Shrouded Kingdom by Rachel MedhurstThe Lost Queen of Althea #1
Published by Self-Published on December 25, 2018
Age Group & Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Once a human, now a fae princess, destined to be queen.
Layanna Fairling has never belonged to her village, and yet, when it’s threatened by a tyrant who wants her dead, she knows she has to protect it.
Three mysterious strangers who claim Layanna is a changeling and future ruler of the Seelie Court arrive to aid her. They also claim that the only way of saving her village is by overthrowing the Unseelie tyrant who inherited the throne from his evil father when he slew her real parents, the Fae King and Queen of Althea.
The tyrant's greed and violence threaten to tear apart the kingdom she never knew existed, leaving Layanna with a simple choice. Overthrow the handsome and powerful tyrant, or lose everyone and everything she loves.
I thought I would enjoy Shrouded Kingdom, but no, I found myself thoroughly disappointed.
I am an absolute sucker for royalty and court politics and Shrouded Kingdom not only had that but also faeries. So me, being the sucker that I am, said hell to the yes, and promptly downloaded this from Kindle Unlimited. (I was also in desperate need of more court politics and faeries after reading The Wicked King, so that may have contributed.)
Thought Flows with Sophia:
Wow, what a way to start Shrouded Kingdom! The writing flow, however, isn’t fun to deal with. It feels choppy and plain awkward, but maybe it’s just my personal preferences. But I’ll continue because it’s only the first page and I’m a firm believer it’s not fair to judge a book that quickly.
Layanna, we are officially friends in the fictional world. You are a badass, and I enjoy badass females. Especially ones that put people in their place when they’re touching without consent. (Probably also a personal preference, but personal bubbles exist, and I will die on this hill forever.)
I don’t like how “thrusting” is being used in this book; it feels awkward and each time it feels like an innuendo each time? I’ll keep badass Layanna in mind and continue.
Okay, this seems a little too easy and from the first few chapters, Layanna doesn’t seem to be the type to believe everything so easily. Yet… we have easy belief happening here.
Oh dear, we’re traveling. This could be bad or good. Instinct says bad.
“You’re the lost queen” is beginning to sound awfully repetitive, and Layanna now sounds like a very special snowflake.
For a faerie kingdom, the king and queen seemed to have been defeated easily and this does not bode well for the book at all. Also, Jordeek can go choke in a bucket.
We’re still traveling and traipsing across to the kingdom. Instinct continues to be correct, and I’m feeling awfully bored. But since there are a lot of books lately that feels painfully slow due to the focus on world-building, I’m trying to give Shrouded Kingdom the benefit of a doubt.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the phrase “you’re the lost queen” or something similar and it’s really just annoying at this point. Can we please get on with it? I get it, she’s the lost queen.
I just really want a nap from this book.
Thoughts in a Nutshell
Shrouded Kingdom went from great start and potential to a flapping fail. All we’re doing is spending a huge amount of time traveling and we’re 60% of the way through. And we have companions crying about “YOU’RE REALLY THE LOST QUEEN” and honestly, that just annoys me to no end because it’s extremely repetitive.
Sophia started blogging in February 2012 for the hell of it and is surprisingly still around. She has a GIF for nearly everything, probably listens to too much K-Pop and is generally in an existential crisis of sorts (she's trying her best). More of her bookish reviews and K-Pop Roundups can be found at The Arts STL.
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I cannot stand repetitive observations in books, drives me nuts lol, sounds like this is an epitome of that, I’ll be skipping it, great review!
ME TOO. This was exactly why Shrouded Kingdom annoyed me to no end (I mean, it had it’s good parts, but there was enough repetitiveness that I completely forgot the good parts if there were any???)