Kacen Callender

An ambitious and unflinching tale of colonialism, conquest, and revenge, Queen of the Conquered begins a powerful fantasy series set in a Caribbean-inspired world. *Named one of TIME's Top 100 Fantasy Books Of All Time * World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, winner On the islands of Hans Lollik, Sigourney Rose was the only survivor when her family was massacred by the colonizers. When the childless king of the islands declares he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge. But someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. And as the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers... lest she become the next victim. Praise for Queen of the Conquered: "A storm of a novel as epic as Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo." —Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Beasts Made of Night "The book's absorbing setting, captivating lead, and relevant themes of race and class complement each other with alternating delicacy and savagery."—NPR Books "Callender's first adult novel draws race relations, conquest, magic, and politics into an imaginative, layered story that will keep readers twisting until the end." —Library Journal Islands of Blood and Storm Queen of the Conquered King of the Rising

Queen of the Conquered

Giulia 

Kheryn Callender

An ambitious young woman with the power to control minds seeks vengeance against the royals who murdered her family, in a Caribbean-inspired fantasy world embattled by colonial oppression. Sigourney Rose is the only surviving daughter of a noble lineage on the islands of Hans Lollik. When she was a child, her family was murdered by the islands' colonizers, who have massacred and enslaved generations of her people -- and now, Sigourney is ready to exact her revenge. When the childless king of the islands declares that he will choose his successor from amongst eligible noble families, Sigourney uses her ability to read and control minds to manipulate her way onto the royal island and into the ranks of the ruling colonizers. But when she arrives, prepared to fight for control of all the islands, Sigourney finds herself the target of a dangerous, unknown magic. Someone is killing off the ruling families to clear a path to the throne. As the bodies pile up and all eyes regard her with suspicion, Sigourney must find allies among her prey and the murderer among her peers... lest she become the next victim. Queen of the Conquered reckons with the many layers of power and privilege in a lush fantasy world -- perfect for readers of V. E. Schwab, Kiersten White, and Marlon James.

Colleen

1.5 Stars
 
*A good premise ruined by flawed writing and an incompetent, self-absorbed main character*


When I first saw Queen of the Conquered, I got really excited. A Caribbean inspired setting, a woman with badass psychic powers hell bent on getting revenge for the brutal murder of her family. Not to mention that awesome cover and the fact that this published by Orbit. 

I really, really wanted to like this book. I tried. But boy was this book hard to read. The main problem was the writing style. The story is written in 1st person, present tense which is admittedly one of my least favorite combinations. But it was so much more than that... To be blunt, the writing style was downright atrocious. Messy, disjointed, and awkward. And you can't even give leeway for being a debut, because the author already other books published. There is no way to write an honest review about Queen of the Conquered without being blunt: this writing was extremely stilted and clumsy. I considered abandoning this book multiple times. But I stuck with it hoping that it would get better.

Sadly, it did not.

Aside from the writing itself, the next biggest problem was Sigourney, the main character and narrator for the whole story. I was expecting an awesome Phoenix Destroys Everything kind of scenario. Instead, it was like reading Facebook posts from a particularly agnsty, self-absorbed teenager. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wanted to be liked and accepted as one of the slave-owning clan ruling the island, she wanted to be loved and exhausted by the slaves she promised to free, but she also wanted to screw everyone over and reign supreme as a bloody, bitchy queen. I didn’t care about any of the characters, but Sigourney was whiney and narcissistic rather than being flawed an interesting or compelling way. Because she was so obsessed with herself, the reader doesn’t get to know any other characters because. All. She. Thinks. About. Is. HERSELF. Even when she read other people’s minds, she only cared about what those people were thinking about her. It was exhausting. I could absolutely have gotten behind her if she’d had even one vertebra of backbone. I was actually hoping for a kind of evil, badass anti-hero mercilessly destroying her enemy. I was not looking for Bella does the Caribbean.

On top of her irritating personality, I have another major bone to pick with Sigourney. She massively overpowered yet she does almost nothing. How can someone be that powerful, supposedly devoting her entire life towards avenging her family, and yet she never gets any closer to her goal?! We're talking about someone who can read minds, erase memories, implant false memories, and physically control other people's bodies! Sweetie, if you can do all those things and can't work out how to get revenge, then you don't deserve it! End of story. She was way too powerful to be so incapable of taking revenge. You don't have to be a master strategist to think of ways to use those powers to achieve just about anything. And sure, she has a few limitations. She can only control one person at a time, and it does drain her energy. But then again, once she alters someone's memory, that becomes permanent without any need for further usage of her abilities. So we're right back to my point about Sigourney being more incompetent than a villain on a Saturday morning cartoon show.

The story had a massive lack of worldbuilding. The psychic powers, or “craft” as it is reductively referred to, are never really explained. The history of the islands is given pell-mell and does little to illuminate the story.

The political intrigue aspect is disappointing. Look, not everything can be A Game of Thrones, so stop trying. I would have loved if it had worked, but because of the lack of worldbuilding and character development, all of the political machinations seemed gimmicky.

There were too many secondary characters. And they were introduced in lumps with no way to keep track of them – mainly due to Sigourney’s aforementioned narcissism. 

Adding to the disappointment is the fact that the topics had so much more potential. The slavery and oppression, being trapt between two worlds, the curse of obsession, and the madness of knowing exactly what people think of you. I once had a Psychology professor who said that if people could read minds, the human race would go extinct because no one wants to know what others truly think of them. Again, Sigourney’s reaction to knowing what others thought of her could have inspired some awesome insight. She could have been the avenging angel type. She could have done a gradual slide into madness. She could have gone atomic and left no mercy in wake. But instead she just whined about everything.

There was a moment when I had hope. When she gets to the main island where the ruling families spend the storm season while trying to gather political favor while also eliminating the competition (often in a literal, deadly manor). That was when I saw a glimmer of what could have been: an awesome combination of gothic horror with fantasy elements and a dash of madness. But that quickly fizzled out, and it left me even more disappointed that those potentials did not come to fruition. I wish so badly that it had stuck with the gothic feel combined with the political intrigue and psychic revenge instead of the whiney, hesitant girl refusing to pick a side.

The ending was lackluster to the extreme without any emotional impact and too much telling instead of showing. I won’t spoil what actually happens. But I will say that the big reveal is presented as Sigourney mentally recapping what she read in someone else’s mind. And it was told in such a flat, long-winded way that made it all the more frustrating.

I absolutely will not be continuing with the series. I didn’t hate this book, but it was utterly disappointing. I’m only rounding up to two stars because of the potential, but really it only deserves one star.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 2 Stars
Writing Style: 1 Star
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 2 Stars

Teresa Schultz

4.5 stars. What a fascinating book. Kacen Callender did such an amazing job creating an incredibly sad but complex world where no one is innocent, even those who have been horribly wronged. The story takes place in the Caribbean-inspired islands of Hans Lollik, which were colonized centuries ago by the Fjern, who have enslaved the native Islanders. The story starts with the slaughter of one Islander family that was rare in their ability to earn freedom and work their way to some power and then evolves into a mystery as someone starts killing off the ruling Fjern one by one.

The story is partly about revenge and how corrupting it can be. The main character, Sigourney, was a child during the massacre and the only one who managed to escape alive. She's since been forced to live her childhood on the run but has slowly been working on a plan to return and seek vengeance on the Fjern who killed her family. But while it's easy to apologize for her actions to start with, especially as they target the Fjern who have terrorized the Islanders, it's quickly apparent that she's willing to allow the rest of the Islanders to continue to be terrorized and enslaved if it means she can get her revenge. She's not a character who really can be loved, but Callender still does a wonderful job of getting the reader to at least want her to seek some redemption. 

The other characters are all also compelling, whether the Fjern who are terrible but still have some shred of humanity, or the Islanders who have suffered so much and yet are still ignored. 

My one problem with this book was the mystery, partly because it was very slow in coming, and partly in frustration with how Sigourney went about trying to solve it (basically making no headway and never really seeming to do anything to find answers even though it's what she kept claiming to be doing). It made the story a bit frustrating to read, especially as I could start to figure out the answer myself and got frustrated with Sigourney (which I suspect was what the author wanted, but still frustrating). But really, this is a fairly minor complaint, and overall I think the reveal still held enough surprises to make it worth it. I'm excited to read the second book.

Lauren James

Full review on my blog, Storied Adventures

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Likes: The world, the magic, the story itself, the ending. 

Dislikes: The word 'Hate' is used every other page. I get it. They hate the MC the MC hates them. It was very repetitive. I did not like Sigourney at all. She acted like she was the good guy because she is an islander and she's a better slave master than the pale skinned Fjern and she feels guilty when she KILLS her own people. I don't know why people are saying she's in a grey area. She's not. She's just as bad as the Fjern. I did not root for her. I rooted for the islanders but not her. And she used her kraft (she can mind read and control people) in disgusting ways sometimes. Plus, there was an innocent Fjern but she still was like, "Oh well, your're Fjern so you still have to die."

Queen of the Conquered

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