Book Spotlight: Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston

Welcome to book spotlight where instead of giving you another book review, I’m just going to talk about books I’ve read recently that I enjoyed. Prepare yourself for the fangirl gushing.

Lesley Livingston continues to surprise me every time I read one of her books. I adore that her stories always dive deep into whichever mythology the book is based on and I love that her female protagonists are always such badasses while also still being human. Yes, they can wield sharp weapons and prove their worth but they have emotions and personalities, too.

Queen Among the Dead follows Neve, a princess who wants to be something more than just second best. She wants to be king–that’s right, king, not queen. Like all of Lesley’s characters, Neve is freaking awesome. She’s determined and smart. She knows what she wants and she goes after it with everything she has. I love her journey. I love what she does to maker herself into the king her people needs.

This book also follows Ronan, an ex-Druid who has more magic brimming inside him than he knows what to do with. Ronan is also an excellent character. He has that perfect balance of dark, broody boy and also a soft heart to care for Neve despite his best efforts to stay away from her. I also love his journey of coming to terms with who he is and embracing something different than expected.

I also love their relationship that starts off as wary allies, turns into sorta enemies, and eventually ends with them coming to terms with how entwined their lives are and that they are better off together. I also appreciate that the romance is a side plot that flows into the main plot and doesn’t overwhelm it or take over.

This book also has awesome side characters, epic Celtic mythology and magic, excitement and adventure, and such a fantastic ending. While at first, the story started off a bit slow and I spent a lot of the book mixed up by all the Celtic names and references, the story really does pull through in the end. I can tell Lesley knows her Celtic mythology and I love how in-depth it was, even if I struggled to keep track of who was who and what was what when it came to the gods and stories.

But other than that, Queen Among the Dead is a solid YA fantasy with awesome magic and mythology and even better characters.

~I received an early digital copy of Queen Among the Dead from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.~