Name: Sven Test's review of The Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine
Item: The Shadow Queen
Rating: 4
Author: Sven Test

C. J. Redwine

A New York Times bestselling dark epic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White, from C. J. Redwine, the author of the Defiance series. This breathtakingly romantic, action-packed fantasy is perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Cinder. Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai’s heart. But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

The Shadow Queen

Sven Test

A dark epic fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White, from C. J. Redwine, the author of the Defiance series. Perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and Cinder. Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She'll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol's father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic of his own—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman—and bring her Lorelai's heart. But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn't going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

I really enjoyed this take on Snow White! The dragon-prince character DEFINITELY was a welcome addition. 

Ami Is Dreaming Again

Ana Paula

3,5 stars.
YA fantasy is just so nice, I've had this series on my list for such a long time (maybe 5 years?) so definitely excited to keep reading the other Ravenspire books and make 13 y/old me happy

Menna Khaled

Amazing book 
An absolute recommendation 
A perfect retelling yet a unique storyline in it’s own

*** review to come #perfection in words

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights ReviewsI don't normally read retellings but The Shadow Queen was one that captivated me the very simple cover and the intriguing synopsis. Even though this book took a bit for me to fully get into mainly because it was slow in the beginning, I was surprised by how much I was enjoying it.

Lorelai had a good life with her family at the castle but she soon started realizing that Queen Irina was not who she was portraying to be and Lorelai was the only one not falling at the queen's feet, thanks to the powers she possess. When the queen murdered her father, the former captain of the guard took Lorelai and her brother Leo, helped them escaped and kept them in hiding. All the while, Lorelai practices her magic so that one day she can defeat Irina and reclaim her throne.

I was impressed by not only the characters but also the vivid description the author wrote for this fantasy world. It's usually quite difficult for me to really picture a fantasy world but C.J. Redwine executed it wonderfully. Even writing this review, I'm remembering various scenes of the book where Lorelai had to use magic to fight/defend herself and I can still picture everything in my mind (and I read this book in December so it says a lot).

Prince Kol lost his father and his brother to ogres and now he has to step up and be king of Eldr. I expected him to be a careless king and sit on his throne, not doing anything. To say I was surprised by Kol is an understatement. He took charge from the moment he was appointed king and decided to seek for a solution so his people would be safe in Eldr. He goes to Irina for help but she asks for Lorelai in return. And Irina knows Kol's a dragon, which she uses to her advantage and takes control of Kol in the process. Okay, yes you read right. A DRAGON!! I was so surprised by this fact but I was loving every minute of this turn-around to the story. It got me even more excited for the rest of it!

I really loved both Lorelai and Kol. Lorelai was so caring but so freaking tough and badass. The badass-ery in this book from this princess is off the charts. I was in awe of her and I wanted to read more and more. Kol was the perfect addition especially with his dragon nature. There were scenes that really hooked me in deep when it came to these two amazing characters that when the book ended, I wanted more! And the romance isn't insta-love!! It was slow-built and the reader gets to enjoy it at a very nice pace.

The story was very well-written, even in third POV. I'm not the biggest fan of third POV but this one was perfect. It demanded to be in third POV and it helped deliver the story even more. We get to read about Lorelai, Kol and even Irina.

Overall, I loved this book a lot. It was a great start to a series that I can't wait to read more of. I highly recommend it to every fantasy lover and retelling lover because you won't be disappointed.

I received an eARC from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews

jess

Cool interpretation of Snow White though I feel like this is typical.

Steysha

DNF. Time to be realistic, I tried to finish it for almost a year, but couldn't care less about the story. Not my cup of tea.

Makayla Woolfolk

A great spin on this classic fairytale! I loved the fact that there was no insta-love and the family relationships were so true and relatable. Can't wait to see what more comes from this universe.

Olivia Camarena

Lento al principio, pero cuando dice avanzar, vuela.

PERFECT FOR FANS OF VICTORIA AVEYARD AND SARAH J. MAAS Lorelai, crown princess and fugitive-at-large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. She'll have to be stronger, faster and master more magical power than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen. When the queen's huntsman - a dragon-shifting king - tracks down Lorelai, sparks fly between them. Can the king overcome his predator side - and can Irina's dark magic be defeated?

Becky

I wasn't sure, to begin with. It seemed too fairytale like and childish. Then it developed and grew and became all consuming. It's not a favourite book of the year but I would strongly recommend it because it was a fantastic and original fairytale retelling.

Sophia De La Garza

Review is now here . . . after a month, oops
So, this gonna be a pretty rough review because its been awhile since I've read but lets see what I can pull out of my very cluttered brain. 

Writing:
~ The writing style was nice, though a bit awkward in some parts
~ I really enjoyed the references to the original Snow White story mentioned, as well as the twist on it. 

Characters: 
~ The characters were fun, I liked Lorelai a lot because she was confident in her skills and wanted to pursue her goals. I love me some headstrong 
~ Kol was interesting, I didn't really enjoy him as a love interest because it just felt a bit typical in terms of YA romance. However, I do love that he is bacisally a were-dragon!!! I can't remember the proper term they used but yes. 
~ Irina was a pretty cool villain but I feel like Levana from Cinder and the rest of the Lunar chronicles was a lot more prominent as the evil queen. 

Plot: 
~ Fight scenes were really nice but other than that Plot was okay
~ I was mainly here for the WERE-DRAGONS (gosh I need to figure out if they have a proper name) 
~ Also HER BROTHER (view spoiler)[ HE DIDN'T DESERVE IT, I can't remember his name, i think it was Leo but he still didn't deserve it  (hide spoiler)] 

This review is pretty bad but I want to get better at keeping up with them so yeah . . . 
Read this book for WERE-DRAGONS and fun times

Sam Kiszonka

I absolutely adored this book!!

I love (am obsessed with) retellings and this is a great one!!

laura

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fast paced read and the start of the book suprised me alot. I did not expect the way this started. I love the presence of magic and dragons in a snow white retelling. I love the lead guy in this so much and the villain was terrible. Very fast pace read.

Paula Espinosa

SUCH an amazing book. As a fan of retellings, this one was definitely very well done, the layer of creativity C. J. added showed her flair with the foundation of the fairy tale very clear also. 10/10 recommend, I sped right through it.

Elena Enns

I can’t decided between three stars or four, so i’m going with three.
To me, while this is a slight retelling of Snow White, I hardly saw any of that in it until halfway through. At first, it reminded me of a tame “Game Of Thrones” with magic and dragons, then went to “Once Upon a Time “ with the hearts aspect. To me, it seemed like a mashup of other tellings created into a different telling.
Additionally, at first I wasn’t able to get into the story but after a while I could.

Samantha Bass

This book was such a good read! It’s definitely a book to get you out of a slump. If you’re a fan of fantasy, action, sarcasm, quick wit, hero’s quest set up, and Snow White - this is the book for you! Lorelai is our smart mouthed, smart, caring lead whom you’ll want to become friends with! (Or at least I did) She is trying to take the kingdom back from her evil stepmother Irina and plot twist, they have magic. 

I honestly loved this book so much. I’ve always been a fan of fairytale retellings and this book did not disappoint! The story stays somewhat true to the original, evil stepmother, beautiful princess, huntsmen, and of course - apples. Don’t worry though, it has its own fun, wild twist to it that I could not put down!! Once you meet Kol, you’ll understand!

This says it is book #1 so I’m wondering how book #2 will be! I’m sure it will be just as good as the first! Definitely a favorite now!

Lindsey Watson

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. It had a very good story and the characters kept me interested, but the writing wasn't great. It kept repeating words and phrases over and over again and it almost made me stop reading it. I'm glad I did finish it, because like I said the plot kept me very interested in it.

Nia C

3.5 Stars & a C.

I enjoyed this retelling of Snow White, particularly the new bit about dragons and magic. That got real interesting real quick. The pacing in the book was one of the fastest I've ever read and I thoroughly liked it. 

Kol & Lorelai were pretty developed characters and I did adore the way they interacted with each other.

While this book was good, I got kinda bored. I'm not if I'm over retellings or if it was just this book, but it fell a bit flat for me. Otherwise, I really did enjoy reading about Lorelai who is a fierce warrior and Kol and Leo and everyone. Definitely worth a one time read and I'll surely be picking up the sequel / companion book in the series.

Thanks for lending me your HC, Rhea. <3

Wren Hardwick

Y’all I put this book off because of the negative reviews on here… and then finally was going to pick it up because I’m trying to get my physical unread books down to a manageable number and… 

I actually really enjoyed this? Like I honestly, truly enjoyed this and I’m sad I almost didn’t read it due to negative reviews. 

If you are hesitant, just pick it up and see. Don’t always take reviews at their word.

Haya

CJ Redwine

An epic, hugely entertaining YA fantasy inspired by the tale of Snow White, perfect for fans of Victoria Aveyard and Sarah J Maas.

Sven Test &
The Shadow Queen by C. J. Redwine

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