The Orphan Queen (Sample review)

The Orphan Queen: The Orphan Queen | Jodi Meadows

Published by: Katherine Tegen, March 10th 2015

Genre: YA, High fantasy

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook sample

Source: Katherine Tegen, via Edelweiss

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

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

The Orphan Queen is what would happen if Snow Like Ashes had a baby with Heir of Fire and something lush and historical. There's a definite similarity to Celaena in Wilhemina, an orphaned queen to a land she was forced to flee when she was young, attempting to reclaim it for her people. I liked the tone and the underlying urgency of Wilhemina's infiltration. Wilhemina is not as hard a character a Celaena (if you'll pardon the continued comparison) so I think more people will be able to connect with her, and there's definitely something alluring in Black Knife (romance hopefully!)

The writing in this book reads effortlessly, the characters are vivid even in the first few chapters, and the world, while feeling much like a lot of other high fantasy worlds, contains several notably unique elements - the wraith (think pollution, but with the power to warp anything it touches) and the glowmen.

Obviously I can't judge the plot or story because I haven't really got into that yet, but I generally love how this book (hopefully this series) seems to explore the consequences of magic.

Orphan Queen is one to watch in 2015.

No star rating since I had only a sample.