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A review by skelleybean
Pale Queen Rising by A.R. Kahler
2.0
In Pale Queen Rising , Claire, a mortal who has spent most of her life in the world of Faerie, is an assassin for the Queen of Winter. She has one job-- torture and kill anyone that stands in the way of Mab getting all of the Dream she needs to run her kingdom. when a simple hit on a leak in Dream turns into a search for a new Faerie power on the rise, Claire must quickly turn from assassin to detective if Mab's kingdom is to survive. With the help of Eli, a demon from another astral plane, Claire makes several stops, both in the world of Faerie and the mortal world, as she follows the trail to find out who is assisting this new Pale Queen.
This book was... fine. Is it a great piece of literature? No. Is it a good example of an urban fantasy novel? Not really. Was it entertaining? It must have been if I actually finished it.
The world of this book is probably the most interesting part about it. In this story, there is a world known as Faerie, divided by two Kingdoms-- Winter, which is run by Mab, and Summer, which is run by a king named Oberon (who you never actually meet). This world exist next to the mortal world, and the two can interact in different ways. The main reason the two world need to interact at all is because of Dream. Whenever a human experiences something entertaining-- like a play, or a concert, or a circus-- they release Dream, which representative from each Kingdom gather and return to either side. This is not only the life force, but also the currency of their world.
Other than that, the rest of the book was... lacking. All of the characters were cardboard cutouts, lacking depth and drive. Claire is by far the worst of these-- she's a true assassin stereotype, not allowed to feel any kind of emotion... except the desire to have sex with any attractive person. The only description really any character gets is whether they're HOT or not-- if they are, Claire interacts with them. If they aren't, they aren't really important to her. I also have a problem with the way that Claire describes herself (therefore, the way the author describes her). Near the beginning she describes herself as a "bombshell in a leather jacket," and I don't know why that rubbed me the wrong way, but it did. I think part of it is because this is a male author writing about a female character that only ever amounts to brooding sexpot. The way she is written also feels very juvenile-- she feels like what a fourteen-year-old thinks a sexy character should be like.
In fact, when I first started reading this book, I actually thought this was a young adult novel-- the tone and writing style felt juvenile and young (not youthful, which is different-- this felt like a young person trying to create a mature world and failing because they've never been part of the mature world). At first I was like "Ok cool, I'm down for some young adult urban fantasy...." Until I got to a part where she starts describing her sex live and sexual encounters, and I was like "Wait... is this actually a YA novel? It's not, but I was still confused throughout because the tone was just off.
Overall, this was not some great piece of literature or even a good example of urban fantasy. I want to know more about the world but not about these particular characters.
This book was... fine. Is it a great piece of literature? No. Is it a good example of an urban fantasy novel? Not really. Was it entertaining? It must have been if I actually finished it.
The world of this book is probably the most interesting part about it. In this story, there is a world known as Faerie, divided by two Kingdoms-- Winter, which is run by Mab, and Summer, which is run by a king named Oberon (who you never actually meet). This world exist next to the mortal world, and the two can interact in different ways. The main reason the two world need to interact at all is because of Dream. Whenever a human experiences something entertaining-- like a play, or a concert, or a circus-- they release Dream, which representative from each Kingdom gather and return to either side. This is not only the life force, but also the currency of their world.
Other than that, the rest of the book was... lacking. All of the characters were cardboard cutouts, lacking depth and drive. Claire is by far the worst of these-- she's a true assassin stereotype, not allowed to feel any kind of emotion... except the desire to have sex with any attractive person. The only description really any character gets is whether they're HOT or not-- if they are, Claire interacts with them. If they aren't, they aren't really important to her. I also have a problem with the way that Claire describes herself (therefore, the way the author describes her). Near the beginning she describes herself as a "bombshell in a leather jacket," and I don't know why that rubbed me the wrong way, but it did. I think part of it is because this is a male author writing about a female character that only ever amounts to brooding sexpot. The way she is written also feels very juvenile-- she feels like what a fourteen-year-old thinks a sexy character should be like.
In fact, when I first started reading this book, I actually thought this was a young adult novel-- the tone and writing style felt juvenile and young (not youthful, which is different-- this felt like a young person trying to create a mature world and failing because they've never been part of the mature world). At first I was like "Ok cool, I'm down for some young adult urban fantasy...." Until I got to a part where she starts describing her sex live and sexual encounters, and I was like "Wait... is this actually a YA novel? It's not, but I was still confused throughout because the tone was just off.
Overall, this was not some great piece of literature or even a good example of urban fantasy. I want to know more about the world but not about these particular characters.