I made a promise to myself to not only read books by more diverse authors, but also to read other genres besides my go-to mysteries/thrillers, horror, and science fiction. The Widow Queen is the story of Swietoslawa, a Polish queen, and this historical fiction definitely took me out of my comfort reading zone. At a little over 500 pages, this wasn't a book that I raced through, but rather one that I took my time with, especially since I initially had trouble with the vast quantity of characters.
So I put this down and approached this differently. I would read just one or two chapters before bed. That way, I made sure that I understood what was happening, and in the beginning, I probably read the same few chapters more than once. As soon as everything started to make sense to me, I started to appreciate the book and how little I knew about the Polish Piast dynasty. There was a lot of drama and intrigue, and I don't want to give anything away, but the ending implies that there must be at least another book.
It is a complicated story, but one I think would appeal to historical fiction fans. I am happy I gave this book a chance. 3.5 stars.

I think this book got lost in translation. I feel like there could have been something great here but the characters were lifeless and impossible to care about.

The Widow Queen opens up into a world I new little about before Elzbieta Cherezinska. A Queen trying to live in a King’s world, only without the king. The Widow Queen was such a powerful and beautifully dramatic character that made me want to learn more about her and her royal history.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this book. I usually love historical fiction, especially books set this far in the past. However, I just didn't feel like I connected with any of these characters, and because of that I wasn't very interested in the plotline.

The Widow Queen is series working so you get a main glimpse of time span of different point of views.
It starts with the house Piast of Poland and as The head of the household wants to expand his influence by using his family Duke Miesko. He makes influenceable marriages which puts his daughter as a Queen. Her name is Swietoslawa. She is smart, clever, a schemer, die hard christian. ( Well that specific time period) The perspective of Christianity changes geographically as influence spreads out. To Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Britain, etc. so do political problems and Schemes.

The idea of the best of what you can do by being a royal women is to marry to better influence. She becomes Queen of Sweden. Her brother Boleslaw makes multiple marriages that are influenced also.

It did leave me wanting more, that is what a series is for. Got a bit confusing when it came to switching P.O.V
I was hooked when it came to Swietoslawa and Boselaw alot. I can't wait to see what develops

This Arc was given to me by netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I really struggled with this one. It’s choppy and confusing with all the characters and very few of them really stand out. You can absolutely tell it’s been well researched but I found myself bored and just slogging through.

This book was incredibly dense and way too long for what "happens' in the story. The plot is pretty slow paced and I found myself easily bored and distracted while reading. I think if this had been a concise, singular story, it would have felt more worthwhile, but knowing that this ends in a cliffhanger for a 2nd book made this less appealing to me.

The Widow Queen: The Bold by Elzbieta Cherezinska
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars

**MINI REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: If you’ve been with me for any length of time, you know my intense love of historical fiction; it is a love affair that has rarely faded. The Widow Queen is wrapped in history, but even my love of the genre couldn’t get me above a three-star rating. This is an incredibly dense read and while the translation into English is a welcome benefit, it doesn’t help much with the names. 😊 I dug into this read, determined to hang on to the bitter end only to discover it ends on a cliffhanger; 500+ pages and there is no ending in sight. In truth, had this book wrapped up and finished up, I would have been much happier and willing to raise my star rating, but knowing it will take me another 500 pages or more to get to the end of this saga is an absolute hard pass for me. With all that said, for those who love these kinds of books/sagas/series, etc. – the long and extremely detailed kinds of historical fiction – this will be the perfect solution for your next big read.

Historical novel long on history. Reads more like a history book that an exciting novel. I stuck with this book hopping for the heroine to succeed, only to find that it is the first in a two book series. Unfortunately, way to long. I would suggest editing the two books into one concise novel. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel for an honest review. I just wish it was more enjoyable.

Really well written story about the Polish Queen. It reminded me slightly of a Viking version of Game of Thrones..

I enjoyed the strength of the main character and following the story of her families rise to power. Translations are often difficult as you can often still tell it is a translation afterwards, but this one didn't really suffer from any of that. It took me a bit for me to find its footing, but once it did I really enjoyed it.

I'd totally keep reading this series and hope they translate the rest.

A riveting story filled with fascinating history, court intrigue, and dynamic characters, focusing on the Piast dynasty of Poland and the Vikings in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway during the period of 984 A.D. to 997 A.D.

Told from multiple points of views, the characters are well developed where you feel each of their motivations and emotions as they are faced with difficult situations and decisions. I especially enjoyed Swietoslawa’s chapters. Even though her heart belonged to someone else, she embraced her role and fulfilled her duty, living up to her name as the bold one, and became a beloved queen true to her beliefs while securing power for her family and her kingdoms.

I felt so immersed in this story and enjoyed this book until the very end. And what an ending! This was an excellent read and I cannot wait for the next book, The Last Crown. Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Widow Queen.
The Widow Queen is about several characters who either are or in the life of Świętosława, who is essentially a Polish princess. We see how these characters react to and survive the turbulent political atmosphere around the Baltic nations.
The characters were interesting, and they played off each other well to create intrigue and drama. The plot moved fast, but didn't feel rushed. The story never dragged. It kept my interest for long periods over a few days. Typically, when I see a book will take ten hours to finish I am put off by the length, but by the end I felt the book's length was earned by the rich and complex story that had been told.
I'm glad The Widow Queen has been translated to English, and I hope the Last Crown follows soon. I'll be looking for it to see how Elżbieta Cherezińska imagines the remaining years of Świętosława's world.

This was a more complicated book for me, it was difficult to get invested to the characters and the names were a bit confusing.

This book is perfect for history buffs or people that loved the tv show Vikings. The bold one and her siblings story is amazing, I feel sorry how women were treated back then no more than pawns for their fathers and country. I also feel like this is a story on how christianity took over and wiped out old relations at any cost. I thoroughly loved this book I would love to see it as a movie or show as well.

I found this a tough read , in fact I didn’t finish ...complicated names and just didn’t catch my interes

The Widow Queen is an uniquely written, superb, historical fiction masterpiece set in the time period from 984 A.D. - 997 A.D. The fascinating yarn it weaves, grabs hold of you from the beginning to the end.

Reminiscent of a "literary game of chess", the story centers around the Piast Dynasty. Duke Mieszko of Poland is a ruthless leader, who seeks to expand Poland's borders through cunning, strength and his children. He's a supreme strategist, and will do whatever is necessary for the good of his growing empire, including arranging for marriage alliances between his children with whomever he chooses he feels will aid them to become the most mighty, respected, and dominating power, not only of his time, but for all time to come. He is a man who moves his pawns around always anticipating his opponents next step, and carefully grooms his children likewise in the roles they are commanded to play. Poland, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, for now, but the vision is growth that knows no boundaries beyond the horizons!

With a full spectrum of actions and emotions portrayed, the characters are dynamic and memorable.. There is betrayal, murder, lies, unrequited love, disgust, repugnance and brutality. There are births, deaths, the purity and taint of both Christianity and Pagondom with division ,and at times the mixture of both. Arising at the center of this epic novel, is Swietoslawa, the Bold One, Mieszko's favorite daughter with intelligence, and her very presence that commands respect, because she indeed has proven herself to be the Bold One, yes, sometimes as being too bold. The reader is left with wanting more, and the author promises there is so much more to learn and be had! With that said, I can hardly wait for the next offering, "The Last Crown" to become available.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced Uncorrected copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is a pleasant surprise to see a historical novel about Poland in English! Everything behind the iron curtain has been dismissed as subpar for too long. All of the so called "Eastern bloc" countries have very rich and fascinating history, however. Here we have a strong female character at the beginning of the Polish kingdom, an interesting period in itself with lots of lessons to learn, paganism, Christianity, struggles for power, and a whole different world of perspectives. This novel will appeal especially to those who like action, as the book is all about dialogue and event packed pages.

First thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced e-ARC copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love historical fiction - that is 95% of what I read and particularly those that are about the monarchy, all time periods and recently the Saxons and Vikings. I wanted very much to enjoy this book because of all the "noise" surrounding it. However, as hard as I tried I couldn't find myself engaged with it. I don't know if it has to do with the translation, because my husband is French and does translations and he says words/emotions don't always translate correctly - but that was my main problem with the book.

I have to feel attached to at least one character to keep my interest and I couldn't. There was plenty of dialogue, which is a must for me. The basic story is good and that is why I gave it a 3 star rating because I was able to read it until the end.

A fantastic telling that leads to the beginning of the Kingdom of Poland.

This is historical fiction at it's greatest, all too often historical fiction ends up being historical romance but no such fate befell this wonderful book. Our main character is a strong female character written accurately to the period and not tweaked or modified to fit with our modern politics or views (a quality all too often lacking in HF), which lends a greater historical accuracy and feel to the character. The characters all feel more like historical figures instead of modern characters who time traveled. Elzbieta Cherezinska also shows a fair and unbiased view of both pagan and christian religions that were in the region at the time.

It focuses on an era and an locality often ignored by western writers, Poland is woefully under represented in English language historical fiction, however, Elzbieta Cherezinska provides us with a five star example of why we shouldn't overlook the people or history of Poland.

I absolutely tore through this book I enjoyed it so much, I was sad to reach the last page and am impatiently waiting for more! I am thrilled to find Elzbieta Cherezinska and to learn that Tor Books has acquired the rights for the English translation. I can only hope that means we'll be seeing more from this wonderful author (perhaps the other books in this series or her other titles) as well as other fantastic Polish authors we don't yet have here.