A review by celiaedf12
Shadow Queen by Deborah Kalin

3.0

I enjoyed this tense, dark fantasy, about Matilde, the heir to the throne, and the considerable political upheaval that takes place in her land. I was a bit concerned that the story was edging towards a falling-in-love-with-a-captor thing, which is one of my pet hates. It's ends ambigiously - there's clearly a lot more story to come, and ends in a fairly dark place - and so it's not clear whether Matilde's feelings (whatever they are, and even she is not sure) are the result of a sort of Stockholm syndrome.

I like the uncertain nature of this novel, Matilde's desperate attempts to regain and secure power, the desperate sense of how much is at stake. It's not a cliffhanger ending (not a happy end, but not really a cliffhanger) which is nice in a series where you have to wait for the next book to be published.