This review is for a 'preview excerpt' of the book. Quite a large exceprt, well into the middle of the book.

This is fantasy retelling of "King Lear" on an island that has it's flow of earth and water magic blocked by a king who prefers to read portents in the stars. He fails to see that the land is becoming barren and the crops are failing as he himself falls into madness while his eldest daughters plot against him.

Told in a slow, lyrical style, it took a little while to get into the plot and the second half of the excerpt was definitely better paced than the first. Many of the characters are recognisable as those from King Lear including the shadowy, enigmatic Ban the Fox, a wizard in touch with the magic of the trees and the water, who is the banished bastard son of Lear's ally, Earl Erigal and the childhood playmate of Lear's youngest daughter, Elia. Lear and his three daughters are all play the roles assigned them in the original play with the backdrop of magic and fantasy. Elia, for example studies the stars and reads the portents in them. So an enjoyable read with a good fantasy element. I think it will be popular with GoT readers and I am looking forward to finishing the book once I get hold of a complete copy.

I received an ARC preview of this book via Netgally. Since it was only a preview I will not be reviewing the book, but simply give my impressions.

This is a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear. Not having read or seen that one, I cannot tell you how closely it is staying to the original. I will definitely have to do that before I read the rest of the book.

There are multiple POV characters, and they are all very distinct and well developed. The three sisters are such interesting characters and they all have very different reasons for doing things. I found all of them very intriguing and I cannot wait to see how the rest of their story plays out.

The writing if one of the things that stuck with me the most. It is very beautiful. I was slightly worried because the book is very descriptive, and I expected that to slow down the pace of the story. I was very pleasantly surprised by the fact that that wasn't the case. It held my interest throughout the whole preview.

I enjoyed this preview of The Queens of Innis Lear! I was so enticed by the premise - and for the most part my excitement held up. I found the writing style a bit hard to get into, but once I kept reading, I got caught up in the story.

Of course it's hard to tell where the story is going, since this is only a sampe - but I look forward to reading more!

*Please note that this review is based off of the 193 page sampler from Netgalley, not the full book. Review is subject to change when/if the full book is read.*

4 stars

When I requested this on Netgalley, I didn't know this was a sampler. Alas.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy what part of the book I read. It's undeniable that Gratton is a good writer--you can see her technical skill and spot some of the clues she leaves for the story to further develop as a reader continues reading.

There wasn't anything that I disliked while reading, although it did get a little slow in places. Gratton's writing style is very...verbose. Not like purple prose, but she includes a lot of details in a way that I find is more characteristic to adult fantasy (such as The Night Circus and A Darker Shade of Magic) more so than young adult fantasy. There's lots of description and history interwoven into what's happening, and the paragraphs are a lot chunkier than what you might see in YA, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

But this did take a little bit of getting used to for me, a young adult reader, especially because the review copy didn't let me change the formatting and shoved an entire page in one phone screen, making me squint to see the extraordinarily tiny text.

Oh yes, that definitely could have contributed to part of why I wasn't as into this book as I wanted to be--the digital copy had tiny text that was very bothersome. *sigh*

I did enjoy where the story was going though. I'm not too familiar with the King of Innis Lear fable, but I can definitely spot where Gratton wove parts of this in her own story. I think the sisterly (and family in general) dynamics were portrayed very well and there was a strong something bubbling up between them.

The whole purpose of the sampler was to hook the reader and I definitely was intrigued as to where the story would go from here. You don't get a giant sense of the plot of the story by page 193, just parts and details. There's some things going on with Ban and one of the other countries' kings, there's something going on between the older sisters, there's something else going on with so-and-so, but nothing really came together in the part of the story that I read so far.

This would probably be my biggest complaint--I wasn't sure where the story was going to go.

But overall, I did enjoy what I read and will most likely seek out the full book in the library's catalogue.

The language of the opening was a little overwrought for my tastes, but once I'd had a few chapters to sink into the story and establish the characters' framework in my mind, I devoured this excerpt. The writing is lush with tones of darkness underscoring everything, which effectively conveys the feeling that the island of Innis Lear is on the precipice of disaster. There are just enough tantalizing details to create a moody, sorrowful feeling. Each character is meticulously crafted; they are fully-rounded with strengths and weaknesses that play off each other in an intricate, ever-shifting balance of power, with hidden motivations lurking behind known agendas. I'm enamored with this story of sisterhood, legacies, loss and a grasping quest for the crown.

I was very excited when I heard about this book, it would be a retelling of king lear of shakespeare with game of thrones elements. The reviews were full of praise and I was super happy when I saw that this book was on netgalley as read now.

I started reading enthusiastically, but I had some trouble getting into the story. Where I liked reading from the different princesses in Three dark crowns, I often found it confusing here. Which meant it took me more time to get into this book than I expected. I thought that was a shame because it did take away from my enthusiasm for the book a bit. But I read on and eventually I certainly came into the story. But was this also the story I had hoped for?

I must confess that I am less enthusiastic about this book, I might have had too high expectations for the story which makes me disappointed. But I expected a kind of three dark crowns a book that would hold me and where I would like to know what was going to happen. But unfortunately I did not find this in this book. I also missed the game of thrones element a bit. Where I expected more violence and politics, I did not really find that. It all remained somewhat superficial and I did not really like the characters enough to really connect with them.

Is this book so bad? No, the story is very good in itself and there are good moments in the book. I do not give it three stars for nothing. For example, the setting is very cool, the idea that people let themselves be led by the stars and what they predicted was really cool. Also the fact that certain characters could talk with trees I found very cool.

All in all, this is a nice book for in between but for me it did not make the expectations.

When I originally downloaded this copy, I was not aware that it was a preview. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a review of a preview. Thank yoU!

DNF'd at 28%.

The Queens of Innis Lear is a retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear. This fantasy story begins when the king decides to abdicate the throne to give the crown to one of his three daughters. There are different POVs and I was intrigued by the three sisters, but I couldn't stand Tessa Gratton's writing and there is barely no plot during the 28% I've read. Everything was too confuse, the pacing was unbearably slow and I couldn't connect with any character. So I decided to DNF'd this book. It wasn't for me at all.

This is fantastic so far. The world-building is convincing, and the three sisters come across as distinct personalities. I definitely want more, so I've preordered the book and will give a full review once I've read it.

I requested the full version of this book after finding out this was only a preview. I'll leave my complete review there!

I only got the preview excerpt, so I can't really review this book.
The rating is based on the first 200 pages, I will definetly continue reading this book as soon as I own the rest!

I received an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.
I am disappointed to say that I didn’t finish this book. Try as I may, I had to force myself to even get to the halfway point, and couldn’t work up the energy to continue.
This book had so much RIGHT with it! I adore the King Lear retelling, the story, the world, and even the writing. What I could not get past was the MILLION character POVs. Even that wouldn’t be a death knell (Game of Thrones and Six of Crows prove that many POVs isn’t always bad) but it was that I found myself uncaring of even one of the characters among the masses. I can forgive a lot of things in a story, but I HAVE to feel something for the cast.
I may revisit this at a later time (I hate having a DNF book) but it won’t be any time soon.

The kingdom of Innis Lear has been drained of it's magic and vitality due to the decisions of an old king obsessed with prophecies. Enemies know the country is weak and are willing to do what it takes to wrest some control into their own hands. The king's three daughters, Gaela (ready to do anything for war), Reagan (cunning and manipulative), and Elia (almost a perfect Disney-esque princess) know that a new monarch needs to be crowned to bring the kingdom back to its old power and defend itself, but their father won't select an heir until the longest night of the year when prophesies will align. The three sisters are unwilling to wait and let such an important decision be left to chance so they must prepare for war while their island kingdom must brace itself for the fallout of a house divided.

Firstly, I want to mention that the ARC I received from NetGalley was only a "Preview Excerpt", which means that instead of getting the complete 576 page long ARC we get give or take 200 pages. It just seems to randomly stop at that point rather than coming to a end at a decent point. Regardless, my review is of the first ~35% of the novel that I had access to - and unfortunately, I'm not all that interested in coming back for the rest of the story. The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton is one of those novels where I preferred the concept behind the story to the actual execution of it - I mean, as soon as I heard King Lear retelling I was there. The author writes beautifully and the story is full of potential, but the pacing just barely creeps by. Not much of anything actually happens in the pages I did have access to read. There are about six P.O.V. characters, by the way, and I was expecting to really be fascinated by three complex sisters, but I didn't find myself interested in them. I preferred the characters of Ban the Fox and Aefa, but they don't get nearly enough page time during their P.O.V. chapters. In the end, everything comes across as far too flat and distant for me to really get attached to Gratton's story.

Overall. I had high hopes for what I got to read of The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton, but unfortunately it just wasn't my cup of tea. I was too disconnected throughout, didn't find myself interested in following any of the main cast, and the pace was crawling. While Gratton's writing style is certainly beautiful, if the first 35% from my preview excerpt is anything to go by I highly doubt I'll be back for the final section. Too many books, too little time.

The Queens of Innis Lear seems to be a very intriguing fantasy novel following a set of three sisters and their struggles. From the excerpt that I have read, I quite like this book and am interested in finding out what happens next. The characters are phenomenal, the plot is intricate, and the story just flows like a dream. I will say, I wish we had more perspectives from Regan in this excerpt, though that might change when we look at the full novel. I really liked her character in particular and want to know more about her. The writing itself was beautiful, though it could be a bit too flowery at times. Certain sentences just add more of a dullness to the story than a luscious description. Other than that, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

When I first downloaded this book, I didn't realize it was a preview excerpt, so needless to say I was slightly disappointed because it wasn't the whole book... With that being said, I am definitely interested in reading the rest of the book to see how it turns out - it was intriguing so far! - but my review reflects the fact that I only read this extended ~200-page excerpt rather than the entire 576 pages.

Here are some preliminary thoughts I had about the book so far. When I read the rest of the book, I will write a full review!
--From the first few pages, I was drawn in. The writing was beautifully written and descriptive, and the world-building was interesting.
--I like the fact that we get to follow the different characters and get to know them better rather than following a single character. In a book of this scope, I feel that it works a lot better this way.
--I enjoy the fact that it is a retelling of William Shakespeare's King Lear. I never read it in high school, so I don't share the author's dislike of the play, but I did enjoy watching the play - I felt that watching Shakespeare's play beforehand gave me a better grasp on and appreciation of Gratton's retelling.

I will definitely be checking this book out when released so I can know how it ends!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an advanced copy of this eBook in exchange for an honst review!

Given that this was an excerpt, I mostly just skim read the galley as I do want to be able to read the entire book in one go. The first few pages were kind of dull but it did get interesting as I read on. I'm definitely looking forward to reading it once it releases.

This was just the excerpt of the book so I will leave a full review for when I've finished the book. I really liked the premise of this book but the first few pages nearly put me off entirely. I found it a bit confusing and not easy to read at all. I could see what was trying to be set up for the author, but it was a very long introduction to the world and I think the style that was used is best kept to one or two pages maximum.

After this intital bit I settled into the book and found myself really enjoying it, so it was worth persevering with. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.

I've heard a lot about this book from a lot of respected members of the bookstagram community. My first thought upon seeing the covers tagline "Blood Will Have Blood" seemed like a knock off of The CW's 100 grounder saying "Blood Must Have Blood." I haven't read Kass Morgan's books but if that's actually in there it makes me really uncomfortable. So that kind of put a damper on my openness going into it. As I only read the sampler I can only say my feelings on 200 pages out of 700. That being said it seemed incredibly dragged out and like a great deal of page filler. There's a character in the story named Aefa who makes a comment early on about a letter dragging on for no reason and that's basically how I felt about this sample.

This extended exert gives more than enough to whet the appetite. I've heard so much buzz around this book and from what I've read, it certainly lives up to the hype! Excitedly waiting for its release date so I can know what happens next.

Since this is only a sneak peak of about 200 pages of the original title I find it hard to review the title but here are my opinions so far.

When I first heard of the title I did not know that it is a retelling of King Lear by Shakespeare. I never read this one either. I was rarher surprised that I did mot know about it and was even mote curious.

The author creates an atmosphere of mysticism and magic. It has a high fantasy vibe to it that often gets me bored but works well for other readers. The storyline so far has six povs including those of the three princesses without getting confusing.

I had the feeling that there wasn't much happening on the first pages. After introducing every character and the world to a certain degree everyone gets summoned to Lear where the king wants to put his daughters in their rightful places and announce the new queen of Lear. Which he does but not without surprising and disturbing everyone with his announcements.

Allthough having announced the future of the princesses and the kingdom the official queenship will start after a certainnight that is yet to come.

Until then you can only guess but I think the princesses will turn on one another. I am curious right now but since the writing style is not appealing to me I guess I won't dive deeper into this. Who absolutely loves hight fantasy though should check this out.