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.

It's a testament to how much I was ejoying this book that I was deeply upset when I realised it was only a preview. The title has been changed now but originally this wasn't made clear. But I'm sold, I will be buying this when it eventually comes out, based on only 20% of the preview I read.

I'm going to give a 3 star rating at the moment, only because a star rating is necessary to send a review and that seems the most neutral.

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

My review will go live on my blog on the 13th March.

Three sisters. One crown.

Innis Lear is a place of deep magic. The blood of the island runs into the holy wells, people communicate with the trees and earth. That is until King Lear caps the wells in his heartbreak. Busy focusing on the stars he forbids the people of his island, from worshipping the land and trees. Some forget the language of the trees, some still practice in secret and others learn the language of the stars, like the obsessed King wants. King Lear's oldest daughter Gaela has a clear plan for the future of Innis Lear and it involves her being on the throne. Regan the middle daughter has her own ambitions, and the youngest Elia wants to watch the stars and care for her father. All of these ambitions are thrown up in the air once King Lear decides it's time for him to place his daughters in their rightful place. Everything changes in one afternoon.

The writing; it instantly transported me to this world. The vivid descriptions, the rich beauty, it all popped off the page. It reminded me of a fairytale, with the way it flowed and painted a picture.
I did only receive an excerpt, so I only know about a small part of the book. I will 100% be ordering this when it's released so I can give it a proper review. This is a character driven read, with multiple points of view. We have King Lear's three daughters Gaela, Regan, and Elia, Ban the Fox of Aremoria and several others. Each character has a unique voice, they don't blend at all, and the gradual introduction really builds up the suspense over what is eventually going to happen. I don't want to say too much, I don't want to give anything away so I'm going to wrap this up really quickly. Lear's daughters are three incredibly different women, but they are all made of steel, it's just that each carries their strengths in a different way. We have family drama, political intrigue and magic in this bold fantasy tale. This really has the makings of a wonderful book and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the story.

Difficult to review, because my thoughts on the text are obscured by frustration that this is a sample, and wasn't described as such. Great cover art, interesting premise. Bizarre spellings of names (Aefa??) made it difficult to get into this. Flowery language might not be for everyone. One that I'll consider getting from the library once it's published,