Synopsis
A LIBRARIAN. A SPELL BOOK. AND A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION SET ON ENSLAVING THE WORLD.
Librarian Jayne Thorne enjoys her quiet life of tea and books. That is, until she finds a spell book in the Vanderbilt archives that accidentally gives her access to a magical dimension.
Now she’s hunted by a magic-wielding terrorist group called the Kingdom, and the only way for her to survive is to team up with a secret branch of the CIA. Her first mission: Go undercover at Trinity College Library in Dublin to discover the identity of a Kingdom member and determine if the Book of Leinster is actually a magical necromantic grimoire.
With the help of a handsome Irish kickboxer, Jayne uncovers the truth of her unexpected spell book: The Irish manuscript is one of five grimoires that can raise five dead, master magicians, and secure their totems of power. With these totems comes the power to control the world.
But the spell book isn’t the only thing with secrets in Jayne’s new life. Danger lurks in every corner and Jayne must rise to meet her fated role… or perish alongside the rest of the world.
Perfect for fans of A Discovery of Witches who love Indiana Jones and Gilmore Girls, this paranormal adventure thriller is the fantasy you’ve been waiting for.
Review
Tomb of the Queen by Joss Walker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I enjoyed the premise of this one. I read it for The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book-of-the-Month Club. I’d recommend it to those who enjoy a magic school, Harry Potter-esque type story.
The Story
It started out super strong. I liked the setting of the library, the whole idea of it.
The background story was interesting and I liked where it was going.
However it just took forever to get there.
The plot idea itself was stellar, but it became a bit boring for my taste especially by the time I came upon chapter 17. It was then when realized I had all this information about what was going on but nothing to really look forward to in how it was developing moving forward. Felt a bit stagnant because there wasn’t as much action, application, and results in ways that I would have kept me engaged.
I lost reading momentum big time. Mostly because it became more about the training, a lot of talk about preparation centered around mind over matter multiple times and drawn out so much that I became less interested as a whole. I only care for so many skill sharpening and self-reflection scenes before they become stilted.
I felt less connected to it and lacked the discipline to continue on so I skimmed the rest and didn’t feel like I was missing out on much.
The Writing
The style was easy to get into. Casual, less analytical, with a lot of dialogue. Technically clean but I would have liked a bit more pizazz and nuance.
Setting
The build up of this fantasy dimension within the library and the literary references was really fun.
Characters
I enjoyed the different aspects and what each character had to offer, but would have enjoyed them a bit more if they had more personality in the things that they did and within the dialogue, whether subtle or more distinguished traits when interacting and talking with each other. As well as some sort of underpinning where character growth was seen and less explained, less narrated and more in the way of character recognition by emotional expression and certain actionable qualities as I read along.
I would enjoy another story, perhaps one with a bit more punch to it to suit my tastes.
Have your read this one, what did you think?
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