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jinny89's review against another edition
1.0
1.5 stars.
I got this book off of NetGalley (many thanks!) quite recently and let it cut in line in my TBR queue because the synopsis sounded pretty interesting, and I was in the mood for something contemporary — no fantasy, vampires, fairies and whatnot. Just real people in real situations. But after finishing this book, instead of yearning for more contemporary and like books, I think I’m going to go back to my fantasy, vampires, fairies and whatnot for a while.
The Queens Of All The Earth started off amazingly. I was hooked right away by the rather depressing beginning. Olivia Somerset is suffering from a catatonic episode (a psychological situation when one’s body becomes very rigid and still), while her older sister, Miranda, freaks out. Doesn’t that beginning just make you want to continue reading? It really is one of the best beginnings to a story I’ve read in a while.
Olivia is supposed to be entering her first year of university at Cornell, but her mother pulls some strings and she gets to defer her first year. Miranda takes Olivia to Spain for a vacation, hoping some rest and relaxation will be some good therapy. They stay at a hostel, where they meet a variety of characters, including the ridiculously nice Mr. Brown and his son, Greg, who also seems to be harboring some issues of his own. As they vacation, Olivia tries to break out of her shell while her sister, Miranda, continuously tries to protect Olivia.
Like I said, I did enjoy the (brief) beginning, and I enjoyed the writing style as well. There’s something almost poetic about it, and the way the story was told, there was an element of surrealism felt, which I liked because, well, I like surreal stuff in books.
However, other than that, I found it difficult to really get into the story … because there really wasn’t much of one. I felt like I was reading about someone else’s vacation — all the sights were described (a little too lengthy at times), their interactions with the other hostel members, making plans for what tourist attractions to see … I could not identify a plot. I mean, I guess the fact that Miranda is trying to help Olivia overcome her psychological breakdown is the general plot, but it really didn’t feel like it. It really just felt like I was tagging along as an observer during Olivia and Miranda’s vacation.
I couldn’t connect with the characters. Don’t get me wrong — I actually think the characters were pretty good, but this is supposed to be a book about coming-of-age, about facing our fears, perhaps about the relationship between two sisters while one of them is suffering and I didn’t feel anything for them. No heartfelt moments, nothing. I did, however, really enjoy Mr. Brown’s character. I think it really says something about people when the nicest character in the story gets treated the worst by the rest of the characters, because they believe nobody can possibly be that nice.
This was a very short story, and there’s something kind of cute about it overall. However, it just wasn’t really interesting and didn’t leave any sort of impression on me at all. Honestly, I’m not sure if this book is what I think it is, or if it’s so brilliant that it’s going over my head. Maybe there’s something very metaphorical/abstract going on and I’m just not getting it, who knows. I’m not sure. I didn’t exactly dislike this book, but it’s really not something I would read again.
(This review is also posted at http://skyink.net).
I got this book off of NetGalley (many thanks!) quite recently and let it cut in line in my TBR queue because the synopsis sounded pretty interesting, and I was in the mood for something contemporary — no fantasy, vampires, fairies and whatnot. Just real people in real situations. But after finishing this book, instead of yearning for more contemporary and like books, I think I’m going to go back to my fantasy, vampires, fairies and whatnot for a while.
The Queens Of All The Earth started off amazingly. I was hooked right away by the rather depressing beginning. Olivia Somerset is suffering from a catatonic episode (a psychological situation when one’s body becomes very rigid and still), while her older sister, Miranda, freaks out. Doesn’t that beginning just make you want to continue reading? It really is one of the best beginnings to a story I’ve read in a while.
Olivia is supposed to be entering her first year of university at Cornell, but her mother pulls some strings and she gets to defer her first year. Miranda takes Olivia to Spain for a vacation, hoping some rest and relaxation will be some good therapy. They stay at a hostel, where they meet a variety of characters, including the ridiculously nice Mr. Brown and his son, Greg, who also seems to be harboring some issues of his own. As they vacation, Olivia tries to break out of her shell while her sister, Miranda, continuously tries to protect Olivia.
Like I said, I did enjoy the (brief) beginning, and I enjoyed the writing style as well. There’s something almost poetic about it, and the way the story was told, there was an element of surrealism felt, which I liked because, well, I like surreal stuff in books.
However, other than that, I found it difficult to really get into the story … because there really wasn’t much of one. I felt like I was reading about someone else’s vacation — all the sights were described (a little too lengthy at times), their interactions with the other hostel members, making plans for what tourist attractions to see … I could not identify a plot. I mean, I guess the fact that Miranda is trying to help Olivia overcome her psychological breakdown is the general plot, but it really didn’t feel like it. It really just felt like I was tagging along as an observer during Olivia and Miranda’s vacation.
I couldn’t connect with the characters. Don’t get me wrong — I actually think the characters were pretty good, but this is supposed to be a book about coming-of-age, about facing our fears, perhaps about the relationship between two sisters while one of them is suffering and I didn’t feel anything for them. No heartfelt moments, nothing. I did, however, really enjoy Mr. Brown’s character. I think it really says something about people when the nicest character in the story gets treated the worst by the rest of the characters, because they believe nobody can possibly be that nice.
This was a very short story, and there’s something kind of cute about it overall. However, it just wasn’t really interesting and didn’t leave any sort of impression on me at all. Honestly, I’m not sure if this book is what I think it is, or if it’s so brilliant that it’s going over my head. Maybe there’s something very metaphorical/abstract going on and I’m just not getting it, who knows. I’m not sure. I didn’t exactly dislike this book, but it’s really not something I would read again.
(This review is also posted at http://skyink.net).
heather4994's review against another edition
4.0
I think to understand this book to its fullest, maybe you will have to have read A Room with a View and understood E.M. Forester's intention in A Room With a View to understand how closely linked these two books are. I felt like all the characters from the Italian pensione were all there at the Spanish hostel. The sex or the names had been changed slightly, but everyone was there. And they were all appalled because a father and son gave up their room, this time, a private room, to the two sisters, without asking for anything in return.
I guess I should start in the beginning. Olivia has had a psychotic break. Her father died. She wasn't close to him, he left in her childhood, but everything that she seems to hold onto or identify with seems related to her childhood. She doesn't want to make that step into adulthood, leaving home, going to college, putting away childish things. Of course, that's how the two women in her family see life. After high school, you become an adult and become responsible and you put away childish things, like freedom and imagination, and spontaneity. Her mother even threatens to throw away her childhood books which she is clinging to like a lifejacket in a hurricane. She even brings A Wrinkle in Time with her on the trip with her to Spain, she can't bear to be separated from her childhood books.
Miranda is about as much fun as a box of stale crackers. She complains from the minute they get off the plane and it doesn't stop. She even complains when the affable Browns, father and son, give up their private room so the sisters don't have to sleep in a mixed dorm like room. At every turn she finds something wrong with them or agrees with something ugly the travel writer Eleanor aka Lenny says.
Miranda throws her lot in with Lenny, but it really seems that no one but she can stand Lenny. Even the priest can't stand her, and Lenny can't stand him. And she has a lot to say about the Browns as well.
But you know those fickle fates, what must be, must be and Olivia and Greg Brown find themselves alone together in the must unusual places. With him, Olivia still feels alive and young, her youth and childhood still lives. She can still keep her imagination and her curiosity of a child. She doesn't have to be all responsible and grown up like Miranda. Stiff and threatening. Miranda is a contradiction, one minute wanting Olivia to grow up and the next threatening to call their mother. Not exactly grown up behavior to me. Miranda could use her own psychotherapy.
The point is that as the novel continues, Olivia grows increasingly uncomfortable living by Miranda's rules. She becomes surly and edgy then finally demands they fly to Africa for the last two days of their trip because it's so close. She eventually sheds the conventions of life as Miranda and her mother see it and finds her own way.
The only thing that really bothered me about this novel was how heavily it borrowed from A Room With A View. The plot was almost the same with the same type of characters, even some of the same names. Even the trip at the end, was part of A Room With a View. Forester's novel was pointing out the restrictive life of Victorian England for women and how silly it all was. A single girl and her chaperone shouldn't have a room with a view simply because a man and his son had been staying in it. The conventions of that life were made up of ridiculous rules as the life of Miranda is. "I'll call mom and tell her." "Don't wander off on your own." "I hope she'll learn to care about politics. It's embarrassing." How do any of these things make a person grown up or not?
I think this is definitely a novel worth reading. For all the people that didn't think anything happened, look again. Olivia grew into her own person. She shook off her fears of growing up. She didn't become her mother, or Miranda. And she found someone that understood her. I think it's an incredibly important lesson to learn, that growing up means different things to different people and we shouldn't impose our definitions of it on people. Don't color in the lines if you don't want to. Think inside the box if you want. But do it your way, don't let anyone else tell you how.
I guess I should start in the beginning. Olivia has had a psychotic break. Her father died. She wasn't close to him, he left in her childhood, but everything that she seems to hold onto or identify with seems related to her childhood. She doesn't want to make that step into adulthood, leaving home, going to college, putting away childish things. Of course, that's how the two women in her family see life. After high school, you become an adult and become responsible and you put away childish things, like freedom and imagination, and spontaneity. Her mother even threatens to throw away her childhood books which she is clinging to like a lifejacket in a hurricane. She even brings A Wrinkle in Time with her on the trip with her to Spain, she can't bear to be separated from her childhood books.
Miranda is about as much fun as a box of stale crackers. She complains from the minute they get off the plane and it doesn't stop. She even complains when the affable Browns, father and son, give up their private room so the sisters don't have to sleep in a mixed dorm like room. At every turn she finds something wrong with them or agrees with something ugly the travel writer Eleanor aka Lenny says.
Miranda throws her lot in with Lenny, but it really seems that no one but she can stand Lenny. Even the priest can't stand her, and Lenny can't stand him. And she has a lot to say about the Browns as well.
But you know those fickle fates, what must be, must be and Olivia and Greg Brown find themselves alone together in the must unusual places. With him, Olivia still feels alive and young, her youth and childhood still lives. She can still keep her imagination and her curiosity of a child. She doesn't have to be all responsible and grown up like Miranda. Stiff and threatening. Miranda is a contradiction, one minute wanting Olivia to grow up and the next threatening to call their mother. Not exactly grown up behavior to me. Miranda could use her own psychotherapy.
The point is that as the novel continues, Olivia grows increasingly uncomfortable living by Miranda's rules. She becomes surly and edgy then finally demands they fly to Africa for the last two days of their trip because it's so close. She eventually sheds the conventions of life as Miranda and her mother see it and finds her own way.
The only thing that really bothered me about this novel was how heavily it borrowed from A Room With A View. The plot was almost the same with the same type of characters, even some of the same names. Even the trip at the end, was part of A Room With a View. Forester's novel was pointing out the restrictive life of Victorian England for women and how silly it all was. A single girl and her chaperone shouldn't have a room with a view simply because a man and his son had been staying in it. The conventions of that life were made up of ridiculous rules as the life of Miranda is. "I'll call mom and tell her." "Don't wander off on your own." "I hope she'll learn to care about politics. It's embarrassing." How do any of these things make a person grown up or not?
I think this is definitely a novel worth reading. For all the people that didn't think anything happened, look again. Olivia grew into her own person. She shook off her fears of growing up. She didn't become her mother, or Miranda. And she found someone that understood her. I think it's an incredibly important lesson to learn, that growing up means different things to different people and we shouldn't impose our definitions of it on people. Don't color in the lines if you don't want to. Think inside the box if you want. But do it your way, don't let anyone else tell you how.
raidingbookshelves's review against another edition
3.0
Original Language: English
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Country: USA
Publication Date: June 15 2011
ISBN: 9781610880190
Page Count: 160
eARC provided by NetGalley
Hannah Sternberg's debut novel is a thrilling coming-of-age adventure where control is taken over by the whimsical and imagination moves in leaps and bounds. Queens of All the World is the story of sisters Olivia and Miranda, separated by more than just age. Olivia is unwilling to release the wonder of her childhood while Miranda believes herself beyond it's call.
Queens of All the Earth is an outstanding first book, one that will capture hearts with it's elaborate but gentle prose and exquisite descriptions of Barcelona. Written in the third person, Sternberg keeps her characters at a distant, leaving the reader on the wrong side of the Looking Glass. Her prose is beautiful and the fanciful detail given to Barcelona's country side (dragon teeth) creates a magical background.
Olivia is sweet and fanciful, a fragile flower compared to her organised, no nonsense and over protective sister Miranda. With chapter titles like "Motionless, Forgetful, Where" the reader is offered a brief insight into the complexity of Olivia's vulnerability. From Olivia's delicacy; her uncertainty over growing older and her grief over the death of her father; Sternberg weaves a tale of growth and maturity that any reader can empathise with.
It is Olivia's fear of losing her childhood, and her connection with her childhood favourites, like A Wrinkle in Time, that makes her an accessible character. In an article on children's literature C.S Lewis argued that reading 'children's books' as an adult signifies growth, as the individual comes to appreciate more from their world while still appreciating their past. Instead of giving up that past, they add to it. In Queens, Olivia's fears of letting go of her childhood are softened by an acceptance that there is more in the world for her to appreciate. For Miranda it was the opposite, she needed to learn that her childhood was a part of her, and to accept it in order to grow.
The one thing I waited for, that never happened, was for Olivia to get tired of Miranda's mothering. As a young adult myself, having one mother hovering is enough, there are times when you must accept responsibility for yourself. Miranda's over protectiveness was crushing Olivia's sweetness, and it agitated me. It wasn't until the finale, when Miranda learns to let go and let Olivia live, that I started to appreciate her character. (What I wanted Olivia to say to Miranda)
Queens of All the Earth was an amazing debut novel for Hannah Sternberg. It had a sweetness and a purity that I have rarely come across in YA fiction. Instead of focusing on the trivialities of lust, sex and peer pressure, Sternberg created an amazing coming-of-age story that reminded me of Perks of Being a Wallflower in its sincerity.
****
Judging by the cover: Having never been to Barcelona, I can only assume the building on the cover is one of the beautiful examples of architecture visited by the sisters in the book. Perhaps the bell tower atop the church where Olivia encounters Greg and his Father. The cover has a degree of whimsy, but isn't stand out.
Publisher: Bancroft Press
Country: USA
Publication Date: June 15 2011
ISBN: 9781610880190
Page Count: 160
eARC provided by NetGalley
Hannah Sternberg's debut novel is a thrilling coming-of-age adventure where control is taken over by the whimsical and imagination moves in leaps and bounds. Queens of All the World is the story of sisters Olivia and Miranda, separated by more than just age. Olivia is unwilling to release the wonder of her childhood while Miranda believes herself beyond it's call.
Queens of All the Earth is an outstanding first book, one that will capture hearts with it's elaborate but gentle prose and exquisite descriptions of Barcelona. Written in the third person, Sternberg keeps her characters at a distant, leaving the reader on the wrong side of the Looking Glass. Her prose is beautiful and the fanciful detail given to Barcelona's country side (dragon teeth) creates a magical background.
Olivia is sweet and fanciful, a fragile flower compared to her organised, no nonsense and over protective sister Miranda. With chapter titles like "Motionless, Forgetful, Where" the reader is offered a brief insight into the complexity of Olivia's vulnerability. From Olivia's delicacy; her uncertainty over growing older and her grief over the death of her father; Sternberg weaves a tale of growth and maturity that any reader can empathise with.
It is Olivia's fear of losing her childhood, and her connection with her childhood favourites, like A Wrinkle in Time, that makes her an accessible character. In an article on children's literature C.S Lewis argued that reading 'children's books' as an adult signifies growth, as the individual comes to appreciate more from their world while still appreciating their past. Instead of giving up that past, they add to it. In Queens, Olivia's fears of letting go of her childhood are softened by an acceptance that there is more in the world for her to appreciate. For Miranda it was the opposite, she needed to learn that her childhood was a part of her, and to accept it in order to grow.
The one thing I waited for, that never happened, was for Olivia to get tired of Miranda's mothering. As a young adult myself, having one mother hovering is enough, there are times when you must accept responsibility for yourself. Miranda's over protectiveness was crushing Olivia's sweetness, and it agitated me. It wasn't until the finale, when Miranda learns to let go and let Olivia live, that I started to appreciate her character. (What I wanted Olivia to say to Miranda)
Queens of All the Earth was an amazing debut novel for Hannah Sternberg. It had a sweetness and a purity that I have rarely come across in YA fiction. Instead of focusing on the trivialities of lust, sex and peer pressure, Sternberg created an amazing coming-of-age story that reminded me of Perks of Being a Wallflower in its sincerity.
****
Judging by the cover: Having never been to Barcelona, I can only assume the building on the cover is one of the beautiful examples of architecture visited by the sisters in the book. Perhaps the bell tower atop the church where Olivia encounters Greg and his Father. The cover has a degree of whimsy, but isn't stand out.
lindagreen's review against another edition
2.0
Queens of the Earth by Hannah Sternberg (galley proof) starts off exceptionally dark and bleak when Olivia, on the verge of moving into Cornell University, suffers a mental breakdown. Still detached from the world itself, her big sister decides they need a “break” and the two are off to Barcelona for a week. This book moves VERY slow, a product of wall of text writing. Perhaps the author intended to give us a cloudy view of the world (what Olivia might be seeing) but as the book is written in third person we don’t get that and instead, just get long repetitive paragraphs of description and narrative. Some of the descriptions were beautiful and elegantly written. However, it was the sheer number of them that brought the pace of the novel down.
The characters are not exactly lovable. The sister Miranda is irritating and Olivia is just too disconnected from the real world to make the reader care much about them. If you can accept that, though, you will find that both sisters do learn and grow as the story progresses. Overall, I think this book will move too slowly for a YA audience and will be too “juvenile” for an adult audience. That said, it may serve as a stepping stone for a YA audience looking to branch into more literary fiction reading as opposed to standard dialogue driven fiction.
The characters are not exactly lovable. The sister Miranda is irritating and Olivia is just too disconnected from the real world to make the reader care much about them. If you can accept that, though, you will find that both sisters do learn and grow as the story progresses. Overall, I think this book will move too slowly for a YA audience and will be too “juvenile” for an adult audience. That said, it may serve as a stepping stone for a YA audience looking to branch into more literary fiction reading as opposed to standard dialogue driven fiction.
reader_fictions's review
4.0
A Room with a View is my favorite movie of all time (to date at least) and one of my favorite books, so when I saw a book on NetGalley that was all about it, I knew that it had to be. Retellings can be quite a tricky business, because, while the author needs to do something original, they also need to stay true to the nature of the original story. Sternberg has done a good job here, although clearly much has been changed, particularly the time line and the additional focus on Miranda.
Sternberg decided to change all of the names, although some are quite similar. The story, however, can easily be compared to that of A Room with a View. Certain scenes are nearly exactly the same as those in the original, even though, all in all, the story takes a rather different trajectory and the soul searching is needed for entirely different reasons.
There were two huge changes from the original novel. 1) There was no Cecil. Everything gets wrapped up, to the degree that things are 'wrapped up' during the time frame of the trip, whereas in the original Lucy Honeychurch (now Olivia) goes home after her trip and tries to continue living as she used to, despite having been changed by her experiences in Italy (not Spain). 2) The character of Mr. Beebe is re-envisioned as Marc Castillo, a handsome young man preparing to take orders. Marc is in no way the same character as Mr. Beebe, although I cannot say why in deference to spoilers.
Overall, I definitely approve of what Sternberg has done here, even if I do miss some of the elements she cut and find her chapter titles a bit over the top. Ultimately, she keeps much of the spirit of the original, particularly in the characters of the Browns and Miranda (it's nice to see more depth into the Charlotte character). Lenny, too, is spot on for her counterpart, although I never did like her much. This is a brief, romantic story about two young women trying to find themselves in a beautiful, foreign landscape. Lovers of A Room with a View will likely appreciate this adaptation for its heart and obvious love for the original.
Sternberg decided to change all of the names, although some are quite similar. The story, however, can easily be compared to that of A Room with a View. Certain scenes are nearly exactly the same as those in the original, even though, all in all, the story takes a rather different trajectory and the soul searching is needed for entirely different reasons.
There were two huge changes from the original novel. 1) There was no Cecil. Everything gets wrapped up, to the degree that things are 'wrapped up' during the time frame of the trip, whereas in the original Lucy Honeychurch (now Olivia) goes home after her trip and tries to continue living as she used to, despite having been changed by her experiences in Italy (not Spain). 2) The character of Mr. Beebe is re-envisioned as Marc Castillo, a handsome young man preparing to take orders. Marc is in no way the same character as Mr. Beebe, although I cannot say why in deference to spoilers.
Overall, I definitely approve of what Sternberg has done here, even if I do miss some of the elements she cut and find her chapter titles a bit over the top. Ultimately, she keeps much of the spirit of the original, particularly in the characters of the Browns and Miranda (it's nice to see more depth into the Charlotte character). Lenny, too, is spot on for her counterpart, although I never did like her much. This is a brief, romantic story about two young women trying to find themselves in a beautiful, foreign landscape. Lovers of A Room with a View will likely appreciate this adaptation for its heart and obvious love for the original.
themaddiest's review
2.0
On the day she’s supposed to start at Cornell University, Olivia Somerset sits catatonic in her bed. Diagnosed with a nervous breakdown, it takes months of recovery before Olivia is in motion again. A trip to Barcelona with her older sister Miranda seems to be the final attempt to get Olivia back on track. Once there, the two encounter a wide variety of characters at their hostel, including a clergyman and his son, Greg, who immediately takes an interest in Olivia. As the two girls explore the sometimes wild city, Olivia works to understand her reticence to step into adulthood as she struggles with her budding feelings for Greg.
Sternberg’s debut novel is a modern retelling of E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View, a classic story which Sternberg has attempted to update by incorporating her generation’s issues with adulthood and growing up (Sternberg herself is in her early twenties). There is also inspiration drawn from e.e. cummings’s poem “orientale,” which is where the novel gets its title. All of this is fine enough on its own, but Sternberg’s well-written novel doesn’t ever quite deliver on what it attempts to do.
The problems begin with the fact that Sternberg doesn’t spend any time on developing her characters. A lack of development of any of the characters means that readers don’t connect to the plight of each of the girls, and what’s worse is that it’s difficult to sympathize or even understand them when they face conflict late in the story. Olivia’s romance with Greg–and Miranda’s flirtation with a priest about to take his orders–never get off the ground and never feel like more than cardboard attempts at romantic connections.
A lack of character development could be forgiven if the plotting moved quickly enough to make up for it. However, this is not the case. Too often, Sternberg’s narration becomes overwrought, the plot and pacing stalling out as the girls contemplate their situation and their surroundings. There isn’t enough story here to propel even the 160 short pages of this novel, and the result is a slow (kinder reviewers might refer to this as “deliberate”) pace that offers too little in excitement or interest.
Finally, the novel’s third person omniscient narration is jarring and often confusing. It’s an ambiguous point of view to use in a story, and it does nothing to serve the story or its characters here. Some readers might not mind the point of view, but this reviewer found it hard to connect to anything in the story as a result.
It’s not all bad, though. Readers who enjoy stories about sisters or travel might find value in Sternberg’s work. It’s a quiet little tale, and while it seems to be short on character development and actual plot, it’s certainly an interesting idea. I just wish it had been executed better.
The Queens of All the Earth by Hannah Sternberg. Bancroft Press: 2011. Electronic galley accepted for review via NetGalley.
Sternberg’s debut novel is a modern retelling of E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View, a classic story which Sternberg has attempted to update by incorporating her generation’s issues with adulthood and growing up (Sternberg herself is in her early twenties). There is also inspiration drawn from e.e. cummings’s poem “orientale,” which is where the novel gets its title. All of this is fine enough on its own, but Sternberg’s well-written novel doesn’t ever quite deliver on what it attempts to do.
The problems begin with the fact that Sternberg doesn’t spend any time on developing her characters. A lack of development of any of the characters means that readers don’t connect to the plight of each of the girls, and what’s worse is that it’s difficult to sympathize or even understand them when they face conflict late in the story. Olivia’s romance with Greg–and Miranda’s flirtation with a priest about to take his orders–never get off the ground and never feel like more than cardboard attempts at romantic connections.
A lack of character development could be forgiven if the plotting moved quickly enough to make up for it. However, this is not the case. Too often, Sternberg’s narration becomes overwrought, the plot and pacing stalling out as the girls contemplate their situation and their surroundings. There isn’t enough story here to propel even the 160 short pages of this novel, and the result is a slow (kinder reviewers might refer to this as “deliberate”) pace that offers too little in excitement or interest.
Finally, the novel’s third person omniscient narration is jarring and often confusing. It’s an ambiguous point of view to use in a story, and it does nothing to serve the story or its characters here. Some readers might not mind the point of view, but this reviewer found it hard to connect to anything in the story as a result.
It’s not all bad, though. Readers who enjoy stories about sisters or travel might find value in Sternberg’s work. It’s a quiet little tale, and while it seems to be short on character development and actual plot, it’s certainly an interesting idea. I just wish it had been executed better.
The Queens of All the Earth by Hannah Sternberg. Bancroft Press: 2011. Electronic galley accepted for review via NetGalley.
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