Queendom of the Seven Lakes

I really enjoyed this novel. It was fast paced with a fresh/different plot than the norm, and the world building was well executed. The characters were well-written and likable, yet still had chemistry.

I can't wait to read the next book!

this b0ok was ok in parts with a few a twists and turns and i would read books by this author again.

Pretty interesting - this genre seems to blur together for me, but this was different enough to be memorable.

I read an ARC of this book. I tend to really enjoy this epic story telling style. I found this to be somewhat predictable but still enjoyable. I really liked the religion and magic model in the book.

I will likely read the next book in the series to see what happens.

As a note: the ARC I read had a lack of simple editing. I did stop reading this book for about a week before continuing on. I don't know if that left a bad impression on me or not.

I take life not preserve it!!!

Assassin, Elen-ai will have to go against everything she and the family believes, she now must save the life of the young prince and protect him from harm.
A delightful story to delve into, read and become a part of. The story is very well written, showing all the twists and turns of both the life of the Queen of a country, Her princeling son and the other side of the coin, an Assassin. It was a smooth ride, with adventure, intrigue, love, hate, and politics, all rolled into one, yet not cloying or top heavy. I cried, laughed and I felt the pain and joy of many different lives and hope and fear. I pray that this is only the beginning of a long series of enjoyable books to re-live.

A review copy was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this book, the synopsis drew me in with the female lead who has to challenge herself in order to keep the prince alive. I loved the deviation from he usual profession as an assassin. I read this book quickly, I just had to know what happened next. The premise of this book is fairly simple, two characters searching for answers and I loved that. Elen-ai and Gidyon's relationship was very believable, and the anticipation of will they, won't they was tantalising. I'm not sure if there will be a romantic theme between these two characters but I hope there will be in future books.
The way in which A B Endacott has built this world is fascinating, and to me seen unique. The magic of the old god's is something that I'd like to see more of. The power plays between the seven families struggling to gain the upper hand in the second country where the queen is neutral to avoid such struggles is, I think, a great twist. The end of this installment just made me want to read on and I cannot wait to see what this author does in the future.

But what happens next?

What a fantastic read! I just sat down and couldn't tear myself away from this one.

Elen-ai is a fabulous heroine, with a strong attitude and a set of amazing skills. She is also an assassin, asked (in a kind of reverse logic) to protect a prince from would be murderers.

The story unfolds as she and the Prince get to know each other better and find out more about the Seven Families who hold the balance of power in the Second Country. Both Elen-ai and Gidyon are well drawn characters and they work together well together. As we meet more people in the book and journey through the countryside the descriptions are detailed and vivid. I really enjoyed the twists and turns in the plot and the action kept me glued to the book.

A fantastic first work from this author. I look forward to reading more.

Recommended.

What a thoroughly enjoyable book Queen domes of the Seven Lakes is. I have literally just finished racing through it in less than a day.
Ellen-ai and Gidyon are both instantly likeable characters, easy to identify with and their journey an action packed one. The far away lands of this fantasy realm instantly made this book attractive and made for a very much enjoyable experience that other politically heavy books haven't offered me. For example if this book had be set in our world and relaid British or American politics with no more than a bodyguard instead of an intreging assassin, I wouldn't have gotten farther than the first chapter.

*I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. With that being said, here is my honest review of Queendom of the Seven Lakes* Wow. It has been a long time since I come across a book that I COULD NOT put down. It is very well written. Although I wish there was a little more action. I loved Elen-ai and Gidyons friendship. Could it lead to be more than a relationships in King of the Seven Lakes?? Maybe more action? I can’t wait to find out!

Queendom of the Seven Lakes was definitely and interesting read to me. After reading the summary I was hooked and the book kept me hooked as well, it held my attention through out. This is my first time writing a review for netgalley and I am really thankful my first book was Queendom, because now I have found the next series I will be reading and agonizing over in the future especially in between release dates.
Queendom is about Elen-ai, a assassin who is given the task of protecting the crown prince in a kingdom where males do not inherit the the crown but the females do, hence the tittle. This was a concept that I really enjoyed, usually we always read about the struggles a female character has to inherit, but now we see the males struggles to inherit the crown through the eyes of Elen-ai. Family plays a big part in this world, Elen-ai's own Family of assassins and the Queendoms major families. There is a touch of religion and beliefs that I think will be later explored in the series, in my opinion I think we just got a taste of it. I really admire Elen-ai's dedication to her family and her growing dedication to the prince, I love their talks and their lessons, their whole relationship was heartfelt even when they weren't even speaking . I just wish there could have been more action for Elen-ai's skills as an assassin can be shown. I couldn't help but compare Elen-ai with Celaena from Throne of Glass, I felt that they were both bad asses and they knew it and made sure you knew it.
This was a great read, and I am looking forward for the next book, King of the Seven Lakes!

I enjoyed this book tremendously yet am left with the nagging feeling that I should not have done. The heroine is, after all, a cold blooded assassin who at one point kills a young pregnant woman for no better reason than that she is ordered to. Admittedly this is only recounted, it does not occur in the story itself, but this hardly makes a difference. I do have difficulty with a kindly and loving order of assassins too.

First off, I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing me this ARC to review. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition.

Stars (Out of 10): 7.5/10 Stars

Favorite Character: Elen-ai

Spoiler Free: Ever since the release, and popularity, of the Throne of Glass, tons of books following the lives of teenage/young adult assassins. While there have been many hits, and very many misses, I have to count this one amongst the hints.

Prefacing this, I am not sure if the copy I read is a finalized copy or not, but there were admittedly a ton of editing mistakes. Some had typos that ended up changing the meaning of the sentence (although I was usually still able to determine the true meaning), but the most annoying issue that came from this was the constant changing in spelling of names. At first I mainly noticed this for characters with suffixes in their names, such as Elen-ai, alternated between having that dash and having the two parts connected with no space (ex: Elenai). While this I got used to, near the end Gidyon’s name also started being spelled as Gideon, and this was much more off putting. Basically, the book needs a look through by an editor to catch all these tiny mistakes, as it did end up drawing a bit from the book itself.

However, that is probably the biggest issue I had with the book! When it came to the characters, the author showed us the traits of the characters, not simply told us (a issue many people had with Celaena from Throne of Glass), and this especially applied to her killing skills. No matter the scene unfolding, you constantly see her on alert and paying attention to her job. And even with that, you grow to like her, and see her as more than just an assassin. Additionally, you see this in the relationships between all the characters, specifically the familial relationships. Having Elen-ai as our narrator means we also have a close eye on all the characters and how they interact, and whenever Elen-ai told us a revelation, it was backed up constantly throughout the story.

Additionally, while the book is shown as only 250 pages, it reads almost like a 300-350 book. Every moment means something, and I found myself enjoying every line and page. I also wasn’t left with the feeling the book had gone by too fast or had been rushed! (I am dying for the next book though! Wish there was a clear release date somewhere for that.)

In terms of the world, there were some minor issues in the beginning with an overload of information, as we had numbered countries, seven Families, and The Family all to learn about and keep separate from each other (personally I think the assassin’s guild should’ve been referred to as something else). But in the end, I fell in love with the world and quickly caught on to the secrets each held. (Just don’t quiz me on the goods of each Family!)

Lastly, I really enjoyed the plot. It kept a good amount of intrigue and tension without having to rely on overused and annoying tropes (which I see many smaller novels do), and I was hooked from the first chapter. I am super excited to see where the next book takes the world!

The story is entertaining and the characters well developed but the descriptions are confusing sometimes and the plot makes you think about other similar books. However, I applaud the feminist side of this book and that the main character is a strong and independent woman.

I very much enjoyed this book! It’s a mix of Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas with the female assassin, and The Power by Naomi Alderman with the switch of gender roles throughout the entire world. I’m a sucker for assassin tales and this one hit the spot. Also, the switching of the gender roles was very well done. there is at one stage a hint that a neighbouring country has applied strict rules for all men to cover up. Small things like that I truly enjoy. It gives the story more width.

It was fun and compelling and I did tend to forget the time when I read it, which to me is very important. So I have not worked out for five days because of this book (you know “oh I’ll just finish this page then do the workout…” which never happened).

The Story: The story is very political and focuses more on the intrigues and interrelationship events, rather than the action all the time. I enjoyed the journey and meeting all the member of the seven families. And I was entertained by the development of the two main characters.

The Characters: I really liked reading about Elen-ai. She is a great character and a great person. She is a little bit detached, as an assassin should be, but it prevented me from connecting fully with her. However, that might appear in the next book.

The Prince, or Gidyon, is a sixteen-year-old heir-to-be. He starts off as a brat towards Elen-ai but always well mannered to others. He has no interest in Elen-ai’s presence and wants her gone. After some travelling and serious event, he comes around. All in all, he is a highly intelligent young bloke who knows what he needs to do to be an heir.

These are the two most important characters in the book. There are also the Queen, her three advisors, two counsellors from the Third Country, and the occasional family member of one of the seven families. It would be nice to have more of the Third Country councillors in the story as they play an important part in the beginning, but I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the next book to tie it all in.

I would have liked a few more characters, but again I’m sure there will be some in the next book.

Writing: The writing was short and precise with a lot of potentials which wasn’t always used to the fullest. There are two issues I have with the writing and I’ll keep it short: the action scenes were slowly written, and the banter felt forced. Don’t get me wrong, the banter is great; it’s funny and makes me smile and giggle. However, the reaction from the character who provided the banter is, to me, on the over-done side (I prefer mine medium or medium-rare 😉). The potential is there for both issues, and I’m looking forward to seeing this author evolve through her writing book by book.

I loved this book and its twist & turns....think Game of Thrones VS Sarah J Maas Novels.
Would highly recommend and cant wait to read the next book !

I thought it was ok, promising story but I think that this genre it’s so hard to come up with something completely original. Just felt like I had read this somewhere before. I did enjoy it though just not enough to have me gripped.

This was one of my first requests when I originally signed up to NetGalley and it has been pushed to the bottom of the pile for a while, which is a great pity as I absolutely loved it! Before I go any further I'd like to thank NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

This story follows Elen-ai as she is enlisted, as an assassin, to guard the Queen's son. In this world, only women may rule the Queendom as it allows for any familial lineage to be unknown and therefore leaves the seven families of the Queendom at the same level, with no rise in power coming from having a child with the monarch. Elen-ai must protect Gidyon, as the Queen has decreed her son will be the first ever Prince of the Queendom. Obviously, this makes all the families lose their footing and scramble to get one up over everyone including the Queen herself.

I wasn't too sure how this story was going to develop, would there be a cheesy romance? Would the plot be stereotypical and obvious? The answer is HELL NO! This fantasy read did everything in such good proportions, with the relationship between our protagonist and her charge developing in a way which felt very natural and realistic and makes you root for their side intrinsically. Although there is much about the world that I feel I do not know, I knew what I needed to in order to comprehend the events in the book and I am sure that the sequel (yes there is a sequel, I am so excited!) will explain further about the world and develop this fantasy read even more.

I am very glad I picked this up and was able to read it and I 100% recommend that you at least read the synopsis to see if this is your sort of book, as I had believed I would be getting an averagely told fantasy with a mediocre plotline (because I am apparently an idiot/have been let down by a lot of books lately) and instead I am now finding myself with a new favourite world that I can't wait to return to! Definitely, need to get to King of the Seven Lakes when I can!!