Now that is what I call high quality fantasy.
The Queens of Innis Lear is a re-telling of King Lear; a really good, detailed, fun re-telling of King Lear. We have the old king dying and going a little bonkers. His daughters are all very different. Gaela, the oldest, is a fierce warrior and wants the throne to be the most powerful. Regan, the second, is the nurturing mother type and wants the throne for her future children. Elia, the youngest, values the religion of the time (the stars and constellations), but she had time with the old religion of the earth. Nothing is as easy or as simple as it sounds when there's a crown around.
From the first few pages, this book knocked my socks off. The writing is purposeful and powerful. It's poetic at appropriate moments with real feeling and emotion. I was easily sucked in the characters and the story of Innis Lear. I sure hope this spells a series because I NEED to know what's going to happen in with the characters and the cray-cray King Lear.
You're gonna want to read this one!

Did not realize this was a preview, so I may wait until I can get my hands on the full novel (rather than having to wait two months for the rest of it).

First of all, let me thank Netgalley and Tor for the chance to read and review this book: The Queens of Innis Lear pre-release. As always, these thoughts are my own. This review is spoiler-free; no main plot points are revealed.

I give this story 4 stars.

Synopsis:

A kingdom at risk, a crown divided, a family drenched in blood.

The erratic decisions of a prophecy-obsessed king have drained Innis Lear of its wild magic, leaving behind a trail of barren crops and despondent subjects. Enemy nations circle the once-bountiful isle, sensing its growing vulnerability, hungry to control the ideal port for all trade routes.

The king's three daughters—battle-hungry Gaela, master manipulator Regan, and restrained, starblessed Elia—know the realm's only chance of resurrection is to crown a new sovereign, proving a strong hand can resurrect magic and defend itself. But their father will not choose an heir until the longest night of the year, when prophecies align and a poison ritual can be enacted.

Refusing to leave their future in the hands of blind faith, the daughters of Innis Lear prepare for war—but regardless of who wins the crown, the shores of Innis will weep the blood of a house divided.

Full disclosure: I am not as familiar with the story of King Lear as I ought to be, nor have I read Three Dark Crowns (which some people believe this book to be too similar). I think probably if you liked Three Dark Crowns, you will also like this story. I also have neither read nor seen Game of Thrones (seriously, if I'm gonna read it, I'm gonna have access to the entire series, people. Not this waiting for years stuff).

BUT if you like Shakespeare + Game of Thrones + Three Dark Crowns,  you'll probably like this too.

Prose Pros:
I liked this book, I really did. Let me just start with that: I did like it. I gave it four stars and I'd like to have it on my shelf and NOT just because it's so pretty.

The world is dark and beautiful, the magic is fantastic (although perhaps a bit soft as far as rules go) and the characters are well-fleshed out, even if they are borrowed from the Bard. The writing is lyrical and there aren't too many complaints I can make.

But...
. . . guys, it's slow. It's a long book at over 570 pages and it moves like a snail. There are a few too many point of view characters, and while they're clearly delineated, I would have liked to see this story from just three or four characters viewpoints. In being pretty, it's a bit superfluous.



Character Pros:
Elia is a good narrator. She's sweet and loyal and diligent. She's lost a lot as the story starts and more when it finishes. She feels like a real heroine.

However...
She doesn't do a lot. She's not really that proactive. She sits around, comforts lear, studies star charts, and out of nowhere decides to have a backbone and make a decision that ruins everything for her. It didn't seem realistic to me.

And:
There's not a conclusion. It doesn't have a Denouement/ falling action. I'm not familiar enough with the original story to automatically know what's coming next. So I feel like the Ending of this book may well just have been the middle of an epic story split in two. 580 pages as book one and more as book two, maybe? I'm assuming here that there will be a book two.

Conclusion:
While I liked this book and definitely recommend it, you might wait a few months until the second one is announced, or go read King Lear first.

I did not realize this was a sampler as it wasn't written anywhere and I'm not interested in samplers at the moment. I will read and review the book when it comes out.

Frustrated to see that this is just a sampler and not the full book. I know myself well enough to know that reading the partial book now would probably annoy me more then anything, so I'll wait to read it until it is actually published.

It was very disappointing seeing that this is only a sampler, not the full book like I expected. But, from what I've read, the book is very good. I'm excited to read the full novel.

That being said, i was disappointed, but I still read some of it (I am awaiting the full book to buy anyhow) and I was intrigued. I need to own this book NOW

Unfortunately, as excited as I was about the premise of this book, I decided not to finish it. I don't make these decisions lightly, and have my reasons for not completing "The Queens of Innis Lear".

The book was very nicely written. The voice was pleasant; however, it was a bit too flowery for my tastes. Much of the book consisted of descriptions rather than getting to the heart of the story. I closed this book for good at the halfway mark, and the author had not yet even reached the main plot of the book. I still had no real idea of what the story was supposed to be about. This isn't a good sign, for the reader to be confused and floating in this constant state up build-up for over half of the book.

So the build-up was long with no real delivery. I tried so hard to power through this because I was so interested in the concept of this story, but found myself agitated and anxious for the book to be over. These are the reasons why I could not finish the book, although I'm sorry to say it.

I didn't realise this was a sampler, but it's made me want to read the full book even more.

From what I read of the sampler I enjoyed the writing style and the introduction of the characters has me intrigued.

A very interesting take on King Lear with a mix of that Three Dark Crowns feel, but still very much its own tale! I was intrigued from the very start, and I cannot wait to read it in print!

3 out of 5 stars

The Queens of Innis Lear is a modern feminist retelling of King Lear play. It is exquisitely written, well laid out and interesting.

Retelling is not quite what this book is – it is more of an expansion on the original play, with some characters completely changed, renamed or their stories adjusted to fit the narrative. The magic system is more flashed out and it is dark and lush and almost sentient. The whole book is something that will appeal to both fantasy & fiction audience.

However, I will say this, it is slow: so slow. The book is almost 700 pages long and it took 300 pages to get to the point where I was interested in what happened. It is also very modernized. As an English Major, I had a lot of problems with this, but this might just be me. Some of the words used in the novel did not appear in the lexicon until well after 17th century and it threw me. And yes, I understand that it is fantasy, however, I could not get past the fact that the setting and the characters are from the 17th century and it the behavior and views did not match the time. If Miss Gratton wrote her own book, without tying it to Shakespeare, I think it would have been a much better & more enjoyable a book. As it is right now, I just have very conflicted feeling about this book and the original play. I will say this – the ending was quite well done.

I would recommend this book for anyone who liked The Mists of Avalon.

SO so good! I love Shakespeare retellings and anything feminist so this excerpt was perfect! I can't wait for the book to come out so I can read the whole thing!

I currently have no interest in reading samplers, so I'm a bit disappointed this one doesn't actually SAY "sampler". I am still totally excited for this book's release, but this kind of publicity-kicker is a bit disappointing. I will of course still be reading this book when it releases.

I did not realize this was a sampler and was a bit let down by the abrupt ending.
Will hold off on publishing a full review until the book is released. Most samplers on Netgalley have some mention somewhere that this is a sample, Queens of Innis Lear must have slipped through the cracks.

I did like what I read and the look forward to the release.

Did not realize this was a sampler and not the full book. Will read the book when it actually comes out I guess. It would have been nice if somewhere within the netgalley description it said the book was a sample so those of us who have no interest in samplers could have avoided downloading.

As I was unaware this was only a sampler, I am unable to provide a full review but I do have a couple of initial thoughts to share.

The parallels between this book and the Shakespeare play are well done and it is different enough from the original to keep me interested. The characters are probably the strongest aspect of this book so far in my opinion and I'm excited to find out more about them when I can read the full book.

Because I was unable to read the entire book as this was only a sampler, I'm going with 3 stars as for me that indicates I liked it and it is a middle of the road rating which works for something where I didn't get to read the entire book.