Magic has been banned in the kingdom of Eire but the Druid priests are keeping it alive in secret. Neve is the youngest princess and Ronan is on the path to be a Druid priest. Their roles may be against each other, but when Eire is threatened they work together in an attempt to have Neve on the throne. What will Neve learn about magic and herself? Will the kingdom of Eire survive?

Queen Among the Dead is a stand-alone fantasy adventure that will bring Irish legends to a new set of readers. I love retold fairytales and legends and was looking forward to this novel, but the final result left me feeling unimpressed. I’m not sure what was missing, but my mind kept wandering and I had to stop often and try to think about the story to help it make sense to me. A good read, but shouldn’t be rushed to the top of a TBR list.

I read this book pretty quickly, as it is the standard young adult fantasy. It was such an easy read that pulled me into the world like quick sand, I am a sucker for Celtic lore and forbidden magic. The unexpected heir, the dark magic, the Celtic Irish feel of the world was checking off a lot of world-building boxes for me; however I still had some questions about how magic was being outlawed and "collected". There were nice twists within the story-telling, leading you down one trail and then finding out it double-backed on you and led you somewhere else. I always appreciate the unexpected, but it did feel like these twists weren't necessarily purposeful.

The bonds of sisterhood were woven delicately, showing not just a blind devotion to one another, which I thought was incredibly important. Particularly in stories where one child is groomed to be the heir; while the spare child has a different life (a bit more freedom). I also enjoyed the budding romances—the bonds of friendship that were woven, and I absolutely loved the villain. I'm hoping this book does expand to a second novel, it seems to hint at one, because I am very curious about the power off the coast that is hinted at. Overall, a solid YA read, with some developmental flaws that hopefully get explained and wrapped up in a second novel. Reminded me a bit of the Ash Princess series.

Reviews Posted: November 8, 2022
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This book got off to a slow start but started to pick up nicely at about the halfway point. I also felt the world-building was a little all over the place at points, and that would defiantly pull me out of the story.

I felt that the plot was interesting, and the mystery behind everything is truly what kept me going for the first half of the book. When things got a little more exciting in the second half, I did have a hard time putting the book down.

The two main characters were pretty good. I liked that we got both of their perspectives to have a better understanding of how the world worked and just generally to get to know them better. I found the side characters lacking, and when the author would use them for something in the plot, I just didn’t care. I just could not feel the connection or emotion between them and the main characters.

While the world-building was a little all over the place at times, I genuinely found the world and magic system to be interesting. I thought the use of magic was unique while still incorporating elements of fantasy that felt familiar.

Neve is the daughter of the King, and Rowan used to be an apprentice to the druids. Thrust together by dark events, they find themselves reluctant allies.

I struggled a bit with the world building in this book. Sometimes it felt like there was too much, other times not enough! Made it a bit hard to follow at times, which is a shame since otherwise it was a pretty good fantasy.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Celtic myth drew my attention to this story, but underneath it is a story about family, self-discovery, and courage.

Neve, the main character, was fun and inspiring to read about - brave, stubborn, strong-willed, a loving sister and daughter, and a rebel in some ways. She never let what people think define her.

The family dynamics were complex, and the twist toward the end was a surprise, adding some drama without the fuss. The character names and backgrounds are recognizable, based loosely on Celtic lore. It was a fresh take on immortalizing some of the deities.

The fight scenes were epic mainly due to the draw of emotion from the secondary casts coming together for a common cause. Something about the allegiance of the different groups was touching.

Overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I found Queen Among the Dead to be a fantastically written and completely captivating book, from start to end! I flew through this book. I loved the main character, she was headstrong and resilient, and following her journey was really enjoyable. I will definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out, and hope that it's not a long wait!!

A Celtic fantasy set in ancient Eire (Ireland). Neve is the second daughter of the king, who is hoarding the magic of the land with his Druids. The book starts a little slow and there are a lot of Celtic words used. Easy enough to look up but it does hurt the immersion a bit.

The middle of the book really starts moving and we see Neve begin to understand herself and her abilities. Along with figuring out who her true allies are. The ending is a mad dash of action and has some interesting twists.

I love Celtic mythology. But also a well-rounded YA fantasy. Refreshing to have only light romance. I can see people who like other mythology re-telling liking this book as well.

First off, thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early. It was right up my alley, and I was able to connect to my heritage on a deeper level. I loved the world building, the magic system, the intricate lore, the characters, and most of all loved the way everything built upon each other for such a fantastic conclusion. I fully believe that this is a book that was well fleshed out, and so dynamic. There was nothing bland in Neve’s story, and I can say that it is well worth the read.

Celtic fantasy is not explored often enough in YA fantasy, so it was fun to read something more unique in the YA fantasy genre. While this book had a good plot and characters, some sections of the book needed work. A majority of the world-building was done through info-dumping. This made sections of the book hard to slog through. While Ronan and Neve were well-written separately, their relationship was awkward. It was way too rushed; they started kissing after just a few chance meetings. Overall, I think it was okay. I would be interested to read some of her other books.

I think Celtic mythology is a fasinating topic to form a fantasy novel around, but I found pretty much everything about this novel to be clunky and awkward.

I have a deep appreciation for Irish lore and mythology and this totally missed the mark structurally. This book started out pretty much like any other "not like other girls" YA fantasy and I think we needed something quite different here. The pacing was also broken up in a really odd way with the POV shift. I don't think we needed a split with the male protagonist.

The relationship that began to build between Neve and Ronan was so awkward. Every interaction felt like badly written fanfiction to me. (This isn't a diss on fantfiction, some can be really well done, but some are garbage fires and we all know it)

Overall a big disappointment and I guess I'm still on my search for the perfect young adult Celtic fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

✨ WHAT I LIKED ✨
I liked the beginning of the story and how the main characters met. I love the depth of the characters and their emotions throughout the story. I enjoyed the magic, and the history of the magic and world.

I found the first 50% of this book to be very interesting and entertaining!

✨ WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ✨
The pacing was just strange, especially the last 25%. It felt as if parts of the book were overly drawn out, while other parts of the book were glossed over too quick.
The world is confusing, and I feel as if the author hardly explained the people and the world to us. It was just left up to the reader to try to figure everything out.

Overall, I didn’t love Queen Among the Dead, but I didn’t dislike it either. I feel like you have to be familiar with Celtic mythology to fully understand and enjoy this novel. Since I am not familiar, I think I didn’t enjoy it as much as someone else might…

I was drawn to this novel for the Celtic mythology which was fairly abundant, and I could tell the author was extremely passionate about this book and the mythology its based on. The Celtic influence woven through the story was very stimulating and a nice new pace for me. I was immediate hooked...then after about the first 10%, I wasn't.

I feel the writing could have used a bit more editing. There was so much world building but it didn't necessarily translate into clarity for the reader. Additionally, the story lacked a clear direction or antagonist until much later on, I felt a bit lost at all times, and was unable to fully immerse myself into the plot. And because I couldn't focus on what was happening, reading this took me a couple months.

I did enjoy Neve's character. Though a bit chaotic, the love she has for her people and Eire is palpable and admirable. Una was a great side character and I'm still upset with what happened to her. I wish there had been more of Sakir. I preferred him over Ronan--who wasn't an entirely disagreeable love interest himself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for providing me with an ARC of this book. in exchange for my honest review.

DNF’ed at 20%

I can’t even tell you of all I read because I stumbled and tripped over words that I would love to see a young teen pronounce—or try to, anyway! This book is supposed to be YA. High praise to the 14-year-old who actually makes it through this book. O.o

This book had so much potential yet the unique (and stupidly complicated) word use made it harder to focus on the story.

The beginning felt a bit clunky. I didn’t understand the conflict between the two MCs and even afterwards it seemed whatever issues they had were resolved fairly quickly…

A very interesting story I quite enjoyed it. Celtic princess with awesome world building it’s a win in my eyes

I’ll admit, the cover and title got me real quick. It’s a good story, and I can see potential in a series for sure. But I struggled to finish this book so badly. The dialogue and writing style just weren’t for me, so while I liked the plot, I could barely get through some of the slower chapters.

Really love diving back into teen fantasy!

I enjoyed everything about this, especially all the different relationships. They were so great. I loved their background history and their chemistry, the love and support for one another, the angst, the push and pull. Everything was so well executed by the author.

The characters were not perfect, they had their own struggles and obstacles they had to overcome before they came to the realization that they are better together than apart. I’m so happy with how everything wrapped up (or, did a cliffhanger, I suppose) at the end. It was such an enjoyable book.

I really very much wanted to love Queen Among the Dead as the premise seemed like it had a lot to offer but I found the plot lacking. I'm unsure if it's the world building or the pacing but nothing really seemed to happen and the characters seemed more irritating than anything else. Just a total miss for me.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Very fascinating plot but I just couldn't get interested. Might be better for younger audiences like teens.

I really wanted to love this, but I didn't. This had everything in a book that I usually love, but the story and characters didn't hook me like I wanted it to. I have loved Lesley's work in the past, but this one didn't work for me unfortunately.

I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the author's Valiant series. But I struggled connecting with the folklore and the characters. I read about a third of the book before giving up on the story. There was a lot of explaining and lots of characters really early on. I was making myself read rather than enjoying it. I loved the cover and the idea of the plot seemed like something that would really grab me but it was not meant to be.