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God Save The Queen - Free Preview (2012)

by Kate Locke(Favorite Author)

3.87 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0316230405 (ISBN13: 9780316230407)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Orbit

series

The Immortal Empire

review 1: Short Version: Fun, shallow fantasy about vampires and werewolves in a modern/Victorian re-imagined setting. Nothing will really surprise you plot-wise or throw you for loops, but it's engaging and at least brings something new to the overused vampire genre right now.Longer Version: I picked this up because it was tagged steam-punk. That was a bit of false advertising I feel. Sure, it's a mash of modern and Victorian that suits a steam-punk world, but there is no steam-punk tech. There are no mad scientists, no talk of airships or any kind of odd, re-imagined technology really. There's a little something about communicators, but it's shallow and all of a sentence or two. Not at all what I would call worthy of a steam-punk tag. So yeah, I'm a little put-off from the... more start because I came in with false pretenses.Otherwise, I found the story was decent. Like I said, no mindblowing plot twists. But it moves quickly from action to development and back. It throws in some passionate romance (one of my other big complaints is that the male interest here is very flat as a character) that fails to break away from the stereotype of the genre.It didn't scream 'TEEN-GIRL' like Twilight does, but it's still going to feel a little off to most male readers (though I have to assume that most male written fantasy feels similar to female readers).Bottom line: If you like the vampire genre, this is a good pickup. It's a unique twist to the genre and offers something new. It also avoids most of the 'teen-girl-drama' BS that started up with Twilight. If you aren't a fan of the vampire genre, then there's really nothing else to this book to interest you I would say.
review 2: I'm confused about what I think about this book. It ended some place so very different from where it started that by the time I got to the end, I found myself thinking "Wait. How did we get here?" I don't know if I like or dislike that feeling. I do know I'll read the second book, though, so that says something about the story.Quick Note: This is not a steampunk paranormal *romance*. It's a mystery. There is a smidge of romance in it, but it's not even close to the focus. And there's no sex. So if you're looking for that, this may not be the right read for you.WHAT I LIKED---------------* The alternate history and the world Locke created both intrigued and amused me, as it seems they were intended to. Nice details in here without a lot of upfront THIS IS THE WORLD explanation and description.* Xandy is a fun character with a healthy dose of flaws to go with her strengths. * Xandy is confronted with some world-tilting news at the beginning of the book, and she doesn't jump right on the "let's get the bad folks!" band wagon. Her wariness, her delay in trusting her new information, and her need to make sure she knows what's going on before deciding what to do were refreshing and in-character.* "Wait what?", "Seriously?", and "Surely this is not what I think it is." were things I found myself saying over and over again -- and those questions are the ones that kept me reading and reading long after I should have stopped for the night.* Xandy ends this story with her own path to follow, having eschewed the two options others presented as her only ones. This fit well with the story and her character for me.WHAT I'M NOT SURE ABOUT--------------------------* I'm not quite sure I like what the mystery unfolded and where Xandy ended up. This doesn't make the story poorly written at all. It just leaves me spinning the developments around in my head, asking myself "How do I feel about this?"* I'm not quite sure if I really hung in there, suspending my disbelief, through the very end. The story took some pretty wild twists and turns, and by the end, I found myself looking around thinking "Wait. I don't quite think I'm with you on this." But I liked the characters, so plowed ahead, accepting some things that might have been just a little over the top for the story.* There are a LOT of characters -- are they all ultimately important?WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE------------------* Locke seems to have learned a few British terms and is cool to rely on them for everything. I'm quite tired of "hatters" and "cobble side". Also, on the completely made-up colloquialisms front, I could do without "fang" as an over-used replacement for "fuck", especially if you're going to go ahead and use "fuck" as standard world language anyway.* Vex is a neat but underdeveloped character. Hoping this changes in future books.* Some of the world background is hazy/confusing. I'm still not totally clear on how class and paranormal species are related -- or maybe I should say I'm not clear on *why* they are related.* Some of the clues are so obvious, I wanted to hit Xandy over the head for being so slow to realize them. That said, I could see having a mental block for some of the obvious things, given her situation.If you like some mystery in your paranormal steampunk, and you're willing fully invest your imagination into a story that, at times, pushes the boundaries of believability (even given the genre's fantastical base), go for God Save the Queen. If you like something a bit closer to real world with a nice skim of paranormal over the top, you might want to take a pass -- or check these out at your library before making any purchasing decisions. less

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Reviews (see all)

Never_Perfect17

*ngerutin alis*Sebenernya,cerita ini...tentang apa,ya?Ak ingetnya samar2 nih. Pokonya cerita dimulai dr adegan fantasi klise yg mungkin sejuta buku cerita udh pernah mulai dengan adegan iniSeorang gadis tidur di kolong tempat tidur dan masuk ke dunia lainBukan dunia macam Alice In Wonderland tp ke masa lalu, era Victoria.Terus disana ia berteman sama seorang putri dan pengawalnya. Mereka jadi sahabat dekat.Intinya,ak lupa sebagian besar ceritanya. Ak malah ga inget sama sekali peran si cewe ini dalam ngebantu si ratu Victoria dr pembunuhan. Rasanya dia ga melakukan banyak hal.Seinget ku sih yg lbh berperan itu si tuan putri. Makanya ak aga heran kenapa cover novel ini gadis megang pistol krn ga ada adegan si tokoh cewe megang pistol,ko. (Seingetku loh yaa)Ending cerita ini lg klimaks. Pokonya d kerajaan itu lg ada masalah terus si tokoh cewenya diminta balik lg ke dunia asalnya. Setelah adegan mengharukan sm si tuan putri si cewe bisa balik lg ke dunia asalya.Jadi..ga ada penyelesaian masalah. Pkknya si tuan putri janji bs ngeberesin semunaTapi endingnya bikin penasaran sih. Meskipun ak ga kepikiran ada apa lagi krn buku 1 ny ga bkin penasaran selain pesan rahasia dr orang asing.Overall, buku ini seru ko.Buat kalian yang suka petualangan,ini pas banget!Happy reading :)

michelle

I thought that this was an interesting twist on steampunk. Imagine that Queen Victoria was an immortal and most of aristocracy is vampires and werewolves. Xandra Vardan is a member of the royal guard and is going to do whatever it takes to find out if her sister is really dead. What she uncovers is way more than she originally thought. Overall I enjoyed this book. Some parts were a little confusing to read. As a problem on my part, it took me at least half of the book to realize that a character I thought was a boy was really a girl. Oops! I'm interested enough to continue on to the next one.

beccawoo

3.5 stars. Enjoyable but inconsistent tone, will definitely pick up the next one, though.

livvybabe222

Imaginative and fun.

Nico

It was very good

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