The Queen of All that Dies (#1) - Laura Thalassa [Review]

Book: The Queen of All that Dies (#1)

Author: Laura Thalassa

Published: 15th January 2016

Publisher: Burning Ember Press

Pages: 327

Rating: 4/5 stars

So one day, I was browsing through the Amazon Kindle app and I stumbled across this book. It looked interesting enough and had fairly positive reviews on Goodreads, so I thought, why not give it a go.

For me, this was an enjoyable and fun read, with a slightly daft story-line, but there's heaps of potential for the second book.

Now, when I say this was a fun read, I by no means took the book too seriously, and I think it is best if you're in that mindset when approaching it too. This is not a criticism, merely advice. There are several outrageous and ridiculous sections in this book, and the romance between the two main characters is equally ridiculous, but altogether enjoyable if you don't go in expecting to read the literary works of Shakespeare or anything. 

Saying that, the heroine makes draws several parallels between her and her love and Romeo and Juliet, and I just find myself thinking - she does know they die in the end right? 

There are also several comparisons to be made in terms of Beauty and the Beast and Hades and Persephone, the latter being one of my favourite story-lines and myths, and these comparisons definitely serve to make the story-line work.

The characters are engaging and the dialogue easy to read and exciting. Serenity is everything I enjoy in a female character, she has a strong, no bullshit attitude, she is suitably enraged by suffering, and in life, she strives to be equal to men, as opposed to being inferior. 

Although her romance with Montes is very much a case of insta-love (at least partly, for both characters), in approaching the story in a more light-hearted way, I did not mind too much. I liked the character of Serenity enough to feel okay with the automatic love, particularly as both characters can be considered as ~monsters~ in their own right, and therefore loving does not come naturally to them, so it takes them both by surprise. Although, lust is probably more of an accurate description of what they have throughout a lot of the novel. Montes has some fun dialogue and although there are a few sex scenes (so probably not appropriate for the younger reader) these aren't too cringe-worthy, and are fairly tasteful. Montes loves being the alpha-male killing machine, and you do you, Montes, you do you. 

The best parts of this novel are the scenes between Serenity and Montes; I didn't much care for the other supporting characters such as Will etc., however luckily, they didn't feature too much.  

A lot happens in this book and the writing is incredibly fast paced. This means readers are unlikely to get bored and therefore makes for a quick and enjoyable read. I have high hopes for the sequel. There are parallels to be made between this book, and Shadow & Bone or A Court of Thorns and Roses, so if you liked those books, you may indeed like this too.