The Queen is Dead, by Kate Locke
Series: The Immortal Empire, Book 2
2 second synopsis: So. In the last book,
Xandra’s sister Dede went missing. In this book, it’s her brother Val.
That said, we dive deeper in Xandra’s world where the political
mechanisms are complicated by family, love and old loyalties.
Oh my god, I just made that sound boring. Kids, this book is the
antithesis of boring. Xandra’s reluctantly coming to terms with being
the queen of ‘her monsters,’ the goblins and all that entails. Her
werewolf alpha boyfriend, Vex, is getting pressure
from his pack to gain Xandra’s alliance politically because Team Goblin
always wins. Nefarious medical experiments continue. Betrayal. Sly
references to chicken from KFC. You know, just your average awesome
alternative-reality, alternative-history fantasy
story.
2 second review: Fabulous. Fun. I devoured this book.
Sex scenes: It’s mostly fade-to-black kind of
stuff. Xandra and Vex’s relationship is established, as is their
attraction to each other. While I’m a fan of smut, I think it was wiser
to focus on the meat of the plot, rather than naughty
garnishes. There’s still enough tension to keep me interested, and to
keep it real.
Fight scenes: Fabulous. Xandra continues to grow
in strength and her goblin abilities, which means fight scenes are both
exciting because she’s whopping ass, and interesting, because she has
to grapple with that new can of whop-ass.
There are all different types of fights, too. You have the tension
between the family members, teetering between
I-love-you-you’re-my-friend and Albert’s-fangs-you-irritate-
Angst level: Blessedly low. You know I hate the whole “I love you can but we can’t be together because it’d be wrong/I don’t deserve you/you don’t know what you really want.” Xandra loves Vex. He loves her. There are a whole host of complications of them being together, but they argue, they snipe, they make each other laugh, they flirt with each other. With all the other crazy personal/political issues that go down in these books, it’s a relief to have something going (pretty) well for our characters.
Things that irritate me: Nothing. These books are awesome.
Overall readability: Extremely high. Kate Locke is getting better – the jokes are funny, the characters interesting, the plot thick
Recommended? Oh, definitely. You should go read it now!
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