THE MIDNIGHT QUEEN
SUMMARY
Gray’s deep talent for magick has won him a place at Merlin College. But when he accompanies four fellow students on a mysterious midnight errand that ends in disaster and death, he is sent away in disgrace—and without a trace of his power. He must spend the summer under the watchful eye of his domineering professor, Appius Callender, working in the gardens of Callender’s country estate and hoping to recover his abilities. And it is there, toiling away on a summer afternoon, that he meets the professor’s daughter.
Even though she has no talent of her own, Sophie Callender longs to be educated in the lore of magick. Her father has kept her isolated at the estate and forbidden her interest; everyone knows that teaching arcane magickal theory to women is the height of impropriety. But against her father’s wishes, Sophie has studied his ancient volumes on the subject. And in the tall, stammering, yet oddly charming Gray, she finally finds someone who encourages her interest and awakens new ideas and feelings.
Sophie and Gray’s meeting touches off a series of events that begins to unravel secrets about each of them. And after the king’s closest advisor pays the professor a closed-door visit, they begin to wonder if what Gray witnessed in Oxford might be even more sinister than it seemed. They are determined to find out, no matter the cost…
REVIEW
Part romance, part fantasy, and part historical
fiction, fans of Mary Robinette Kowal and Marie Brennan will thoroughly enjoy
The Midnight Queen.
While I ended up liking The Midnight
Queen, it was slow going at first. Don’t get me wrong, Sophie and Gray are good
characters and as the book moves along Hunter is able to develop their
characters even more, but for the first part of the book it was a lot of
building without a lot of reward.
Of top of that, while I liked Sophie
and Gray, in my opinion they had to carry much of the story, as many of the
other characters felt relatively flat.
That said, once the story gets going
it really starts moving. Readers will enjoy the chess like plotting and
conniving, the disguises and secrets, and the love story aspect.
All in all, while the beginning is a
little slow, once you get through the initial sluggishness the story and the characters
develop quite the book. Definitely worth looking into if you’re a fan of
historical fantasy.
INFO
Publisher: Ace
Published: September 2, 2014
Price: $15.00
Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Queen-Noctis-Magicae-Novel-ebook/dp/B00IOE4N52/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409798314&sr=8-1&keywords=the+midnight+queen
