretty much the last few chapters.

*
“Ronan wondered if not having to live by your wits meant not ever bothering to use them”

“It occurred to Neve belatedly that, if she’d been thinking,”

These two quotes perfectly describe Neve.
*

Ronan on the other hand, our pessimist thief was equally no better.

There was no chemistry between the main pair and frankly I am just having big question marks on how they came to be.

Also, the formatting of the ebook on Kindle was very distracting and annoying to be honest. I wanted to quit more than once because of this.

This book had all of the Celtic folklore that I loved as a child, but the story itself was hard to get into. There were a lot of info dumps, that made the story very confusing at times, and it was hard to keep the plot straight. I found myself having to reread paragraphs multiple times to understand what was happening.

I had really high hopes for this one. I love to see new and different retelling or inspirations from different cultures and I haven't seen a Celtic one..

However, there was a lot of telling and no showing. There was hardly any dialogue and that contributed to me not being able to fully connect to the characters at all. I didn't care about them and I didn't really feel the need to want to know what happens next. Poor execution but good idea.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publishers for a chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 15%.

I think this was more stuff subjectively wrong than objectively wrong. I just couldn’t get into this and didn’t want to keep wasting my time. I felt myself falling into a reading slump. Just a lot of lore and new words all at once and I couldn’t deal with all the exposition in order to get to the main plot. Maybe I could’ve pushed through, but I just decided not to.

Celtic mythology? I figured this book would be right up my alley!
However it fell somewhat flat for me. For one, the world building was dense but done in massive info dumps that by the third time it happened my brain felt worn out. Perhaps if I was in a better mindset to focus it would've gone over well, but it felt like it was an overused method. Also all of the names threw me for a loop. I'm used to epic fantasies that require learning different clan names, places, and people, but I think on top of the massive info dumping it became too much.
I really wanted to like this book more, but I think it just wasn't for me.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC!

Story Synopsis: Neve, the younger of two sisters of Eire’s king, finds an unlikely ally in a druid-turned-thief. When Neve’s world is turned upside-down, and she’s forced to confront magic in a kingdom where magic is strictly forbidden, Neve must figure out how to stay true to herself and navigate the complex social structures of her kingdom.

Thoughts & Feelings: Queen Among the Dead is based on Celtic mythology, so I was hopeful and excited to read this ARC. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. I loved the characters but felt the emphasis of the writing was on the wrong things. I found myself missing big pieces of action because they weren’t written in a way that I knew a battle was being fought. I also felt there was too much setup of the world. Is this meant to be a series? Who can tell?

*2.5 stars*

Thank you to NETGALLEY and Zando Projects for giving me an E-ARC of this book. My review is given voluntarily.

To start off, I really enjoyed the characters personalities, Neve was a really strong female lead. I really enjoyed watching her interactions with other characters and also seeing her growth as the book progresses.

I’m going to keep this short, I was confused the majority of the book. I felt like there was so many terms and information just dumped that it was overwhelming. I couldn’t remember if the things mentioned was a group of people, a ranking, or who knows what else. I felt just overwhelmed by it all.

I did enjoy what I knew what was going on, though I felt like I got ripped off with that ending. Overall, I felt quite a bit disappointed when it came to this book. I had quite the expectations and it didn’t meet them. The writing style was great, but the building was too much at one time.