Majestic Monarchs and Malevolence: A Review of Blood Queen by Caitlin Denman

I got Blood Queen from Netgalley written by Caitlin Denman. I am very thankful to the author and Netgalley for letting me read it and review it. The brief synopsis of the book according to Goodreads is here;

Death gave her the throne, now death is how she’ll keep it.

She may be called the Blood Queen, but Layla will do anything for her kingdom's peace.

As queen of a kingdom plagued by murders, Layla struggles to live up to the expectations her parents had of her. Whispers of rebellion and dissent grow daily, and a murderer stalks the townspeople.

In agreeing to marry a foreign prince, she hopes to find a way to bring stability back to the land. But, she fears the marriage, unlike her parents, will be devoid of love.

On the eve of her betrothal's arrival, Layla sneaks away and enjoys one last passionate night with a stranger. But doing so threatens everything her parents laid out for her. As more lies come to the surface, Layla will do whatever it takes to keep her kingdom safe—even murder.

Pretty interesting right!!!!

Genre

High Fantasy

My Review

Okay so, I liked the book. It has an amazing vibe. There is a queen who goes on a murder spree at night and kills all kinds of criminal people. At least this is the impression I got from the start. Her name was Blood Queen given to her by her people because she killed someone in public who was trying to harm someone. But it gets darker when you read further. The story is not as simple as it seems. There are twists and turns in the whole book. There are secrets around her parent’s death that she did not know about and she is trying to find something. She is also struggling to fit in the shoes of a queen, what her parents wanted her to be but at the same time, she is also running away from her duties. Leaving the burden to rule on Brandt who is a sneaky advisor of some kind. He also trained her and informed her about the next target; who to kill.

So far I liked the book; the concept is different, that sucks you in right inside the book. I love the dark vibes I got from the kingdom and the places mentioned in the book.

My Rating

Overall: ★★★ | 3 Stars

Plot: ★★★ | 3 Stars

Characters: ★★| 2 Stars

Ending: ★★★★ | 4 Stars

Fun: ★★★★| 4 Stars

Spice Level: 🌶| 1/5

The Best Part:

The plotline was different and interesting. I loved it.
Also, there is an amazing thing. In this fantasy world, royalty has magic…amazing right!!!
The royalty also have soul shards whom they connect with on a deeper level. Their soul shards are always in their mind and they can talk mentally to each other. These soul shards are in animal form and stay with you like a shadow.
The best part of this book was the secrets surrounding the Former king and queen’s death

The Worst Part:

Layla's attitude was frustrating at times, she is a hard cold assassin queen but when someone talks to her in a loud voice or angrily or even makes her see the mirror fast she brings tears to her eyes…like a WTH girl… has some grip.
Various evidence points towards the fact that Brandt was playing a game towards the end of the book but Brandt talks to her sweetly and she goes on and trust him again and when something else happens she says everyone lies to me and blah blah blah. She even admits she does that but then she does it again….I mean…..!!!!!
She murders people in cold blood and she thinks her people don't like her but then she dares to think that how can they despise her so much I mean come on.
I also felt like there were inconsistencies in the story.....it was not as smooth and as seamless as it should be.

Best Character

Rune💙

Worst Character

Layla on some occasions (because he is an effing Queen and yet she acts like a teenager)
Brandt (what a sneaky slimy person he is....like literally)

Do I Recommend it?

Sure....give it a try...may be you like Layla more.

Happy Reading!!

❤ 🎧☕️🕯️📖 ❤

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