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gailyo's review against another edition
4.0
The book was much darker than the other two. I enjoyed it but it was a rough story.
katefort's review against another edition
3.0
In the last two days, I've finished two books dealing with thirst and starvation. I never though I'd compare this book to Life of Pi, but after reading both in the same weekend, I couldn't help but notice the odd parallels (but not the same unreliable narrator). I enjoyed the conclusion to this trilogy, and cannot wait to get the book White wrote this year following up on Meg Cabot.
ckausch's review against another edition
4.0
Ellen Emerson White is a YA author who's been around for years. One of her books, Life Without Friends, was one of my favorites when I was growing up. Her series about the daughter of the first female president has been out of print for a while, but she's updated parts of it and the books are being re-released. I say parts of it because the characters do email and text, but whenever they watch tv, it's dvds of old shows like The Brady Bunch and Hill Street Blues.
Long Live the Queen, the 3rd book in this series, takes the story in a new direction when Meg is kidnapped and held by a man hired by a terrorist group. The first 3rd of the book is the kidnapping. Meg is beaten quite a bit while held, and even ends up having to inflicts some harm to herself in order to try to escape. The 2nd third of the book is Meg in the hospital, recovering physically but not dealing with the emotional trauma. The last third of the book, she gets to go home and try to piece her life back together while still learning to live with the long term effects of her injuries.
Long Live the Queen, the 3rd book in this series, takes the story in a new direction when Meg is kidnapped and held by a man hired by a terrorist group. The first 3rd of the book is the kidnapping. Meg is beaten quite a bit while held, and even ends up having to inflicts some harm to herself in order to try to escape. The 2nd third of the book is Meg in the hospital, recovering physically but not dealing with the emotional trauma. The last third of the book, she gets to go home and try to piece her life back together while still learning to live with the long term effects of her injuries.
stephwatt617's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
erinmp's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book years and years and years ago, but like Other Side of Dark, the plot always stuck with me and I can still remember scenes from the book. I didn't know that it was part of a series--now I'll have to go back and read them all.
tiredcat's review against another edition
4.0
I read the first two books of this series when I was in middle school. I loved them and always wished there had been more. Due to the magic of the Internet, I found the last two in the series and even though I am no longer in middle school, I really enjoyed this book. The writing is excellent but it was nice to be 12 years old again for a few hours.
iamliterate's review against another edition
5.0
I am pretty much in constant tears when I read this book - every single time.
setauuta's review against another edition
5.0
I happened to be at my childhood home right after I finished this, and found my old paperback copy of the first edition of the book. I'm impressed at how little the author changed in order to make the plot feel up to date. The book is not for the faint of heart, but it does a wonderful job of developing the characters and establishing how difficult recovering from such a traumatic event is.
kricketa's review against another edition
4.0
had to stay up into the wee hours to finish this one. weeping was involved.
alexblackreads's review against another edition
5.0
I have so many feelings about this book that I'm not sure I can get them all out coherently (and it doesn't help that I've been reading all night and it's nearly 5 am). I was savoring the first two books in this series, taking my time, not reading more than a couple chapters a day. But this book I absolutely could not put down. It was amazing and so incredibly heartbreaking. I'm pretty sure I started crying around page 90 and didn't stop until well after the book ended. (Just kidding, I didn't stop. I'm definitely still tearing up a bit now.)
It's not so much that it's a profoundly sad situation, although it is. I read a lot of sad books and not all of them hit me this hard. It's more the way it's written. White doesn't just say she went thirteen days without food, a doctor asks her when the last time she ate was and she says breakfast, before school. The day she was kidnapped. And the security around her swears. It feels so small and so down to earth that these big dramatic things hit you almost like they're real and happening to someone you know. I had similar feelings about the second book, but that one didn't do more than make me tear up. This might win the award for hardest I've ever cried at a book. (It's at least up there with A Mango Shaped Space.)
The only thing I don't like about this book is the time Meg spends with the terrorist. I honestly found that section a little boring. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the way it was written or if it's just that I can't connect to scenes like that. But thankfully it was pretty short. I briefly considered knocking it down a star for that and probably would have if it was half the book, but it was only about 50 pages and the entire rest of the book was so intense that it didn't matter.
And when I say it was intense, I'm not exaggerating. I cry on a semi regular basis when it comes to books and will succumb to cheap manipulation by authors, but rarely do I ever get a physical ache in my chest like I did here. It was a lot.
I love love love that this book deals a lot with what happens after the trauma. Like yes the kidnapping is covered, but the point of the book feels more like it's Meg's recovery, Meg dealing with the traumatic events. She has injuries that may not ever fully heal, anxiety, PTSD, extreme exhaustion, and it's all dealt with so well. I'm a sucker for books that are essentially character studies, and this whole series definitely qualifies.
Beyond that, most of my notes are the same from the first two books. The family dynamic is wonderful, although much darker here and in less of the book, as Meg isn't around her family for a while. Meg is still hilarious, although again, this book is a lot darker. And it's still highly intelligent. in a way that forces you to think to keep up. Everything good about the first two books is here and a lot more too.
As always, highly highly recommend.
It's not so much that it's a profoundly sad situation, although it is. I read a lot of sad books and not all of them hit me this hard. It's more the way it's written. White doesn't just say she went thirteen days without food, a doctor asks her when the last time she ate was and she says breakfast, before school. The day she was kidnapped. And the security around her swears. It feels so small and so down to earth that these big dramatic things hit you almost like they're real and happening to someone you know. I had similar feelings about the second book, but that one didn't do more than make me tear up. This might win the award for hardest I've ever cried at a book. (It's at least up there with A Mango Shaped Space.)
The only thing I don't like about this book is the time Meg spends with the terrorist. I honestly found that section a little boring. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the way it was written or if it's just that I can't connect to scenes like that. But thankfully it was pretty short. I briefly considered knocking it down a star for that and probably would have if it was half the book, but it was only about 50 pages and the entire rest of the book was so intense that it didn't matter.
And when I say it was intense, I'm not exaggerating. I cry on a semi regular basis when it comes to books and will succumb to cheap manipulation by authors, but rarely do I ever get a physical ache in my chest like I did here. It was a lot.
I love love love that this book deals a lot with what happens after the trauma. Like yes the kidnapping is covered, but the point of the book feels more like it's Meg's recovery, Meg dealing with the traumatic events. She has injuries that may not ever fully heal, anxiety, PTSD, extreme exhaustion, and it's all dealt with so well. I'm a sucker for books that are essentially character studies, and this whole series definitely qualifies.
Beyond that, most of my notes are the same from the first two books. The family dynamic is wonderful, although much darker here and in less of the book, as Meg isn't around her family for a while. Meg is still hilarious, although again, this book is a lot darker. And it's still highly intelligent. in a way that forces you to think to keep up. Everything good about the first two books is here and a lot more too.
As always, highly highly recommend.