3.25*
Thank you to the author and publisher who gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What I liked: The concept is extremely inventive. I thought the themes of religious battles, government conspiracies, and the otherworldliness of the fae were so great. The magic system was unique and original. You can also really tell this author loves language and the power of the written word, both in the prose and in the way he describes Cal's relationship with reading books and poetry.

What I felt had room for improvement: I thought we would get more of a purpose behind the fae and the Queen; more substance from the Arthur Miracle character, and why the Sylvans want to become fae. The book spends so much time describing Cal's grief and anxiety, to the point where it gets redundant, but we still don't know some details I thought were key, like why does all the action happen on the equinox? What's the titular Queen's story? What exactly happened to Winnie; does she have memories of her time as a faery? For that matter, how did the Riparian come to be and what's like, his deal?

I thought the first 3/4 had a slow start after a banger of an intro, a very compelling escalation of the action on the night of the equinox, and then I was PRIMED (haha, get it?) for the conclusion to be sublime, and it just...fell flat to me. Overall I still liked the story, and will check out more by this author.

The Bloodless Queen wasn’t for me. I appreciated the ambition and eerie atmosphere, but the pacing dragged and the worldbuilding, while inventive, felt overwhelming at times. I found it hard to connect with the characters or stay invested in the story’s many layers of lore.

It all started with a book, The Last Thylacine. It is said that the book would destroy modern civilization. The world as we know it has changed drastically. There are people called fencers who keep humans and fae separate in their own Harbours. Every year on the fall equinox, anyone who dies will become Fae. Some believe it is a gift to be chosen by the mythical Bloodless Queen, others not so much. The fencers must protect human kind, but there is always a cost.

The Bloodless Queen is full of intrigue, shady government officials, magic, fae, religion, and politics, which makes this book so delightful. It touches on so many topics that the readers can connect with and its complex characters. The world building is very precise and deep. I enjoyed it a lot, I hope we get another book where we learn more about the Queen and her origin.

Thank you, Netgalley and DAW, for this ebook-Arc. All opinions are entirely my own.

I enjoyed this quite a lot. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I was a little worried that the premise of this book would not go as hard as it seemed like it would, but I was not disappointed. Johnson does a really good job of making the fae seem Lovecraftian (or at least Lovecraftian-adjacent). The fencers feel the same; the powers in theory are interesting, even if I think that the execution could have been a little better. I do want to know if there are transgender implications around true names. The lore around the Sylvans was really fun too. This was likely not the point, but I was compelled by their worship spaces and how they were an insane combination of Mormonism and Scientology. I fucked with it. I similarly fucked with ex-English major Calidore; that is some shit I would do.

On a more negative note, the pacing felt a little off. The ebook that I read was 370 pages, and 150 of those pages were somewhat cloying set-up to the thriller bits. I am not a parent, and maybe this hits differently if you are a parent, but after awhile, I just didn't care. I already cared if Winnie lived or died, I didn't need this many scenes to establish that their family is happy, especially when I'm begging for the action stuff they're talking about doing to happen. This book also gets so weird about the government to the point where I find it a little camp. I'm simply not sure if I believe that in the United States of America everyone was cool with this level of transparent government interference in people's lives. Surely there are some weirdos who have formed a militia to wage war on the fae with AR-15s from their mountain compound.

Anyway, good book, the power of love always gets me.

The Bloodless Queen is a beautifully written and eerie fantasy that really stuck with me. Joshua Philip Johnson has created a dark, atmospheric world that feels both fresh and unsettling. The story is full of tension and quiet dread, and I found myself totally immersed in the setting and the strange, haunting tone. Something in the pace didn't work for me at 100%, but it's a minor flaw and overall I did not mind it, because the mood is consistent and 100% DAW style.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be honest, this story was not for me. I felt that the story was a bit all over the place and I just didn’t enjoy this characters.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Bloodless Queen by Joshua Phillip Johnson is a third person multi-POV alternative history contemporary fantasy. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, his wife was given a book on the Faerie Queen that changed the course of history, creating Harbors where half the earth would be returned to nature. Cal and Evangeline are a married couple who are also fencers, keeping an eye on the Harbor borders while raising their daughter Winnie. But Winnie might be in a danger they could have never predicted.

There are strong themes of religion and traditional ideas of fairies in the book. The Harbors latch onto names and fencers actually not only take new names but there are entire organizations devoted to wipe the memory of a fencer’s true name from everyone who has ever heard it. Only the fencer is incapable of forgetting. Cal and Evangeline gave each other their real names as wedding presents but don’t use them because of the danger it poses for them to do so. The religion aspect comes from a faith that rose up in response to the Harbors called the Sylvans and they worship the Faerie Queen. While Cal and Evangeline believe something is happening in the Harbors, they do not believe the Queen is anything more than a myth.

This moves at a fairly slow pace as it explores the world and the conspiracies as fully as possible. There are excerpts after each chapter that add even more texture to the world and story, with many of them having been written in an academic paper in 2027. I don’t know if this is necessarily world-driven like some other books I’ve read are or if the book just takes a more explorational direction that is also very deep in the character POVs and explores their relationships to the world.

I would recommend this to readers who love complex worldbuilding and fans of alternative history fantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

The bloodless queen was by far the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time. This book takes a lot of classic folklore of the fae (sharp teeth, bargains, true names being used to control you), combines it with a zombie like outbreak and creates a dystopian world that is genuinely sinister and terrifying.

What I loved in particular:
- I liked the contrast between Cal and Evangeline’s work as superhero-like fencers with their calm home life with Winne, it made it all the more devastating when that was disrupted.
- I liked the use of Senga’s PhD thesis as a tool for world building. It really helped to understand the complex world even if things like Cal’s grandmothers reaction at his father’s funeral didn’t click for me until several chapters later.

This book made me pretty emotional, it made me grateful for my family and heartbroken for some of the characters. I was left with a load of questions though, in particular about how fencers are chosen and how their primacies work. I hope the author revisits this at some point to tell us more of the background story.

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was really enjoying the book until a character was (randomly and irrelevantly) mentioned to be Israeli. Considering this character was not super important for the plot and that her nationality didn't even need to be mentioned (and for that nationality to be none other than Israeli), this feels incredibly intentional. In our current political climate, where the Palestinian people are being murdered and bombed relentlessly in cold blood at the hands of zionist colonizers, and after suffering from an ongoing occupation for the last 75+ years, to go out of your way as an author to not only mention a character's nationality (when it is, quite frankly, irrelevant) but also to make them Israeli, is very clearly serving an agenda I do not support at all.
As someone who stands against genocide and zionism, I decided to not finish reading the book and thus I will refrain from writing a "proper" review.

I cried.

I'm probably not going to be able to explain why reading this book is so important. I loved everything about it, yeah it was slow paced and i'm not used to it but it was worth it, every single detail of this world and its quirks and strangeness was beautiful, it made me jump right in even if i was going to die (probably). Calidore and Evangeline are the most wonderful couple I've read in a while, so understanding, and caring, you could feel the way they loved the other, and their daughter Winnie, deeply and I understood why, and even if it was an established relationship they would still grow. I'm literally short of words to describe why i loved them so much, all three of them really.

Now, the world building was exquisite in this one, I could feel myself in there, all the history and the hows and whys being always investigated, the world reacting like it would in this circumstances, the religion, the government, etc. I needed so much more time in there, I hoped to know everything about it; what the Survivre et Vivre's book said, where to the primes come from, what happened to Arthur after he left the harbor, the list could go for hours. My actual rating is 4,5 rounded up, and this is because i made the mistake of searching for the book description on other site and there was a spoiler, so i spent the entire book up to 75% more or less waiting for it to happen and it ruined my experience a little, so i would check the description book on Fable. Also, the ending broke me.

I enjoyed the idea of the a Orpheus and Eurydice in a gothic thriller novel, it uses that concept perfectly and enjoyed the overall feel that I was wanting and enjoyed the ecological element to this. Joshua Phillip Johnson was able to weave this story perfectly and am excited for more like this. The characters were so well written and was engaged from start to finish.

This book is packed with history, facts, and an incredibly detailed timeline. There is so much detail that is crucial to the story that the pacing can be a bit longer than usual. But, that helps answer any potential questions later in the book.

The story is interesting but it's all over the place which makes it a confusing read. I didn't love the slow pace, slower than I'm used to.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF. I’m really sick of storytellers using terms like ‘fae’ when they ought to be inventing new words of their own. What Johnson calls fae are more like zombies with magic; they don’t speak, they’re neither eerie-beautiful nor mythologically monstrous, and they can control you if they learn your true name. (I actually though that was an extremely cool detail, I just wish it had been used as the core of creating a new monster, rather than co-opting fae.)

The worldbuilding doesn’t hang together (I don’t care if he was under some supernatural influence, you cannot convince me that REAGAN decided we had to give half the planet back to nature, and that all other world leaders thought that was a great idea, and that even if they did, they could convince their populaces that it was a great idea. Nope, not a chance, the monsters make more sense) the prose is even drier and blunter than Johnson’s debut was (at least that had some wonderful imagery), and the characters were paper-thin, no life to them at all.

Having been let down by his debut and now dnfing Bloodless Queen, I’m satisfied that Johnson isn’t the author for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Bloodless Queen is an elegant slow-burn—a cerebral and richly textured fantasy that unfolds like political poetry. Joshua Phillip Johnson weaves questions of power, rule, and agency into every conversation, every whisper in the court.

This isn’t a book of flashy spells or high-octane battles. It’s a meditation on what it means to reign without compassion and the cost of choosing restraint in a world that celebrates violence. Quietly fierce, unflinchingly intelligent, and completely original.

Still sitting with this one a few days later, having finished it. There's a lot of worldbuilding info that has to be conveyed, as you've got a world that's chronologically in the present, but diverged sharply in the 80s (and when I say diverged, I mean "Ronald Reagan set up massive nature preserves" level of divergence from our world) into an alternate history where every year at the equinox Fae come out and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world, and there are Fencers who are given magical powers by prime numbers whose job it is to try and fight them. It almost feels like this book was hoping for more runway than it got, because while it does its best to balance world building and character development and the plot, there are plot elements that leave the ending feel a little rushed in how it all comes together. Worth your time this summer.

Generally I liked this book, but I didn't love it. The shift in style and tone when a big event happened was something I understand, but done in a way that I personally found a bit offputting. Also, some of the foreshadowing in the first 2/3 of the book was clumsy and heavy handed. I think it was meant to be that way, but again, not to my personal taste. I would recommend the book to most folks.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the eARC copy of this book!

This book follows Cal and Evangeline in a near future version of Earth where sections of land called Harbors have been set aside and are now occupied by the Fae and connect to the Faerie lands. Each autumnal equinox, any people who die on the autumnal equinox are turned to fae and make their way to one of these harbors. Cal and Evangeline are “fencers”, people with special powers granted from prime numbers that are tattooed on their bodies from an unknown power. Their job is to help protect people on the equinox and ensure the fae get to the Harbors. This was giving a mix of The Purge and Annihilation.

This book had such an interesting concept, but the author had to spend a lot of time explaining the magic system of the prime numbers as well as the Harbors. This created a lag in the pacing, and made it so that I didn’t really know what the goal of the story was. The first half of this story felt more like a domestic fiction than a fantasy story, following Cal, Evangeline, and their 7 year old daughter in their day to day lives. We see them have a pizza night with their boss, and then a character says that they will reflect on the perfectness of this night after the nightmare that comes. It felt like the only reason for this long chapter was for foreshadowing that was really heavy handed. The characters were a little flat, and my favorites were Oddry and Incident.

Additionally, the exposition had a lot of info-dumping, almost beating the reader over the head with it. At one point, we see Cal and Evangeline testing a special Walkie- talkie in the harbor, and it is stated multiple times that technology doesn’t work close to the harbors. Rather than showing us with a scene of a phone crackling or being blank, this is just told, over and over that this tech won’t work.

The political intrigue between the mathematicians and the fencers and the Sylvan church was interesting, but did feel like a slog to get through to the equinox. I was reading to figure out everyone’s abilities from their primes, as well as to see what an Equinox looked like. Once we got there, it was so cool to see and think about the uses for these powers. Additionally, seeing inside the harbors and the wild scientific effects was one of my favorite parts.

Since there was so much of this intrigue between the groups in the beginning, I was expecting to see more of this, maybe with our characters actually getting interrogated. Once the Equinox started and the action picked up, it felt like we never took our foot off the gas, almost rushing to the finish line.

The ending did have me tearing up, but I did find myself questioning some of the logic of the characters at the end. As there is not a lot of knowledge of the Fae Queen, it felt like a jump for our characters to try to bargain with her since they weren’t even sure if she existed for 75% of the book. As the initial pacing was so slow, this felt rushed and almost forced.

Overall, I liked the magic and the setting of this story once we got to see them.

This is such a cool concept for a book!
In the near future, many parts of the world have sectioned off part of their land and put fences around it to allow the fae to roam. On the equinox, if you die you might turn into one. The people still inhabiting the world are divided into those who believe things a gift, those who think the land should be taken back, and those who protect the fences keeping the fae and humans separate.
Cal and Evangeline are fencers, those who protect the fences in the Midwest. After doing their duty on the equinox, they come home to their daughter Winnie having died and turned fae.
I will say, this story was a little slower than I normally read, and slower than what I expected it to be. The pay off is worth it, but you do have to wade through some slower parts of the book.

Joshua Phillip Johnson has created a story that feels completely unique, as beautiful as is it unsettling. In the 1980’s a previously unknown, extremely rare book began circulating between world leaders triggering a monumental move for environmental conservation and biodiversity. 50% of the world’s land mass would be fenced off, allowing nature to reclaim it, but something went wrong. Nature didn’t step in to recover her land, something else did. The Bloodless Queen.

On the autumnal equinox of 1987 the world celebrated as half the land was fenced off for the Harbours (nature reserves). People die every day, 132,329 people died that day, but none of them stayed dead. Instead they transformed into Fae: mischievous, malevolent and dangerous. Both fascinating and grotesque. All inextricably called to the harbours leaving chaos and ruin in their wake. Every year on the equinox this cycle repeats, anyone who dies returns as Fae. Those murdered by the fae on this night do not return.

As the world adapts to their new circumstances a rapid human evolution occurs. 545 people wake up and find themselves covered in numerical tattoos, they later discover each of these individuals have developed supernatural abilities, that aid them in defending the world against the fae. All tattoos combine to make a prime number, the lower the prime number the more potent the power, called Primacies. The primes offer a level of protection from the affects of the harbours. Primes can enter the harbours where other humans would die.

These changed humans become Fencers. Government Assets used to protect the borders, assist with research and shepherd the new fae into the harbours on the equinox. As the world learns more about the Fae and the harbours, they adapt. Fencers lose their identity. The government enforces memory manipulation to erase the names from the minds of people who know and love them. Names hold terrible power.

Society is divided, the horrors of the early years are fading as the fencers become more effective. Protests break out over government control and the polarised views of the Fae. Some think the fae are monstrous aberrations, something to be locked away and feared. Other believe the faerie queen is their god, offering salvation once a year allowing a life after death, a blessing. New religions bloom from the need to navigate a changed world and infiltrate every level of society.

This book starts with a haunting scene and keeps pulling you in. Leaning into more traditional interpretations of Fae and also taking inspiration from Jeff Vandermeer’s writing. The forces that encompass the Harbours leach out and change the outside world. The land inside the harbours in unrecognisable. Things that were familiar become alien, the natural world is distorted and changed. Wonder and dread bleed together. Further information is shared with official reports interspersed between allowing for a micro and macro building of this world.

We follow Evangaline and Calidore, Fencers and prized government assets as they prepare for the equinox in a world of shifting public opinion and the threat of the Fae and their queen constantly looming. We also enter their home, peering into their family life and meeting their beloved daughter Winnie. The family unit is a real labour of love, an anchor to ground Cal and Evangeline amidst the horror, chaos and trauma they find themselves surrounded by.

The Harbours morph the familiar into the unknown. Nothing is incorruptible. When a person dies on the equinox, they are charged. The Fencers are indoctrinated to believe nothing human remains. The religious Sylvans believe the opposite.
Something unimaginable happens and Cal and Evangeline are forced to reconsider everything they know.

A story of human adaption, betrayal, corruption, sacrifice and hope when the odds are stacked against you.

The story and world is both devastating and beautiful. The fencers have some incredibly original powers and the characters are at the heart of this story.
What holds us together? What makes us who we are? What are you willing to sacrifice to hold on to the one thing that matters most?

The Bloodless Queens is lyrically haunting and gripping.
There’s no safety in this world, characters lives hang on a knife’s edge and the threat doesn’t always come from where you think it will. The environment, politics, religion, loyalty, love, hope - all examined in the microcosm of this universe. Fantastic!