Review: The Shadow Queen by CJ Redwine

Author: CJ Redwine

Series: Ravenspire #1
Publisher: Balzar + Bray
Number of Pages: 387
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Synopsis:

"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—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."

So I've only read one book by C.J. Redwine, Defiance, and I loved it. For some reason I keep putting off reading the next two books in the series but I will get to them one day! So, as someone who loved the Defiance and loves retellings I was very excited to hear about The Shadow Queen.

Overall, I was really pleased with the book. It started off a bit slow for me and I found that some scenes in the book didn't hold my interest. I think it was more of me not being in the right mind set to read the book rather than the book not being well-written. By the end I really got into the book and I really, really enjoyed it.

“You don't go into battle because you're sure of victory. You go into battle because it's the right thing to do.” 

There were so many quotes I enjoyed from the book but I returned my copy to the library by accident before I got to write this post so that was annoying. The main character was the definition of a strong female character. She dealt with so much pain and loss and yet she still continued to help people who pretty much wanted to kill her and fight for what she believed in. If you want a strong female character then I suggest any of CJ Redwine's books. 

I would recommend reading this book if you really are in the right mindset. I definitely plan on rereading this book later and seeing if my thoughts are different in the flow of the book--which is where I found some disconnect.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars!