Greetings, readers! Happy Monday, and welcome to Fiction Fairies. Today I'll be reviewing The Wolf Queen, which is the second book in the Arcadia series by Kelley Heckart.
A new twist on Beauty and the Beast and the Greek myth of Lycaon the werewolf. A Bronze Age fantasy, adventure, and romance set in Arcadia, the wild forests of the goddess Artemis... Game of Thrones meets The Iliad...
A tormented wolf man... A mysterious girl with a terrible secret...
Alara, a princess from a foreign land, is forced to wed the sorcer-king Aramond, a power-hungry warlord who discovers her dark secret and wants to use her to create an invincible army. When she meets Lycaon, she must decide if she should trust the cursed, tormented half-man half-wolf who might be her enemy or her true mate.
Lycaon, once a great king until her was cursed by Zeus to be a werewolf, is drawn to the mysterious princess. He is torn between helping Alara escape and using her to gain power over those who despise him.
Secrets abound and old enemies are reunited to battle Aramon before his terrible plan is unleashed. Time is running out as the dark moon approaches. Soon, Arcadia will be overrun with an unstoppable, vicious army unless Aramon can be defeated. To prevent his victory, the cost is high. As Lycaon's affection for Alara grows, it becomes more difficult for him to decide which to save: Arcadia or her.
Copy of The Wolf Queen provided by the author for an honest review
Tomorrow, I have an AP Chem test. Therefore, being the amazing student I am, I decided to binge-read a book. I chose this one.
I need to stress the fact that for the past month, I've been reading urban fantasy. Like, by the boatload. And a lot of the ones I've been reading are highly polished, very popular series. So the jump to a different genre was probably a poor idea.
The Wolf Queen is a blend of mythology and paranormal/fantasy romance - and I can honestly say I haven't read anything quite like it. Normally I stay away from mythology... It's not my thing, unless it's a Persephone re-write. So please bear this in mind: mythological fantasy romance just ain't my cup of tea. Not anything against this book or others like it, I just don't enjoy it as much.
That being said...
The characters in The Wolf Queen are an interesting bunch. We have a mysterious young woman Alara who is both fierce and vulnerable. Lycaon is a moody man cursed to be a werewolf (basically) and holds Alara's fate in his hands. He's... Well, you either like him or you don't. He was a bit dominating and broody for my taste, but I'm hypersensitive to bouts of brooding so
There's a ton of other characters that I'm too lazy to write about because I actually intend to study for AP Chem eventually.
The romance did not click with me. I'm not sure if I got used to a slow build (from the previous UF series I've been reading) or what, but this felt like insta-love and insta-lust to me. I mean... Hmm... Just... Less than a week to fall in love???
I'm sure it happens, but I'm more of the mindset "I'll believe it when I see it".
It probably works for ancient Greek times because, hey, their life spans were hella short.
The plot was very exciting and changed constantly. I never knew what was going to happen and it kept going places I didn't anticipate.
To conclude: If mythological fantasy romance is your thing, check it out! If not, I still don't see how it'd hurt. It was a fun, lighter read and all.
Disclaimer: I haven't read the first in the series so I was kind of confused when I read The Wolf Queen.
Thank you Kelley Heckart for providing the ebook!
If you have any comments to share, I'd love to hear them.
Kisses~
Cassie
A new twist on Beauty and the Beast and the Greek myth of Lycaon the werewolf. A Bronze Age fantasy, adventure, and romance set in Arcadia, the wild forests of the goddess Artemis... Game of Thrones meets The Iliad...A tormented wolf man... A mysterious girl with a terrible secret...
Alara, a princess from a foreign land, is forced to wed the sorcer-king Aramond, a power-hungry warlord who discovers her dark secret and wants to use her to create an invincible army. When she meets Lycaon, she must decide if she should trust the cursed, tormented half-man half-wolf who might be her enemy or her true mate.
Lycaon, once a great king until her was cursed by Zeus to be a werewolf, is drawn to the mysterious princess. He is torn between helping Alara escape and using her to gain power over those who despise him.
Secrets abound and old enemies are reunited to battle Aramon before his terrible plan is unleashed. Time is running out as the dark moon approaches. Soon, Arcadia will be overrun with an unstoppable, vicious army unless Aramon can be defeated. To prevent his victory, the cost is high. As Lycaon's affection for Alara grows, it becomes more difficult for him to decide which to save: Arcadia or her.
Copy of The Wolf Queen provided by the author for an honest review
Tomorrow, I have an AP Chem test. Therefore, being the amazing student I am, I decided to binge-read a book. I chose this one.
I need to stress the fact that for the past month, I've been reading urban fantasy. Like, by the boatload. And a lot of the ones I've been reading are highly polished, very popular series. So the jump to a different genre was probably a poor idea.
The Wolf Queen is a blend of mythology and paranormal/fantasy romance - and I can honestly say I haven't read anything quite like it. Normally I stay away from mythology... It's not my thing, unless it's a Persephone re-write. So please bear this in mind: mythological fantasy romance just ain't my cup of tea. Not anything against this book or others like it, I just don't enjoy it as much.
That being said...
The characters in The Wolf Queen are an interesting bunch. We have a mysterious young woman Alara who is both fierce and vulnerable. Lycaon is a moody man cursed to be a werewolf (basically) and holds Alara's fate in his hands. He's... Well, you either like him or you don't. He was a bit dominating and broody for my taste, but I'm hypersensitive to bouts of brooding so
The romance did not click with me. I'm not sure if I got used to a slow build (from the previous UF series I've been reading) or what, but this felt like insta-love and insta-lust to me. I mean... Hmm... Just... Less than a week to fall in love???
I'm sure it happens, but I'm more of the mindset "I'll believe it when I see it".
It probably works for ancient Greek times because, hey, their life spans were hella short.
The plot was very exciting and changed constantly. I never knew what was going to happen and it kept going places I didn't anticipate.
To conclude: If mythological fantasy romance is your thing, check it out! If not, I still don't see how it'd hurt. It was a fun, lighter read and all.
Disclaimer: I haven't read the first in the series so I was kind of confused when I read The Wolf Queen.
Thank you Kelley Heckart for providing the ebook!
If you have any comments to share, I'd love to hear them.
Kisses~
Cassie
This seems like an interesting read. I haven't read any books by Kelly Heckart before, but I guess I'm going to make my pick with this one.
ReplyDeleteI am a thorough fiction reader and this blog has helped me a lot with fiding the best reads for myself. This book was also in my list and i am soo glad to get the reviews from here.
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