Queen Among The Dead

#QueenAmongtheDead

A stunning Celtic YA fantasy adventure set in the ancient kingdom of Eire, inspired by the legend of the first true queen of Ireland, perfect for fans of Shelby Mahurin and Adrienne Young.

In the kingdom of Eire, banshees chill the air, and water-wights lurk in the rivers. But magic is outlawed by the king, and jealously hoarded by his Druid priests.

Neve is the youngest daughter of the king, and Ronan is a Druid's apprentice-turned-thief, making a living by selling stolen spells. They should be enemies, but their shared hatred of the Druids-and a dark magic that has marked them both-makes them unlikely, if uneasy, allies.

When Eire is threatened by a power struggle, Neve must seize the chance to take her rightful place on her family's throne, with the help of Ronan and the realm's most dangerous outcasts. Their journey takes them to the outskirts of Eire where magic still runs free . . . and where an outlaw and a warrior princess might carve out a future with spells and swords.

Lesley Livingston vividly reimagines Irish legends and fairytales to craft a YA fantasy adventure that will captivate readers of Brigid Kemmerer and Tricia Levenseller.

I really loved the cover of this book. I also really liked the idea of a Celtic adventure story. You don't hear much about the history of Ireland and Celtic nomads and Celtic Royalty.
I was really excited to dive into this story!
This story is told in duel perspectives, which I enjoy stories more when I can dive into the thoughts of more than one character.
The beginning was very slow, to me. The opening of our two main characters meeting when they were MUCH younger was cute, but once we fast forward to when they're teenagers, I didn't like Neve at all. I found myself skimming her chapters just so I could get back to Ronan's adventure. I'm not sure if that was intentional, or if the author didn't realize she was building Roanan as a much more likeable character.
I got about 30% through the book when I decided I didn't want to finish reading the story. While I liked Ronan, I just couldn't get invested in the story enough to pick it up to finish it.

This was a super interesting read! From the magical Celtic setting, to the amazing characters, to the intriguing plot, this book had me hooked! I haven't read many YA fantasy books set in a magical Celtic setting so this was a nice change from the norm for me. I loved how the magic worked and the unique monsters.
I loved the characters in this book. Neve is such a great protagonist. She's not perfect, yet she's someone you want to root for. Ronan is mysterious and hard to get a feel for at first, but I couldn't help rooting for him, too (even when his interests didn't always seem to align with Neve's).
The plot of the story kept me on my toes. There was more than one twist in the story that I didn't see coming, which I appreciated.
4 stars, and looking forward to reading more from this author!

I love Celtic mythology, and I love how the author collaborated that into this story. I was fascinated with the author depictions of this particular myth, however I felt like the plot moved too slowly, which is odd because it took me nearly a week to finish this book (I usually devour books within a few days). I was really hoping that the author would’ve spun a more dramatic and thrilling take, because I found myself a bit bored and wanting to skip pages.

I will say, I love how fierce Neve is and how she is willing to do anything to keep her land and people safe. Heroines that aren’t meek and mild are my jam, and Neve was a perfect representation of this. I absolutely loved her character growth, having to step into a new world that she was previously shunned from and make it her own. I also loved the estranged Dagda/father bond between Neve, and how that was reconciled eventually, I’m a sucker for those.

*Thank you NetGalley for a free ARC in return for a fair, honest review"
This is a story that follows Neve, an Irish Princess, on her journey of self discovery and taking over a kingdom. I loved watching our heroine grow into herself. Our antagonist is someone who always knew what she wanted in life and consequently reached out and took it. With great force! I also found myself constantly rooting for our underdog Ronan as he, too, grew into and learned to embrace his own destiny.
Not to say our characters didn't have hurdles and obstacles to overcome. That they mpst certainly did. Yet they found a way to conquer and persevere through everything life threw at them.
This story moved at a decent pace. While there were lulls, the action-packed sequences dispersed generously throughout the book more than made up for any slow parts.
The book had adequate world-building albeit a bit confusing at times. I struggled to keep up with the different gods, their powers and followers as well as the originating lore. Being completely unfamiliar with Irish mythology, I floundered a little trying to keep up. Even being ignorant I still completely enjoyed the concepts and the peak into a world I knew very little about.
I think the character development was my favorite aspect of this book. I, too, fell for Ronan and his charm while struggling to overcome his own adversities. I grew to love the rebellious, headstrong princess born into a man's world. I appreciated her fortitude and how she grabbed the life she wanted by the horns, men be damned! This was a definite tale of a woman persevering in a male-dominated world. I love, love, LOVE that she had no interest in the title of Queen, only King for our Neve!
This book had several redeeming qualities. It was eloquent and well written. I liked the plot as well as the imagery. As much as I enjoyed this book while reading it,it didn't leave a very strong impression once I was finished.

If you connected with Disney's Brave, love YA fantasy, and want more Celtic lore on your bookshelf.... This book was tailor made for you.

The story reads very much like Merida/Jasmine, in an Irish setting. A princess who wants to escape the court and get out to see the world on her own, but not give up what makes her her. Magic and mystery, Xena vibes, mayhem, outlaws, war, and fae.... All wrapped up in a pretty green bow and presented like a prized feast for the senses.

This was a sample. The book is very intriguing. The world building seems to be very good. There were some complex aspects but even with jumping from scene to scene, I was starting to see the well placed intricacies. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this book and I look forward to reading the book in it's entirety.

This review is for the sample; thank you to NetGalley and the publishers!

I didn't realize this was just a sample at first, but from the bit I read, I'm truly excited for this novel! I can't wait to read the entire thing! I'm into all the lore!

*This review is for a sample of the book*

Neve is the youngest daughter of the King and yearns for more freedom than she is supposed to. She often sneaks out of her home and frequents the streets of the nearby town. One evening, she encounters Ronan, someone she’s met once before. When a chance encounter turns aggressive, they’re forced to flee into the wild and face the monsters that lurk there.

I’m excited to read more of this work! The setting is dark and well written – I loved how many details were included concerning the monsters and nature of the area. I have high hopes for the worldbuilding of this work and the setting.

The characters were well written. It’s difficult to know about the character development and growth from a short sample, but the characters in these chapters were relatable and enjoyable. I hope that there’s more information included concerning the parameters of the world and its magic system. The magic of this world seems like it will be interesting and rooted in traditional folklore. Similarly, I’d love to see explanations concerning the creatures and beings (e.g., Fir Bolg villagers were referenced several times with no real explanation what they are).

I know this isn’t the final draft, but there were some serious formatting issues and many typos and errors throughout the text. Hopefully this work will go through a few more rounds of editing before final publication.

Based off of this sample, I highly recommend this work and am looking forward to reading the whole thing!

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Zando Projects for allowing me to read and review this excerpt. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To be honest I did not realize, until I opened the file, that we would only be able to read Chapters 3 and 4 for Queen Among the Dead. After checking the front page for the book there is a publisher note saying the rest will be uploaded late May. I'll have to check more on this later and see if it's possible to receive a full version.

That did not stop me from giving this excerpt 5 stars.

I absolutely loved Livingston's Valiant trilogy and knew to keep an eye out for a new release. As sad as I am to only be able to read Chapters 3 and 4 I'm also very excited to read the rest of the book. I'm already in love with Neve and Ronan and I'm looking forward to reading more about these unwilling allies.

Queen Among the Dead is a new YA Fantasy mixed with Irish lore and I'm crossing my fingers that I will be able to read the rest later/soon.

5 stars

I'll update my review once I've read the rest before publishing it to book selling sites and my Instagram.

Was bummed this was only an excerpt since it was already such an exciting read! Hoping the publisher releases the full galley soon as they noted in the profile of the book!

I absolutely loved this book! It was such a fun read and I really enjoyed the plot and setting of the book. The author did a great job keeping the story moving which I have to have in a book. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know!

I wish this hadn’t been just an excerpt. I think my students will enjoy this, as will I, but it’s really hard to tell from just a few pages. But it sort of reminds me of From Blood and Ash and the Court of Thorn and Roses series, at least so far.

A fun excerpt of an intriguing world. I'm getting strong enemies/annoyances to lovers vibes from the two point of view characters, which is super fun. Looking forward to reading the rest!

A fantastic peek into this story! Queen Among The Dead has an intriguing premise and this preview definitely had me wanting to read and find out more.

I didn't realize that this was a sneak-peak excerpt of the Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston. That's fine because it was great little excerpt with my favorite trope: dagger against the throat! There is a dual POV from our two characters, Neve and Ronan, whom I'm getting enemies-to-lovers vibes.

There is a lot of Celtic lore that was difficult to follow but interesting to read about. The two chapters that I read were filled with action and potential. I am excited to get my hands on the full story of Neve and Ronan later on!

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Projects for the excerpt. All opinions are my own.