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samantha_randolph 's review for:
The Queen Underneath
by Stacey Filak
DNF at 85 pages, skimmed the ending.
So I usually don’t post many negative reviews (for a number of reasons), but I really need to talk about this one.
The first 40-50 pages were rocky but really fun. The pacing is quick, the central problem (murder of two royals) is set up, and there’s strong imagery. There were definite moments where I was like uhhh....wait what? But it has a genuinely fun feel, so I kept going. But then the problems got bigger and bigger, and kind of more ridiculous.
In short, this reads like a book that, as other reviews have said, has so much potential but then wrecks it all. So much happens in the first 80 pages (around where I stopped) and it all seems to happen in one day? No one is breaking for food or sleep? There are several outfit and location changes? It’s rare that a plot over-paces itself, but this one does. It sacrifices every other component of the book (characterization, relationship development, plot build up, etc) for action. There’s literally no time for anything else, especially as this is a shorter length novel.
Had the above been the only (?) issues, I probably would have marked it as finished, not rated it, and went on my way. But the harmful representations and tropes in this book need to be called out. I can’t even call it problematic because it honestly soars past problematic in a lot of areas. Tollan, one of the main characters, is gay. We are shown this through very negative and hypersexualized queer stereotypes. SPOILER: This also falls into the dead gays trope. It seems the author tried to subvert that trope by having Tollan being *surprise* alive in the epilogue, but that’s just it- it’s in the epilogue. We get *several* chapters believing Tollan, who has just found love, is dead.
Another part that is troublesome is the sex representation overall. It seems to be striving for sex positivity, especially in contrast to the “Above” world, but it fails in this regard to.
I know I’m rambling at this point, so I’ll cut off here. In short, this is an extremely harmful book that began with great potential and ended in disappointment.
So I usually don’t post many negative reviews (for a number of reasons), but I really need to talk about this one.
The first 40-50 pages were rocky but really fun. The pacing is quick, the central problem (murder of two royals) is set up, and there’s strong imagery. There were definite moments where I was like uhhh....wait what? But it has a genuinely fun feel, so I kept going. But then the problems got bigger and bigger, and kind of more ridiculous.
In short, this reads like a book that, as other reviews have said, has so much potential but then wrecks it all. So much happens in the first 80 pages (around where I stopped) and it all seems to happen in one day? No one is breaking for food or sleep? There are several outfit and location changes? It’s rare that a plot over-paces itself, but this one does. It sacrifices every other component of the book (characterization, relationship development, plot build up, etc) for action. There’s literally no time for anything else, especially as this is a shorter length novel.
Had the above been the only (?) issues, I probably would have marked it as finished, not rated it, and went on my way. But the harmful representations and tropes in this book need to be called out. I can’t even call it problematic because it honestly soars past problematic in a lot of areas. Tollan, one of the main characters, is gay. We are shown this through very negative and hypersexualized queer stereotypes. SPOILER: This also falls into the dead gays trope. It seems the author tried to subvert that trope by having Tollan being *surprise* alive in the epilogue, but that’s just it- it’s in the epilogue. We get *several* chapters believing Tollan, who has just found love, is dead.
Another part that is troublesome is the sex representation overall. It seems to be striving for sex positivity, especially in contrast to the “Above” world, but it fails in this regard to.
I know I’m rambling at this point, so I’ll cut off here. In short, this is an extremely harmful book that began with great potential and ended in disappointment.