The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows Series: The Orphan Queen #1
Published by Katherine Tegen (3.10.2015)
Genres: High Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: ARC, 400 pages
Source: Borrowed
Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.
My thoughts
Sadly I didn’t quite love this one like everyone else did. I do see the appeal, but the lack of connection to the story killed it for me. *sobs* I wanted so badly to love it, but I just didn’t.
It was still a beautiful story, though – Jodi Meadows rocks at creating unique and intriguing worlds! I loved the magical aspect of the story, and the concept of the Wraith was pretty cool. That was definitely the selling part of this story. The Wraithland was my favorite part!
James and Black Knife were the only characters I really cared about. I couldn’t connect to Wil and I didn’t care about any of the Ospreys. But I kind of loved Black Knife! I felt an attachment to him from the beginning, an attachment that I didn’t feel for any of the other characters. (Except for James. I think he was my favorite!) View Spoiler » Learning Black Knife’s true identity killed some of the mystery and intrigue surrounding him, and some of my affection was lost I’m afraid. It makes me really sad :(
I did like the fact that Tobiah and Wil kind of shaped each others’ childhoods. She says at one point that his kindness toward her when she was younger had kept her human over the years. Then later, he says that she thought he was worthy of saving – so he strived to live up to that. That dynamic was very interesting!
I enjoyed the idea, but the lack of feeling on my part ruined it for me. I was also underwhelmed by the ending that everyone was RAVING about. View Spoiler » The story was good, but not memorable. It won’t stick in my head, I’m afraid. And this makes me really upset! I really enjoyed Incarnate and Jodi is an awesome person. It seriously sucks that this one didn’t meet my expectations. I will definitely still read The Mirror King, though!
Overall Assessment
Plot: 4/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4.5/5
Characters: 3/5
World-building: 3.5/5
Pace: 4/5
Feels: 2/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Hmm, I think I’ll read this if I ever get a copy, but I’ll lower my expectations! Maybe I’ll enjoy it more that way!
Expectations lowered. But in all fairness, I haven’t read Jodi Meadows before so my expectations really aren’t that high :)
Not generally what I go for, however it does sound like it has an intriguing plot. Sorry it wasn’t all that memorable for you ~ I hate when a book is “just okay” Gives me a book slump like no other!!
Such a shame when a book has a beautiful story but you can’t connect with it. I’ve read a lot of raves for this so it’s nice to see another opinion despite it being a bit of a disappointment for you.