I requested this book as soon as I saw it because:

1. The blurb makes it sound similar to Three Dark Crowns which was something I really loved

2. I studied King Lear in IB and heard that this was a retelling.

Anyway, this retelling of King Lear is infused with magic of both the stars and sky. King Lear is obsessed by what the stars say to him, leading him to require his daughters to publicly declare their love for him (among other things). His two older daughters, Gaelan and Reagan are one in mind, but his favourite, Elia surprises him with his answer. If you've watched or studied King Lear, you know how it goes.

Because this is a series, we don't get as far as say, the Storm Scene. Well, this book is really a set-up for the world, so it ends a little after the public declaration contest, which you may recognise as the start of the play. But I can see why this world and the new characters require so much word-space, so I don't mind waiting to see my favourite parts of this play retold.

As for characters, the three daughters of Lear definitely steal the show. Elia is my favourite because she's the kindest, but both Gaela and Reagan were very well-written and true to their inspiration. The book also introduces new characters, such as Ban the Fox and the Fool's daughter (who's also Elia's lady-in-waiting).

The only thing I wasn't too crazy about was the language. It's very deliberately lyrical, sometimes to its detriment because it distracted me from the story. Then again, if you know me, you know I put story first and feel that language should be used to enhance the story rather than placed in the limelight for its own sake.

Overall, though, this is definitely a book for fans of King Lear and those that like darker retellings. Even though I know the ending (or at least, I hope I know the ending), I cannot wait to see how the later books will interpret the rest of the play.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

The writing is stunning and I really hope this book to have an even more amazing plot! Tessa's writing is one of the best I've ever read!

I read the extended Preview and I can't wait to read this book! I love retellings so I'm looking forward to this one!

I have to say that I was really excited for this book, but the first few pages I didn't really enjoy so I stopped reading it. I always give books that are not for me a two star rating, and this book (at least the first few pages) weren't bad, the writing style just wasn't for me.

I was completely gutted when I downloaded this because I discovered it was only a preview and not the full book. I am now eagerly awaiting the release of this beautiful and imaginative book. It has a beautiful writing style and seems set to be a fantastic book. I enjoyed the preview immensely and am counting down the days till the release. I also must say that the cover is absolutely stunning!

As only this was a preview I can’t give a full review, but from what I have read this is going to be an amazing read and a great retelling. I found that the history of the island was very interesting and loved the magic system with it. I also found that the sisters POV’s were very distinct and that it was easy to enjoy the multiple POV’s which can sometimes be hard to handle especially if they seem to blend together.
All in all this seems to be a strong start to a good book and hopefully a great series.

Even though this is only an excerpt, I can't wait to get my hands on the finished copy of this and read it. I'm a sucker for fantastic retellings of Shakespeare stories, and this is certainly going to be one of them!

I've read other review for this book since finishing it and I keep encountering the same notion that this is based on Shakespeare's King Lear. Now, not being a fan of Shakespeare, I would have no idea if it was. I'll take everyone at their word for it.  Since I've never read it, I don't know how accurate it is or what has changed. To me, this was a brand new story so that's how I'll treat it. 

I'll start off by saying that the prose in this book is amazing! It grasped my attention from the beginning and I was hooked quite quickly. With writing like "Wind scoured the air, hissing an upland song from the northwest sedge of the mountain" who wouldn't be captivated? This book has a 6 person persepective and it can get a little confusing at times, but nothing I couldn't handle. 



I was immediately intrigued by the magic in this book. I've read quite a few fantasy books in the last year and this book contained magic that I haven't had the privilege of enjoying before. As I said before the prose, the description, everything is so vividly described. It makes for a fun reading adventure. It was so vividly described that I cannot stand Elia's sisters. They have zero redeeming qualities. I hope I don't see much of them in book two. Poor Ban. I just feel so bad for him. I'm very sympathetic towards him and I believe that's exactly what was meant to happen. I also want to know more about King Morimanos. He's very mysterious and I didn't feel like he got too much time in this first book. Overall, I enjoyed this read. I did feel like it was very long when it could've been shorter without some of the protagonists. The story was interesting since I'd never heard it before and I'm excited for book 2.

When I originally downloaded this book, it did not mention that it was a preview excerpt so I will be reviewing this book fully when it is released and I can read it all at once.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital arc of "The Queens of Innis Lear." The excerpt of this sets up the novel nicely, and I can't wait to read more. The worldbuilding and characters seem particularly awesome. Keep a lookout for this one, everybody!

I was very excited to be accepted for this book, as it seems to be a very similar concept to Three Dark Crowns (at least from the synopsis anyway) but when it came up as a Preview Excerpt I was confused. I checked with my other friends who received the book and they, as well, saw that it had been re-titled Preview Excerpt. I'm afraid that I won't be reading this copy due to this hiccup. If I'd known it wasn't a full novel I would not have requested it. The reason I'm not reading it is because I don't want to only have access to the first little bit of the novel. I would need the rest of it to make a proper opinion and my own peace of mind.

P.S. Only reason I gave this a 1 star is because I couldn't give it 0 stars. I mean to give it 0 because I have no opinion yet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Tor Books for the advance reader copy Winner Take All by Laurie Devore in exchange for an honest review. I did not realize I received only an excerpt, because that definitely doesn’t help in an “overall review”. All of a sudden the book ended and I was “WHAT!!!” So I will give a short review of what I did read. I loved the SciFi/Fantasy element, the world building, but the many hints at what happened in the past and Ban’s secret spying ideas left me wondering about too much. I will definitely be reading this book when it comes out because I did like Ban, Aefa, Kayo as characters that were authentic. I did not Elia’s character (as much as was in the excerpt) she is so idealized by Ban, that I truly wanted to like her character and Elia had a wonderful childhood with (Ban) but she is conflicted and can’t make decisions since after her mother’s death, Elia decides to side with her father (what does she see in him???), stop practicing earth magic and using the language of trees. This results in her sisters’ animosity towards her and isolates her, thankfully Aefa is always trying to fins ways to help Elia. I so appreciated the magic-rich nature world of Ban, Gratton’s language was heady and beautiful as Ban would commune with the trees, animals, and water. There was so much good vs evil, magic vs no magic that I loved turning the pages to revel more in the fantasy of this world of kingdoms, kings, queens, lords and ladies.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital arc of "The Queens of Innis Lear". The excerpt I read is fantastic. The world building is my favorite part. It reminded me of the "Earthsea" series by Ursula K. Le Guin and that is high praise. I can't wait to read the entire story!

So far it’s been a very intriguing story and I’ll definitely be purchasing the book once it’s out to continue reading it and know what happens next.
I think the whole plot was so well done and interesting. I liked what I read so far about the characters and the world, and found their dynamics well executed. Since it’s a preview I can’t say much more, because the story hasn’t fully develop, but so far I’m very intrigued.

I was given a excerpt from Netgalley and I am now counting the hours till release date. The beginning is slow but is highly detailed in it's world building. The excerpt ended right where the story got interesting. I am invested the outcome and hope it does not disappoint.

It's only an excerpt but I do look forward to reading the book.

Well I'm glad it says "Preview Excerpt" now but it certainly (and evidently) didn't when I and a lot of other people downloaded this. Bad move. If I ever end up buying and reading this book, I'll come back to write a review but I gotta be honest, this has definitely put me off from doing so (plus the sexual harassment allegations against Tessa Gratton).

This is only the preview, which I didn't realize--but I really liked the beginning. It has the feel and pace of some of my favorite epic fantasies. I'm really hoping for more queerness and feminism so I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the book.

Dynasties battle for the crown in Tessa Gratton's debut adult epic fantasy, The Queens of Innis Lear.
One kingdom, three sisters entitle to the crown.
Gaela. Ruthless Commander.
Regan. Master Manipulator.
Elia. Star-blessed Priest.
When I learned that this book was a retelling of King Lear by William Shakespeare, I was totally in. I have not read "Three Dark Crowns" but through the synopsis, it might be kind of similar.
A dark, epic, fantasy story about the ambition, dreams, and desires of three sisters totally different from each other. Two with the strong commitment to being queens of Innis Lear and the third one, who is only enchanted by the magic, the language of trees and the mystical world. In this book, the author took the time to build the worlds, introduced the characters, and give us a hint what the story will continue in the coming series. I adore Elia, the priest sister, who is in the dilemma of fighting for her beliefs or for her right to her kingdom. Needless to say, I did not like the other two sisters whose only purpose, is taking over their father and crowned the elder, Gaela queen of Lear. A story which takes a while to read, as it has many flashbacks, among the lives of the characters. The description of the settings is poetical and descriptive. Beautiful writing. Thank you, Mac. Millan Tor to let me read this ARC. Looking forward to the hard copy and add it to my collection.
Published March 27th, 2018

A substantial extract from a wonderful and impressive retelling of King Lear: my review of the full book is here:
www.goodreads.com/review/show/2309656734