Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep – Dual Review & Giveaway

Kill The Queen
Crown of Shards series – Book #1
by Jennifer Estep
Release Date: October 2, 2018

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Description:
Gladiator meets Game of Thrones: a royal woman becomes a skilled warrior to destroy her murderous cousin, avenge her family, and save her kingdom in this first entry in a dazzling fantasy epic from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin series—an enthralling tale that combines magic, murder, intrigue, adventure, and a hint of romance.

In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.

But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.

Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.

But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.

Barb’s Review:
Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep is the 1^st book in her new Crown of Shards fantasy series. I am a big fan of Jennifer Estep, and love all her series.   I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Kill the Queen, and I am happy to say I loved it; it is epic fantasy at its best. 

We meet our heroine, Lady Everleigh (Evie), at the start, as she is helping making pies in the kitchen in preparation for a big gala at the Royal Court of Bellona.  Evie, though a distant overlooked royal, with very little magical powers, stays in the shadows as much as she can; only joining in when necessary.  As she leaves to see a friend, before she has to dress, Evie begins to notice many new guards and friends of her cousin, Vasillia; when she returns and attends the gala, she senses things that seem odd.  In a short time, Vasillia, who is the crown princess, leads a revolution that becomes a massacre of major proportions. When she comes across Evie, she uses her magic lightning power to attack her, throwing her over the cliff.  This was massacre that murdered the entire Blair royal line.  Vasillia, with her people is now the Queen of Bellona, and she plans to start a war by taking over other kingdoms.  This is just the beginning.

Evie was the lone survivor, running for her life to escape during the hunt for more survivors.  She goes into hiding, and joins a gladiator troupe, who are highly trained warriors that perform shows to entertain the local people.  Evie’s job is to make her famous pies, but the leader of the Black Swan troupe insists that all team members must train to be able to fight, no matter what their job is.  She meets Lucas Sullivan, who trains all the gladiators, and he is hard on Evie.  But over time, both will begin to have feelings for each other, which will stay in the background for most of the story.  This is not a romance, not yet.  However, I suspect we will see the two of them eventually find their way to each other, sometime in the next book.  The leader of the Black Swan, Serilda, was a great warrior, and sensed something about Evie, pushing her to practice more.

Like in any new fantasy, there is a world building that tends to go more into detail early on, which can make things a little slow at the early parts.  But make no mistake, in a couple of chapters in,  this becomes an exciting, ultra-action packed adventure that was impossible to put down. I loved how Evie became close to many members of the troupe, and when she is forced to fight for her life, she will learn how to use her magic that she has hidden all her life.  Great exciting action.

Estep does a fantastic job keeping our attention, as well as creating such a fantastic heroine in Evie. I also loved most of the members of the Black Swan that were awesome.  What follows is an amazing adventure that will allow us to watch as Evie, slowly gains more confidence in her powers and well as learning to become a good warrior.  Together with her new friends, they plan save the kingdoms facing a terrible war, and find a way avenge her family, save Bellona, and Kill the Queen.  Will Evie survive?  Can she even face the evil powerful Vasillia?

This was an exciting and enthralling fantasy, with fantastic characters (even the villians); surrounded by magic, violence, death, war, and intrigue that has us holding our breaths throughout.

Bravo to Jennifer Estep for creating another fantastic series, especially in the Epic fantasy world.  I strongly suggest you read Kill The Queen.  I for one cannot wait for the next book.

 

 

Sandy’s Review

KILL THE QUEEN is the first instalment in Jennifer Estep’s CROWN OF SHARDS epic fantasy series focusing on the Lady Everleigh Saffira Winter Blair aka Evie, a young woman of royal blood whose entire family was murdered in a coup for the throne.

Told in three distinctive parts, using first person point of view (Evie) KILL THE QUEEN follows Lady Everleigh Saffira Winter Blair aka Evie as she struggles to survive in the aftermath of a murderous rage that destroyed everyone and everything that she loved. Years earlier, orphaned at the age of twelve as a result of her parents’ murder, Evie entered the magical kingdom of Bellona, a kingdom ruled by her cousin Queen Cordelia, and her daughter Crown- Princess Vasilia. Believing Evie to hold no magical powers of her own, other than the simplified and basic ‘mutt magic’, our heroine, the now twenty seven year old, seventeenth in line to the throne of Bellona, has been virtually ignored for the past fifteen years. A royal celebration in honor of the Andvarian ambassador proved otherwise as Evie would be one of only two survivors of the Blair family massacre meant to destroy all those with any bloodrights to the throne. What ensues is Evie’s journey to the status of The Black Swan, as she and her fellow warriors and gladiators set into motion a plan to avenge the death of them all.

KILL THE QUEEN is awash in Jennifer Estep’s affinity for ‘elemental magic’. Like Gin Blanco in the author’s Elemental Assassin, our heroine Evie must become an assassin in order to avenge the death of the people she loves. From weather mages, elementals, gem and metal workers, ogres, shifters and gladiators, KILL THE QUEEN follows the magical journey wherein Evie must prepare to battle to the death in an effort to prove she is worthy of the throne.

Many of Jennifer Estep’s signature go-to story line components are present including Evie’s band of misfit elementals and warriors; a potential love interest; and the mention of the Delta Queen, as well as several characters from both her Elemental Assassin, and Bigtime Series-hint, hint Easter Eggs. Not withstanding the numerous and obvious parallel similarities between the Elemental Assassin and Crown of Shards series, KILL THE QUEEN is an intriguing, magical and infinitely detailed story of magic, honor, power and greed.

Copies provided for review

 

 

Jennifer is graciously offering an $10 Amazon Gift Card to ONE  (1) lucky commenter and a paper copy of Kill the Queen to TWO (2) lucky commenters at The Reading Cafe:

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7. Giveaway open to  USA only for paper copy of Kill the Queen; Internationally for Amazon GC.

8. Giveaway runs from October 1 to 8, 2018