Alexis:
The Vanished Queen is an adult fantasy that starts off with a bang. The prologue delves into a theft: a slightly drunk Anza breaks into a locked room in a library to steal a journal.
The Vanished Queen follows three different POVs. Anza is an archer and a part of the resistance. After the king put her father to death and she found the missing queen’s journal, Anza is dead set on fighting against the cruel and tyrannical king, Karolje.
Prince Esvar is the younger son of Karolje and Mirantha, the vanished queen who is presumed dead. He hates his father’s regime and is desperate to find a way to defy him.
And the third POV is Mirantha, the vanished queen herself. Her story is set in the past, leading up to her disappearance.
To be honest, I considered DNFing this about 100 pages in. The plot was very slow, and despite the synopsis mentioning that Anza and Esvar end up working together, that doesn’t even happen until the halfway point of the book.
But after that, the plot picks up. Schemes and planning happen. The political intrigue thickens and the stakes grow higher. In the beginning, a lot of the characters feel flat, but once the plot picks up, they come to life a little more and I became fully invested in the story. Karolje was such a terrible king and soulless person that I was ready to see him be brought down.
What I liked about this book:
-High stakes
-Mirantha’s chapters
-Themes of love and justice
-Esvar gives me Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes/Dorian from Throne of Glass vibes
-Bisexuality rep: Anza is bisexual
-High fantasy world without magic
What I didn’t like as much:
-I often felt like the characters were being held at a distance; I wanted to be more in their heads
-Slow pacing
The first half of this book is three stars and the latter half is higher.
VERDICT: 👑👑👑👑/5
Trigger warnings:
Death, including hangings, mentions of suicice, rape, violence/blood, torture, coded anti-semitism, domestic abuse, forced abortion
takes two to book review 