Reviews with content warning for Rape - Die Schwarze Königin

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Die Schwarze Königin by Christina Henry

10 reviews

runningdowndelaney's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Here we are, falling back down the rabbit hole. At a high level, I did prefer this book to Alice; less for it being better than Alice, but more for pulling away from the heavy handed metaphor used in Alice and trying something else. However, it does come stuffed with its own issues, and I came away just feeling frustrated. There is something promising here, but it fumbles most of the opportunities sent its way.

Red Queen picks up immediately after the end of Alice, with Hatcher and Alice passing through tunnels to escape the Old City and look for Hatcher's daughter, Jenny. When they emerge, they find a land of ashes. It is very quickly established that

the giant rabbit Pipkin and the girls Alice and Hatcher saved in the last book have been killed

, removing any further character development. Alice and Hatcher bumble without much of a plan, and it reads as a fetch quest again. Go here, hear about this, onwards. Hatcher quickly falls under the thrall of the White Queen, and we are left with Alice. Which is unfortunate, as I have met wooden blocks with more personality. She goes through The White Queen's forest, pootles in a village beset by the Black King, and then heads to the castle for what is meant to be a showdown with The White Queen to get her mad Hatcher back and continue the quest for Jenny that she's only half brought into anyway.

Alice has to be told what to do. Even when (seemingly) on her own, Chesire continues to tune in and offer advice and command her what to do. Her few efforts at being independent just end up with her in trouble, and then following the advice of the external character anyway. There is a constant dichotomy of her disbelieving magic and things that seem impossible with the fact that not only have these things happened, but she has experience with very similar circumstances? She bootles about, suddenly having revelations here and there, and that's about it. As for the Red Queen, someone the book is named after? Oh, sorry -

It isn't a metaphor for Alice and her Magic; it's another queen who was murdered before the story started, we see once as a body, and then it's Alice using her Magic via medium of haunted tiara. It could have been a fun conflict of the Red Queen having her own agency rather than being little more than a feeling that luckily aligns with Alice's goals.

. The heavy handed metaphor does rear it's head a spot with Alice facing the goblin, but she is able to overcome him swiftly.

In this though, there are some strong points which should have been explored, such as with Magic. In the previous book, it was established

Magic can be taken from other Magicians

, and that's in play here with the Black King --

as Bajrke, he drank the blood of a sorcerer and gained his powers.

We also see the spectrum of magic users, and the impact of Magic being in your veins -

Bjarke is burning up by taking the magic forcibly and it not aligning with his own goals; the White Queen, similar to Red Queen, a vibe that takes on a host and requires additional hosts to sustain herself -- there's a creepy image of a nursery with children possessed with magic that could have been expanded.

Even Alice has something going on with her Magic, initially struggling to manifest anything after the end of the last book. If that was given more focus, and Alice was allowed to overcome her challenges herself rather than, once again, relying on an external source to sort it for her, it could have been far more compelling. Even the twist

Jenny is the latest White Queen, who is then killed in the next five pages (which are ten from the end of the book)

could have been expanded and explored -- maybe even as a mid book climax, and then the characters dealing with the aftermath of that?

A quick complaint on the structure of the book - where have the chapters got to? The book is divided in two halves as warned in other reviews, and chapters would have at least broken up the narrative into distinct blocks. Not that continuous narrative isn't a wonderful literary device -- it's more the book is trying to have its cake, and eat it too. There are gaps of double spaced lines to represent a new textual block -- surely that's a need for a chapter if it's happening so frequently?

Overall, this is an improvement, but there are still many glaring issues that can't bring it higher than a 2 star.

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tlvz721's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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az13's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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consistentlyinconsistent's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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sandra_bwf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

georgiagrace's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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hope2395's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A great continuation of the previous book. Introduces a totally new environment that still feels like it belongs in the same world as the first. Love every page of it

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