I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley

DNF 47%

Kelsea Raleigh Glynn is a princess. She has been kept away in the country, away from danger to be taught how to be a queen. On her nineteenth birthday knights come to the door to escort her back to the Keep to become Queen of the Tearling. Kelsea couldn't be more different that her mother Elyssa. Her guard can see the difference and she has managed to keep their loyalty. Around her necks hangs a magical sapphire which is used to identify her as the rightful queen of Tearling. When she gets to the Keep she has to keep one eye open at all times and there are enemies hiding in every nook and cranny and each one would do anything to prevent her from wearing the crown. While Kelsea has enemies in her own castle, she also needs to be wary of the enemies across the border in Mortmesne and the Red Queen.

I was beyond excited to read this. I went in with high hopes and about 20% in those hope were slowing being destroyed. What I expected was a fantastic high fantasy with great world building, action packed with a great plot. But that is far from what I got in The Queen of the Tearling. I was really confused by the world in The Queen of the Tearling. I went into this thinking that it was a high fantasy, even the synopsis gives that impression with names such as Tearling and Mortmesne. However, the future I got in the less sure I was that it was a high fantasy. There were mentions of England, America and Europe. That really confused me because we never really got much of a history about why it went from the world we have today to the medieval world in this book. But I also don't really feel comfortable calling this a dystopia or even post-apocalyptic either. The reason this is such a problem because it shows the poor world building. It seems like a weird hybrid. I would have been much better had Erika Johansen just stuck to it being high-fantasy.

There were many scenes in the first half of the book that just bugged me. For starters, the guards are there to protect Kelsea as she is a Queen who have enemies trying to kill her, yet during night, the knights don't set even up watches, they drink alcohol, and they are loud, etc. I personally would never trust those guards with my life, as they don't seem to be paying attention at all. There were also constant remarks about how Kelsea thinks she is ugly. I applaud the author for creating a character who doesn't have the perfect looks, but she spent her whole life with no mirrors or any way to look at herself, so how does she know what she looks like? I also don't need constant reminders of how ugly she thinks she is.

I only got halfway through the book due to the sheer length of the novel. It was excruciating and it was so slow paced and so little action that I just felt like I could not carry on at all, I just had to give up. I felt like The Queen of the Tearling was never ending. There was a lot of unnecessary things in and not enough important stuff, such as the world building and clarification of what the hell happened.

I personally would NOT recommend this book.