Queen Among the Dead

Written by Lesley Livingston

Narrated by Fiona Hardingham

A dazzling fantasy inspired by the legend of the first true queen of ancient Ireland.

In the kingdom of Eire, banshees chill the air, and water-wights lurk in the rivers.

But the gods have abandoned the isle, and magic is jealously hoarded by the king’s Druid priests.

Neve is the forgotten youngest daughter of the king, and Ronan is a Druid’s apprentice turned thief, making a living by selling stolen spells. They should be enemies, but their shared hatred of the Druids—and a strange magic that has marked them both—makes them unlikely, if uneasy, allies.

When a shocking death throws the kingdom into chaos, Neve must seize the chance to take the throne, with the help of Ronan and the realm’s most dangerous outcasts. Their journey takes them to the outskirts of Eire where magic still runs free … and where an outlaw and a warrior princess might carve out a
future with spells and swords.

Lesley Livingston vividly reimagines Celtic legends and fairytales to craft a thrilling fantasy adventure that will captivate readers of Brigid Kemmerer and Tricia Levenseller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781705092347

Lesley Livingston

Lesley Livingston is an award-winning author of teen fiction best known for her Wondrous Strange trilogy. Captivated at a young age by stories of the distant past and legendary heroes and warriors, Lesley developed into a full-fledged history buff and mythology geek. Her fascination with ancient Celtic and classical civilizations—spurred on by recently discovered archaeological evidence supporting the existence of female gladiators—inspired Fallon’s story in The Valiant. Lesley holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Toronto and was a principal performer in a Shakespearean theatre company, specializing in performances for teen audiences, for more than a decade. www.lesleylivingston.com. Twitter: @LesLivingston

Reviews for Queen Among the Dead

[dndizzle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I want to start with that I was excited to read the book, based on the blurb, but then lost a little of that when I saw some early reviews. I was worried I'd be disappointed. But, oh, I was not. We have Neve, our FMC, the second daughter of the King. While she's a Princess, her older sister, Una, is the one that is the Queen-in-waiting. But that's okay with Neve because she doesn't want to be the Queen. She wants to be the King. And then there is Ronan, our MMC, who is a thief and should be everything Neve is against. But he's not. I really love the writing style for this story. I was interested in it all from the beginning and finished in less than a day. I do like Neve and Ronan, their banter, and that you get kind of get Dual pov. But this isn't 1st person POV. It's 3rd for anyone who is against that POV. That is a reason why I've knocked it down a star. Also, there is a bit much of info dumping for this story. I expect some in fantasy books, but there was a lot that I wanted to just skim over. And I did feel the ending was a little rushed. But I would continue if this was a series to continue. I'm invested in Ronan and Neve.

[anniik_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

TW/CW: Death of a parent, death of a sibling, war, violence, fantasy violenceRATING: 3/5REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.Queen Among the Dead is the story of Neve, the youngest daughter (and princess) of the leader of an ancient Celtic Ireland. It follows her as she discovers her power and takes her destined place.This book fell kind of flat for me. Although I liked the setting and the concept of the story, this book is filled with exposition. The world is complicated and in some cases doesn’t make a lot of sense, even though a LOT of time is spent trying to make the reader understand it. This comes, most unfortunately, at the expense of character development, of which there is very, very little.This, of course, makes the climactic parts much less climactic because you can’t relate to the characters and therefore don’t really care what happens to them. It also makes the ‘romance’ – if you can call it that – come out of far left field. Honestly, I thought Neve had far more chemistry with her horse trainer than she did with the supposed ‘romantic’ lead.There are the bones of a good story in here, but perhaps simplifying the story a bit and concentrating more on characters than on an overcomplicated plot would really have helped this book.