The celtic mythology of this book was amazing! Definitely something that is done very little but done very well in the book world. Neve was a character you wanted to root for. The pacing wasn't my favorite personally but the ending, I can't wait for what's more to come from Livingston.

Huge thanks to Zando Young Readers for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This books was good. It's one of those that is more "here for a good time not for a long time." I like the main protagonist as a strong female lead. The main male lead was a nice compliment to her. I liked the setting, the pacing was good and the Celtic culture was fun to read about. Overall a solid read. This isn't a book I will remember for a long time but it was a fun read nevertheless.

I gave this book 3.00 stars. I would recommend this for someone looking for a quick read in a unique setting with a strong female lead

Magic. Myth. And lovable rapscallions.

I will be the first to admit that I am unjustly cynical when it comes to Irish-inspired fantasy. In my experience it is a long and complicated history that either translates extremely well, or poorly, to fiction. So I was thrilled when Livingston captured me early and held me captivated to the bitter end.

For all of the lore and myth interwoven into Queen Among the Dead, there are frequent context clues and overt reminders to keep you clued in. Worst case, there is a remarkably handy glossary at the START of the book. The world-building is superb, magic system sophisticated, and characters 3-dimensional. Dual-POV is usually not my favorite, but I found myself eagerly looking forward to the shift in perspectives as each had remarkable new insight into Eire.

For me the story harkened back to the Falling Kingdom series by Morgan Rhodes. It had a similar sense of adventure, lovable morally-grey characters, enemies-to-lovers, and character depth. A splash of dark academia, palace intrigue, this one checked a lot of boxes for me.

I look forward to seeing what Lesley Livingston has up her sleeve next, and wholly intend to add this one to my re-read shelf. It will be staying with me for a long time.

[Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

I was excited to read this novel because I love the author’s Valiant series set in Ancient Rome about a female gladiator! I thought this novel which is focused on Celtic mythology in which I knew very little about would be an excellent treat! However, I was a little disappointed. While Valiant was a fast-paced book that was filled with complex characters, I thought that Queen Among the Living Dead was a very slow moving novel. There is not much happening. I also could not connect with Neve. She seemed emotionally distant that I could not connect with her story as I did with Fallon from Valiant. I also thought the romance in this novel was very lackluster compared to the swoon worthy romance in Valiant. Despite these flaws, I did love the setting. The author did an excellent job in making Celtic Britain come alive. I like how she wove myth, history, and religion into the story. Thus, this novel had an interesting premise, but was not executed well. Instead, it made me want to reread the Valiant series. Nevertheless, I recommend this novel for fans of Maggie Stiefvater, Esther Friesner, and Sarah J. Maas!

Sounds really great. The book was a slow start and I couldn't get into it, but I will try again soon.

Queen Among the Dead weaves history and magic together in an enchanting Celtic read. An interesting take on looking at outlawed magic. Focusing on an outlaw and princess to tell the story, we see tension in the social injustices taking place within Eire.

A thrilling read that is sure to engage lovers of history, romance and fantasy.

While the overall premise was fascinating, I can’t say this is a story that will stick with me.

The characters and magic system were all great and captivating, for the most part. I just felt like the pacing was at fault here. I feel like if it had been edited down a bit, this could have been great.

I still liked it well enough and I’m glad I read it.

I enjoyed this book. I thought the magic system was brilliant and I found myself torn between who I was rooting for the most. The world building was phenomenal too and loved how Neve and Ronan had to think about the consequences of their actions before throwing it to the wind. I am also super excited because I signed up to get the special addition of this from The Bookish Box and cannot wait to have it in my library!!!!

I read Queen Among the Dead on my kindle, and I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. Despite my goals to be reading more physical books, I was often turning towards my kindle at night because I just had to know what would happen next.

Based on a lot fo celtic legends and folklore, Queen Among The Dead brings so much magic and beautiful descriptions of Eire to the page. Crafting Irish fairytale into a wonderful fantasy adventure with an intriguing cast of characters who you want to learn more about with each page.

There’s a slight issue of pacing, especially in the first half of the book. Whilst I loved the world building, it did come at the cost of our characters not having much to work towards for the first part of the story. We were introduced to lots of characters, the world, the magic (or lack of magic) etc. but our characters were mostly reacting to things that happen around them.

But by the end of the book it’s a real page turner, and as you start to see the real antagonists come into play the stakes get higher. I also loved the way magic was shown in this book, and how it ties back into the land of Eire and it’s people.

I am a hard core fan of Celtic mythology however this one just didn't work out for me at all. I felt confused a lot of the time on what was going on and the world building just wasn't up to par. I wanted to love this one with all the Celtic amazing things but it just didn't work out.

Queen Among the Dead is a saga-style novel, drawing on the legends of the druids from England and Ireland in prehistory, when the henges and barrows were being built. This novel is full of magic, gods, and intrigue, along with war and struggles for leadership. It is the story of Neve, daughter of the Dagda, the "Good god" chosen by the Lia Fail, a speaking stone that validates the true leader of the people. Neve's father, Ruad Rofhessa, is the king of the land, but like the kings before him, he subjugates the descendants of the other magical races, the ones which fought on the other side of the last great war- and they don't like it. The druids, led by Gofannon, are another group that chafes under Ruad's rule, and collects all wild magic for their own purposes. Finally, there is Neve, the younger daughter of a king who has no sons, and whose mother threw her into the water at her birth, only to have her be rescued by the wolf goddess, who discovers that she has access to magic that the druids want - magic that can lead to her death if she is discovered.

As with many sagas, this one involves a quest, for both an object and self-discovery. In attempting to help her father save the kingdom, Neve begins a quest for the answers that can teach her how to control her own magic, and a weapon that will bring the last queen back to reclaim her kingdom - but is that what's really best for the land of Eire? Or will Neve unwittingly destroy her country in her quest to save it?

DNF at 20%

The writing is choppy and the usage of the tense is odd, plus the character relationships seem developed far too fast. The world building is also very unfortunate dumpy.

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

And that’s the only reason I pushed myself to finish. I often wonder, however, if publishers would prefer that I just return books I’m not enjoying rather than forcing myself to finish them and giving them poor reviews.

But here we are, at the end of what felt like far more than the two weeks it took me to finish reading it. I skimmed the last 30%.

There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the book, but I just got bored with it very quickly. I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters, which tends to prevent me from developing or maintaining any sort of real interest in the story. Neve and her love interest lacked, in my opinion, any kind of chemistry. Another character was sort of tossed into the ring as an it’s-all-in-his-head contender in hints here and there, which was completely unnecessary and didn’t create any kind to angst or worry at all. (However, I kind of preferred him.) It felt, at times, that the intention was to create something epic, but it just fell flat for me. Like when someone tries to convince you how giant their fish was, but you know it was no more than half that size because you actually saw it.

Note: Nothing bad.

3.5 stars. Lesley Livingston writes great YA, and this one did not disappoint. I really liked her character development, the incorporation of Celtic/ Druid belief system and monsters, and of course, Neve and Ronan together :) Why I didn't give this 5 stars: I would've liked more of Neve's sister, more of their sibling relationship, maybe a follow up visit/ appearance of Neve's mother, and more of Ronan's background /history.

This book was just... meh. I loved the Celtic aspects and I thought I would fall in love with this book (I am slightly obsessed with Merida and thought I could get the same feels) but I may have overhyped it for myself.

- It definitely took awhile to get into and had a slow start.
- Neeve was hilarious and I loved her as a character
- I enjoyed Ronan and Neeve's meeting and initial relationship. They definitely had early chemistry
- That being said, I think their relationship was rushed
- I think the ending was rushed
- Several parts were confusing or unbelievable.

This was interesting. I definitely enjoyed the Celtic aspects of this story, but it was confusing from time to time. While I appreciated the characters and story, the flow and Celtic jargon was hard to follow. Especially the first half of the story. I like how Neve and Roman are intertwined and how they are brought together, but this was one of those that was harder for me to finish. It would have been nice if the Celtic dictionary provided was longer. At one point, I didn’t realize that the Dagda and Rotfussion was one and the same. I was initially drawn to this book because of the Celtic background and setting. What I didn’t expect was to be so confused. I think it’s one thing to be confused because you’re new to the genre/setting vs. to being confused because the story doesn’t quite prepare you for it. I think this had a good chance at becoming a bigger story, but for me, it fell a bit flat.

Celtic roots in a YA fantasy?! Sign me up! I completely enjoyed the journey this book took me on, the magic system was well done and the romance was beautiful. The characters were well rounded and written and I found myself greatly caring for them. This is a title that has found a home on my bookshelves and I highly recommend!

Queen Among the Dead is a YA Fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology. I found that part of the story very interesting, as I haven’t read many books like that.
Sometimes the worldbuilding could’ve been explained more & better and the terminology was quite difficult as well. A wordlist would’ve been helpful, especially in the beginning.

The book was a little bit hard to get into. I had to force myself a bit to continue, and then after a while, a quarter or halfway into the book, I started to really enjoy it.
The writing style was nice and enjoyable and the book read, apart from all the Celtic words, quite fluently.
The pacing of the book felt a bit off sometimes. Around halfway (if I remember correctly) something major happens and I was under the impression there was a timejump, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Some parts of the book read more slowly then others.
There’s quite some action in the book, but those scenes weren’t always very clear to me. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on before it was over.

We follow two characters: Neve, the daughter of the King (the Dagda) and Ronan, a thief from the village. The chapters are written from both their POV’s alternately and we read in a third person perspective.
I didn’t always liked both characters, but I found them quite interesting to follow nonetheless.
The side characters were interesting as well, I especially liked the Faoladh warriors, Queen Anann and Sakir.
I liked the storyline too; there was more than enough action, but I liked the calmer parts & the more political parts as well. The romance plotline fell a bit flat for me, it would’ve been fine if there was only a friendship.

I would definitely recommend this book for lovers of YA Fantasy with only a little bit of romance, who are interested in Celtic mythology & like a strong FMC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book and I loved how mythology was incorporated into the story. This was a great book!

3.5 stars

Once I saw this featured Celtic mythology and a female ruler, I wanted in. I thought the world was pretty cool, with druids and magic and female warriors. The point of view bounces between Neve and Ronan and I liked seeing how they viewed each other and their dynamic. Neve isn't sure about trusting Ronan but is still drawn to him, Ronan wants to hate her but is closer to being in love with her instead.

The title feels misleading, I thought we'd be seeing zombies or travelling back and forth to the underworld, but there's barely anything about the dead and I was sort of disappointed.

The pacing went between fast and slow, so some parts were exciting and some dragged a bit. The ending was too rushed and crammed a lot of action and information in. I don't see why this couldn't have been thirty more pages and given us a nice wind-down, but okay.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Zando Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy