An interesting world with an amazingly written high fantasy typical plot | The Orphan Queen

Title: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)

Author: Jodi Meadows

Published: March 10th 2015 by Katherine Tegen Books

Goodreads summary: 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.

REVIEW

I totally loved this book, but I felt like it had a hard time starting, and then it was AMAZING. The beginning of the book was a little info-dumpy and I had a hard time processing all the informations. Nevertheless, it was an interesting world I can't wait to go back to! This world is a little reminiscent of the Mistborn Trilogy, with the Mist being similar to the Wraith. The wraith was really important, because it was this strange mist, but also transformed human beings into glowmen. They were creepy but put down at every fight, haha.

My main complaint about this book would be it was full of tropes and was a little predictable. But, Jodi Meadows did it so well I don't care that much about it. Indeed, our main character, Wil, has seen her kingdom destroyed ten years ago and her parents murdered in front of her eyes. With the rest of the children who escaped, she wants revenge and to get her kingdom back (of course). It's the premise of so many high fantasy series, but I still enjoyed it. What I liked about that aspect is that even if no matter what, Wil wanted to be just like her parents, she saw their mistakes during the book, because she got new informations on what happened. In the end, she even questionned the methods her group was using to get her kingdom back, and expressed her will to do things differently. I really enjoyed that.

Moreover, she had a magic ability, I really understood it at the end of the book. Apparently, magic is the cause for wraith, I like that idea since it would be "Magic always come with a price", like my dear Rumple would say. Her ability is quite powerful and interesting, I'm hoping we'll learn more on magic and see other people using it, so we'll know about other abilities.

This book was divided in three parts, I found the first and the second to drag a bit sometimes, but I devoured the third part. It was so fast-paced and lot of revealed, I loved it. However, I found that a lot happened in this book and the dragging part was because I had to understand the world. The main part was about Wil infiltrating the court and becoming one of the ladies, it was more about politics and less about fights. The second part was about a true adventure, I really enjoyed it, but I found Wil's departure to happen a little late, so the adventure was rather short. The last part was the resolution, involved a lot of Black Knife. Some 'big reveals' weren't a surprise for me, the identity of Black Knife for example, even if I was so pleased about it.

The Black Knife storyline was one of my favourite aspects of the book, because it was a vigilante, and it was a little Robin Hood-y, you know? It felt a little like a superhero book, for that part. While I'm talking about plot, I loved that every element that makes a great high fantasy was there: court politics, parties with ball gowns, adventure, betrayals, kingdoms, rebellions, and so on. I'm really looking forward to see where the story goes.

I really enjoyed the romance, especially that it didn't happen straight away, there were some built up and kick-ass fights. However, now that Wil knows who she was involved with... It's going to be complicated. But I'm on board and want to see these cuties together. Speaking of relationships, I was a little irritated by Melanie and Patrick sometimes. Wil is supposed to be their queen, but I didn't find them to consider her as such. They totally underestimated her, I hope it will be better in the next book *sigh*.

Final Thoughts

If you're a high fantasy lover, this book is right up your alley. It includes court politics and parties, kick-ass fights, mysterious things... It was a really quick read because I was so hooked. I'm so happy there are four novellas to read while I wait for The Mirror King to show up on my doorstep.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Anyone has read her Newsoul series? I'm hesistant to get into it, but I really enjoyed this one, so I need recs ;)