I am a hard core fan of Celtic mythology however this one just didn't work out for me at all. I felt confused a lot of the time on what was going on and the world building just wasn't up to par. I wanted to love this one with all the Celtic amazing things but it just didn't work out.

Queen Among the Dead is a saga-style novel, drawing on the legends of the druids from England and Ireland in prehistory, when the henges and barrows were being built. This novel is full of magic, gods, and intrigue, along with war and struggles for leadership. It is the story of Neve, daughter of the Dagda, the "Good god" chosen by the Lia Fail, a speaking stone that validates the true leader of the people. Neve's father, Ruad Rofhessa, is the king of the land, but like the kings before him, he subjugates the descendants of the other magical races, the ones which fought on the other side of the last great war- and they don't like it. The druids, led by Gofannon, are another group that chafes under Ruad's rule, and collects all wild magic for their own purposes. Finally, there is Neve, the younger daughter of a king who has no sons, and whose mother threw her into the water at her birth, only to have her be rescued by the wolf goddess, who discovers that she has access to magic that the druids want - magic that can lead to her death if she is discovered.

As with many sagas, this one involves a quest, for both an object and self-discovery. In attempting to help her father save the kingdom, Neve begins a quest for the answers that can teach her how to control her own magic, and a weapon that will bring the last queen back to reclaim her kingdom - but is that what's really best for the land of Eire? Or will Neve unwittingly destroy her country in her quest to save it?

DNF at 20%

The writing is choppy and the usage of the tense is odd, plus the character relationships seem developed far too fast. The world building is also very unfortunate dumpy.

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

And that’s the only reason I pushed myself to finish. I often wonder, however, if publishers would prefer that I just return books I’m not enjoying rather than forcing myself to finish them and giving them poor reviews.

But here we are, at the end of what felt like far more than the two weeks it took me to finish reading it. I skimmed the last 30%.

There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the book, but I just got bored with it very quickly. I found myself unable to connect with any of the characters, which tends to prevent me from developing or maintaining any sort of real interest in the story. Neve and her love interest lacked, in my opinion, any kind of chemistry. Another character was sort of tossed into the ring as an it’s-all-in-his-head contender in hints here and there, which was completely unnecessary and didn’t create any kind to angst or worry at all. (However, I kind of preferred him.) It felt, at times, that the intention was to create something epic, but it just fell flat for me. Like when someone tries to convince you how giant their fish was, but you know it was no more than half that size because you actually saw it.

Note: Nothing bad.

3.5 stars. Lesley Livingston writes great YA, and this one did not disappoint. I really liked her character development, the incorporation of Celtic/ Druid belief system and monsters, and of course, Neve and Ronan together :) Why I didn't give this 5 stars: I would've liked more of Neve's sister, more of their sibling relationship, maybe a follow up visit/ appearance of Neve's mother, and more of Ronan's background /history.

This book was just... meh. I loved the Celtic aspects and I thought I would fall in love with this book (I am slightly obsessed with Merida and thought I could get the same feels) but I may have overhyped it for myself.

- It definitely took awhile to get into and had a slow start.
- Neeve was hilarious and I loved her as a character
- I enjoyed Ronan and Neeve's meeting and initial relationship. They definitely had early chemistry
- That being said, I think their relationship was rushed
- I think the ending was rushed
- Several parts were confusing or unbelievable.

This was interesting. I definitely enjoyed the Celtic aspects of this story, but it was confusing from time to time. While I appreciated the characters and story, the flow and Celtic jargon was hard to follow. Especially the first half of the story. I like how Neve and Roman are intertwined and how they are brought together, but this was one of those that was harder for me to finish. It would have been nice if the Celtic dictionary provided was longer. At one point, I didn’t realize that the Dagda and Rotfussion was one and the same. I was initially drawn to this book because of the Celtic background and setting. What I didn’t expect was to be so confused. I think it’s one thing to be confused because you’re new to the genre/setting vs. to being confused because the story doesn’t quite prepare you for it. I think this had a good chance at becoming a bigger story, but for me, it fell a bit flat.

Celtic roots in a YA fantasy?! Sign me up! I completely enjoyed the journey this book took me on, the magic system was well done and the romance was beautiful. The characters were well rounded and written and I found myself greatly caring for them. This is a title that has found a home on my bookshelves and I highly recommend!

Queen Among the Dead is a YA Fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology. I found that part of the story very interesting, as I haven’t read many books like that.
Sometimes the worldbuilding could’ve been explained more & better and the terminology was quite difficult as well. A wordlist would’ve been helpful, especially in the beginning.

The book was a little bit hard to get into. I had to force myself a bit to continue, and then after a while, a quarter or halfway into the book, I started to really enjoy it.
The writing style was nice and enjoyable and the book read, apart from all the Celtic words, quite fluently.
The pacing of the book felt a bit off sometimes. Around halfway (if I remember correctly) something major happens and I was under the impression there was a timejump, but I wasn’t entirely sure. Some parts of the book read more slowly then others.
There’s quite some action in the book, but those scenes weren’t always very clear to me. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on before it was over.

We follow two characters: Neve, the daughter of the King (the Dagda) and Ronan, a thief from the village. The chapters are written from both their POV’s alternately and we read in a third person perspective.
I didn’t always liked both characters, but I found them quite interesting to follow nonetheless.
The side characters were interesting as well, I especially liked the Faoladh warriors, Queen Anann and Sakir.
I liked the storyline too; there was more than enough action, but I liked the calmer parts & the more political parts as well. The romance plotline fell a bit flat for me, it would’ve been fine if there was only a friendship.

I would definitely recommend this book for lovers of YA Fantasy with only a little bit of romance, who are interested in Celtic mythology & like a strong FMC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great book and I loved how mythology was incorporated into the story. This was a great book!

3.5 stars

Once I saw this featured Celtic mythology and a female ruler, I wanted in. I thought the world was pretty cool, with druids and magic and female warriors. The point of view bounces between Neve and Ronan and I liked seeing how they viewed each other and their dynamic. Neve isn't sure about trusting Ronan but is still drawn to him, Ronan wants to hate her but is closer to being in love with her instead.

The title feels misleading, I thought we'd be seeing zombies or travelling back and forth to the underworld, but there's barely anything about the dead and I was sort of disappointed.

The pacing went between fast and slow, so some parts were exciting and some dragged a bit. The ending was too rushed and crammed a lot of action and information in. I don't see why this couldn't have been thirty more pages and given us a nice wind-down, but okay.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Zando Young Readers and NetGalley for the copy

This one was too slow. You lose interest pretty early on. Hard to stay focused. I personally wouldn’t recommend it.

Thanks NetGalley for the copy. Queen Among the Dead was nice. It didn't outstand itself, or brought anything revolutionary to fantasy, but it was fun. The characters were fun, and the narrative had a good development. It gave me some Disney fairytales vibes, with the adventure and romance and twists. A nice read.

Did not finish. I got through the first third of the book without excitement or anything to keep me engaged. I continued reading hoping for a slow burn fantasy that would start to draw me in. I didn't get there. Maybe I will pick it up again in the future, but for now the Queen Among the Dead is going in the DNF pile unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

I enjoyed this book, especially the characters. Neve and Ronin were very interesting and well rounded. I had gotten annoyed at Neve over her assumptions about Ronin, but that was quickly remedied as she found out other things. I’m not entirely positive of the plot of this book, and the world building wasn’t the most extravagant. However, the characters were enough for me.

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. When I read the blurb for this book I was like that is something that I have to read. I did find that is was a little slow to get into, but I am glad that I kept reading. I did enjoy the world building and the characters, but I did want a bit more of interaction of them earlier in the story. Going along for the adventure was amazing and there were some twists and turnss that I did not see coming that made it worth the read.

queen among the dead was an interesting read! First of all, I really enjoyed the setting. The village is full of all kinds of people and the castle is full of royalty. Vastly different lives coming together.

It gave me Aladdian vibes!! The princess escapes the castle, meets a thief, and together they run away from the palace guards. I instantly liked the characters!

The magical element was exciting and since there isn't a lot of info about it you have to peice things together a bit. I wish there was more info about the MC mom... she seemed like a bad ass!

Overall, the story was a fun read. It wasn't anything amazing but it was entertaining!

I decided not to finish this one around 30% into the book. I was having a hard time following all the world building and Celtic folklore—too much information. This may be a case of wrong time, wrong book, so maybe I would like it another time. However, from the reviews I’ve seen, I don’t think I’m in the minority. This book just wasn’t for me at this time.

I will not be reviewing Queen Among the Dead on my social media as I don’t think it’s fair that I didn’t finish the book.

Thanks for the opportunity to read!

I’ve had Lesley Livingston on my TBR for a while, most particularly her “The Valiant” series which follows a female gladiator. That sounded really interesting to me…and I just haven’t actually picked it up yet. So this is my first experience with her writing. But I’m also a sucker for books based on legends and fairytales and mythology, and I find Celtic tales to be fascinating, so that definitely made me keen to pick this one up.

A lot of terms and names get thrown out into the story in the beginning, and it can be a bit difficult to follow for a little while and get your bearings near the start if you don’t have basic understanding of Celtic lore. But stick with it, and the pieces will begin to fall into place.

Both Neve and Ronan are interesting characters, and between the two of them there is plenty of tension and conflict, which brings about action and magic. That is what kept me going in the early parts of this book, the fact that these two characters were so compelling. I wanted to know more about them.

The summary of this book says it is for fans of Shelby Mahurin, Adrienne Young, Brigid Kemmerer, and Tricia Levenseller…well those are some big comparisons to try and make. I can see where the stories have similar elements and vibes. But I didn’t fall into this story as quickly as I do with books by the aforementioned authors.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy this book. After I really started to get drawn into the story, it didn’t take much longer to devour the rest of the story. The magic and lore and action and mystery of it all kept me flipping pages late into the night.

So…I guess this means I should probably pick up The Valiant sooner rather than later.

brilliant, show stopping, incredible, amazing. I could rave on and on about this book that took me into an amazing world and had me gripped immediately.

The Celtic elements that were in this fantasy-ish world were absolutely fantastic. I was gripped by the characters and their growth. The PLOT TWISTS. HOLY PEARLS THE PLOT TWISTS

I was taken aback, shocked, stuttering and clutching my pearls whenever they were built up, did a 180, and took me on a wild ride. You think you might know what would happen- but no- no you don’t (and I adored it!!!!)

This world is one that I will constantly be revisiting and loving more and more and more. Easily a re read and a favorite book of the year!