This book is a solid three stars . It was entertaining but didn't provide me with anything new for this genre. For a debut author, this was a good read. The book started off strong, but then got weaker as it continued. Good concept, but needed stronger execution (characterization and pace was lacking).

My Review: Solid but Wanted to Love It More
Rep: LGBTQIA+, feminist

This was a good story but I didn’t love it or hate it. I enjoyed it whilst reading but it didn’t have that uniqueness I wanted.

The Pros: What Worked For Me

I absolutely adored reading from Queen Mirantha’s perspective. She was a complex character and I would have been happy if she had been the protagonist throughout.
The worldbuilding was solid and easy to imagine, with enough political intrigue to keep me happy.

The Cons: What I Didn’t Like

Apart from Mirantha’s character, I didn’t feel a connection to any character. They were all very one-dimensional. This made it difficult to believe in the genuinity of any character interactions.
At times, the pacing was slow and that made the story drag.
The plot was predictable and I wasn’t surprised by anything. I was hoping its feminist theme would be stronger, or seen in more female characters but that didn’t happen.
At the end of the day, this wasn’t a terrible read. However, it wasn’t extremely memorable. I enjoyed it whilst I was reading it, so for that reason, I’m giving it 3 stars.

This book started off really interesting. I loved the scenes with Anza, they were very adventurous. I was super intrigued when she found the diary of the Queen who disappeared, however 140 later and there was no mention of the journal again and I was searching for that piece of the puzzle to come back up.

While I love a great fantasy world and the world building is something necessary, it was just so confusing in this book. I felt like there was just so many additional things that were thrown into each conversation and it threw me off.

I stopped after 150 pages and had to leave it. There was more dialogue about people and things and events happening rather than actual action.

Not for me.

ARC from NetGalley

4.5 stars

This book surprised me. I had just come out of reading a pretty crappy piece of crap, and this was nice juxtaposition. There was a pretty significant plot twist that I didn't see coming but others might have. It was such a nice feeling, wonder, suspicion, and then slowly, steadily, confirmation. It was a delight, as it happens pretty rarely for me. Most things I see coming. I didn't see this coming. Congrats to all who did, and I'm sorry you didn't get to experience the same joy I did.

I dropped a star because the romance didn't resonate with me. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't done as well as it could have been. Once love was mentioned, I was like what? Since when? It's been a hot minute ffs. That's a me thing though. I have some romance needs. I need that build up, the suspense and excitement, the passion and FINALLY when it comes to fruition. Not like hey how are you? Nice to meet you. Let's bang. I love you now.

There isn't much magic in this fantasy. It's more of a swords and politics kind of a fantasy. The writing is good. Nothing made me cringe or roll my eyes, which I am frequently guilty of. The pacing and setting are done well. There are strong female leads who kick all the ass. Good book. Do recommend.

This book was super complex and intriguing and had a lot going for it. The book is about a young woman who finds the journal of the vanished queen, and wants to learn more about her and why/how she disappeared. The kingdom that Anza lives in is a harsh and violent one, being ruled by a tyrant king. Anza wants to see a better world and she uses the lost queen as inspiration. There is so much that happens in this book that I do not want to spoil anything, so I will try to just talk about some of the things I enjoyed about the book.
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I really liked Anza as the main character. She was strong and independent and I liked that the author shows her as an educated young woman. The role of women in the book is really interesting. At first it seems that women do not have a lot of power and autonomy, but through Anza and Mirantha, the Vanished Queen, we see women playing a much larger role that we expected, and I really liked the connection between these two strong women.
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The beginning of the book started a bit slow, but that is typically the case in a fantasy book that has to do a lot of world building, and this world that the author has constructed was very interesting. I also liked the relationships between the characters in this book. The love stories were great, the relationship between siblings was explored, and I really liked the portrayal of the relationship between a mother and her sons! A lot going on in this book and it was great!

A woman taking down a tyrannical king, yes please. The book was good, exceptional worldbuilding, the political intrigue was spot on, my only complaint were the main characters. Anna unfortunately could be quite annoying at times and the Prince Esvar was just flat. I think my favourite part was the Queens (Mirantha) perspective via diary entries and I wish we got more of them her POV was so interesting. There is also slow burn romance which is one of my fortunate weaknesses. Overall, the vanished Queen is an intricate fantasy read with exceptional and detailed worldbuilding and a touch of romance that many will enjoy.

I tried and tried getting into this one but about 30% into the book I just gave up because I couldn't stay focused into the story. I really was hoping this book would be a fantastic one but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

Well, this was quite a read. Initially it was Mirantha's chapters that interested me the most, of her struggles married to an absolute evil man (like seriously, he was evil. Yeah, he could've been perhaps fleshed out a bit more to understand the root of why he was the way he was, but you know what? His actions spoke enough to the kind of man he was. He's evil, enough said), of trying to find some solace and happiness, of trying to survive and ensuring her sons are not influenced by Karolje. The things she endured...Yeah, I really felt for her, and rooting for her to survive.

Other than her, it was actually the court side and Tevin and Esvar who interested me more than Anza. The family dynamics was interesting, as was the politicking and the quiet maneuvering of power. By the end of the novel I realised this was a sad story of family dysfuctions and surviving abuse, surviving parental/spousal tyranny as much as it was surviving political tyranny. Sometimes I wondered if Tevin will tip the other way and end up like their father but the struggle to not be like him was there, the fight to forge another path, to be free of his spectre. It was rather chilling how much of a hold he still had even though he was old and dying.

Anza eventually interested me the further the story moved along. When I had started reading I was honestly not sure what to make of her, the story seemed relatively generic when it started with her story but as her own inner character conflict emerged of whether she was a soldier or not, whether she was strong enough to kill someone or fight the necessary fights in the resistance, the seeming guilt she had for running and surviving all this time...Yeah, all of the characters were interesting in their own right.

And I didn't realise until I got to the end of the novel that this book is a standalone! Exra brownie points, standalone fantasy novels are hard to come by these days. Overall <i>The Vanished Queen</i> starts of slow but definitey becomes a page turner the deeper you delve into the story and the machinations happening, the further to slip into Mirantha's backstory. I highly recommend this book if you're a fantasy reader looking for a page-turner and a standalone.

The book cover is gorgeous and paired with a strong summary. I knew I have to request a copy from the publisher. However, I had a hard time immersing myself in it.

The tyrant King Karolje rules the Kingdom of Vetia, and his power relies on secrets, lies, and manipulations. He has no qualms killing anyone who opposes him, even his wife, Queen Mirantha. His sons, Tevin and Esvar, grew up learning and exerting their schemes against their evil father. Meanwhile, amidst the impoverished populaces, hides the resisters. Among them is Anza, the harpy.

For me, it seems that two different people wrote this book. I can easily dismiss the grammatical errors since I read an uncorrected proof. Still, there are parts comprised of disjointed sentences and flat narratives. [Maybe], this is one reason why this book also felt winding at times. Meanwhile, other parts emerge with strength and sureness that capture the reader’s interest. Or, this book went through a gradual progression, years maybe, and the writer’s evolution becomes evident as the story unfolds. Either, I hope editing catches on that, and none of these appears on the final cut because this book has great potential.

The very intricate weave of intrigue and passion is juicy. Campbell’s command of political and economic scheming is fascinating. And it’s the most exciting theme for me. Mirantha’s chapters help bring that out, and probably the best-written parts. And although I prefer King Karolje and Tevin to be fleshed out further, I am content with the rest of the characters.

Filled with drama, romance, and pursuit of justice, fantasy readers will enjoy THE VANISHED QUEEN. There are some dark topics ahead, so be forewarned.

Alan Dingman designed the beautiful book cover. While Lisa Flanagan, Tristan Morris, and Vanessa Moyen read the audio version.

Review link: https://www.thepagewalker.com/2020/08/book-review-vanished-queen-by-lisbeth.html
Review date: 8/24/20, 7:30 AM, Central Standard Time

I enjoyed the storytelling of this novel as it explores the corruption of kingship and the resistance to its corruption. Resistance as a concept is also explored and is shown to take many additional forms: resistance within the corrupt system as well as resistance against the temptation to embrace the corruption. Throughout the novel, the author is making a commentary on ruling and governance; and how easily a ruler can be swayed by the desire to hold on tightly to power.

While reading the story, I was often reminded of Mao Tse Tung’s purging of the intelligentsia and of knowledge as a way to control the populace. I hoped early on in the novel that the knowledge that had been hidden in the form of library closures and burning of texts would see the light of day.

My favourite character was definitely Anza – a woman who puts herself in danger for her beliefs. She is steadfast and loyal; and does not give up despite her personal losses. There were also other characters in the novel who grew on me; characters who played an important part in the telling of the story.

I enjoyed this novel and will now be on the lookout for other stories written by this author.

Who doesn't want to read a book blurbed as having a very strong female lead character who fights against a tyrannical government led by a wickedly cruel king?

I was so intrigued by this synopsis, and I wanted to love this, but overall I found that it largely failed for me in execution.

Also, I feel that it's important to place some trigger warnings for depictions of abuse, torture, murder, suicidal thoughts, sexual assault and rape. This is not a light read!

I found that I was losing interest in the story rather quickly, as the main characters continued to feel very one-dimensional as the story progressed. I wanted to love Anza, a bisexual resistance fighter, but she fell flat for me. I wanted more from her, to know more about her, and not just get to know one or two personality traits or sides to her. I kept wanting her to be more fleshed out.

And the evil king never had a chance to be fully developed. We're told he's evil, but never shown it - everyone is secretly afraid of him while he is dying in the background of the story. The author often chooses to story-tell in this 'tell me' sort of style, and it really took away from my reading experience. It made it difficult for me to go along with things and feel immersed, as it is less believable when you are merely told and not shown. For such a central character to the plot, the king didn't feel convincing enough for me, and therefore I wasn't drawn in enough to really get the impact of this story.

I was very interested in reading the chapters written in the perspective of Queen Mirantha, but they were too few and too short for my preference. It's too bad there wasn't more of her! I found her chapters to be written quite well, and left me wanting more. Her chapters had such an interesting way of tying plot points together, and kept me very interested!

The political intrigue was interesting, but the overall pacing was off for me. This was very dialogue-heavy. It took a lot of effort for me to keep pushing through this book because it felt so slow. It didn't start to pick up for me until well into the second half of the book, and by that point I had considered DNFing multiple times.

Although I think there was a lot of potential for this story, it wasn't the story for me.

Lisbeth Campbell’s The Vanished Queen weaves a slow paced, intricate tale of political intrigue, revolution, and triumph in a feminist, low magic package with grimdark vibes.

Don’t let the gorgeous cover fool you: this is not a light read. The brutal regime the cast fights against demonstrates that brutality in a variety of ways, including depictions of abuse, sexual assault, torture, murder, and more. But unlike other novels in the genre, it doesn’t use the suffering of women as a convenient narrative device and instead brings empathy, nuance, and strength to their journey.

One of the protagonists, Anza, is a bisexual woman, with references to her relationships with both men and women in the text, and the universe is casually queer. It was refreshing for a story with such dark themes not to include rampant homophobia among them.

If you enjoyed the general concept of Game of Thrones but wanted more nuanced women in the story, women who display strength in ways other than cold assassination or rampant conquest, The Vanished Queen will be a perfect fit for you.