I requested Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton just after I joined NetGalley. I didn’t expect my request to honoured, but I got one! I’ve heard about the book on Twitter and Instagram and the name itself made me curious. The ARC is only the first part of the book, so I can’t comment on the ending.

While this book is about three princesses waiting to hear who will become queen of Innis Lear, the princesses are all their own person. The warrior princess, Gaela. The elegant, dutiful Regan. And the star priestess Elia. I’d say that the story is all about these three women, but there’s a fourth, Innis Lear itself. The island lives as much as the people on top of it and that’s due to the magic originating there.

Ban the Fox is one of the few people who still talks to the trees and listens to the wind. I think he will get a bigger part later in the story. The magic of Innis Lear is hidden the old magic, and so far Ban is the most obvious option to heal the land. It would be a waste to create magic belonging to nature, kill it, have someone who learns the old ways and not use it.

The writing is poetic and it makes the magic more real, the women more interesting, and the story longer. It’s part of Gratton’s style and it makes the story more alive, but it’s not necessary. It slows down the story, and that’s okay. Queens of Innis Lear is the kind of book you want to last.

Queens of Innis Lear has earned four stars. The story so far is interesting, the characters are complex, and the world is magical. I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t easy to read for me because of the writing style.