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15th out of 88 books
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160 voters
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The Queen's Bastard (Inheritors' Cycle #1)
by
C.E. Murphy (Goodreads Author)
“Wow. C. E. Murphy is good. Court intrigue in an alternate Elizabethan-era fantasy world: realpolitik with the sex included.”
–Kate Elliott, author of Crown of Stars
In a world where religion has ripped apart the old order, Belinda Primrose is the queen’s secret weapon. The unacknowledged daughter of Lorraine, the first queen to sit on the Aulunian throne, Belinda has been t...more
–Kate Elliott, author of Crown of Stars
In a world where religion has ripped apart the old order, Belinda Primrose is the queen’s secret weapon. The unacknowledged daughter of Lorraine, the first queen to sit on the Aulunian throne, Belinda has been t...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
April 29th 2008
by Del Rey
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I must first say that C.E. Murphy is probably one of my favorite authors. Her Joanne Walker books are incredible and her other series equally enjoyable.
This book, however, fell FAR short of my expectations. The writing was good, don't get me wrong, but her main character had absolutely NO redeeming factors. I kept turning the pages to find some good aspect to Belinda/Beatrice and I kept being denied any reason to like her.
This is one series that I will not finish. I ...more
This book, however, fell FAR short of my expectations. The writing was good, don't get me wrong, but her main character had absolutely NO redeeming factors. I kept turning the pages to find some good aspect to Belinda/Beatrice and I kept being denied any reason to like her.
This is one series that I will not finish. I ...more
There are times when I read a book so well-put together, so deliciously complex, and so generally OH-MY-inducing that I despair of ever trying to write anything as good, much less sell it. The Queen's Bastard, latest offering from the redoubtable C.E. Murphy, is one of those times.
For starters, the setting is quite unusual for a fantasy novel. This thing is basically alternate history fantasy--all the names have been changed, but any reader will definitely recognize Europe of the 16t...more
For starters, the setting is quite unusual for a fantasy novel. This thing is basically alternate history fantasy--all the names have been changed, but any reader will definitely recognize Europe of the 16t...more
This book looks like a romance version of The Assassin's Apprentice. It is set in a thinly veiled version of the late 16th century (pretty much the only difference are the names--the redheaded, married to her country, virgin queen of a misty island is named "Lorraine," for instance) and follows the hidden struggle for supremacy. The main character is the secret, bastard daughter of "Lorraine" and her spymaster. Belinda spends the entirety of the book manipulating, killing,...more
Elizabeth
rated it
Weak premise, poorly executed, with some repulsive sex scenes about power and manipulation involving a lot of pain; doesn't that sound like something that I would like? I had liked her last book - gargoyles in Manhattan, I mean, really, doesn't that sound fun? (And it was). But now she is clearly intent on winning a prize in sweeping romance-fantasy epics when her strength is in adding smaller fantasy elements into the "real" world.
Annoying, painful slog to get to the end. ...more
Annoying, painful slog to get to the end. ...more
I hated this book. I know, strong words. I really enjoyed C.E. Murphy's Negotiator series, and was intrigued by the concept of Queen's Bastard. Instead, I found myself cringing my way through the story. It wasn't so much the technical writing that disturbed me, as the story itself. I was disgusted and totally turned off by the main characters' change in personalitay as she came into her powers. I actually tossed this one into the trash. I guess there really is a first time for everything. Now,if...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Okay so tried to break from the urban reality I was reading to the realm of fantasy and was intrigued by a book promising a strong heroine, a skilled assasin and spy, secret daughter of the Titian Queen or Red Bitch Lorraine..In this story Belinda Primrose is cultivated and carefully hidden until she is of age to discover her somewhat disturbing sexuality and use that as a tool to seduce and murder any opponents to her mother's throne..That in itself piqued my interest but when you also add the ...more
Now that my computer is (mostly) behaving, I think I can honestly give this book a proper rating. To write another Krissie-style bad review, I have to say that I feel most of this book's characters to be underdeveloped, and that the main character is a little power hungry. Perhaps further development will be broached in the following books, and perhaps our main character will confront her power-hungry attitude and do something about it. Maybe not. But as a book on its own, without sequels to...more
The main character, Belinda, is presented in a way that is very female, though not very feminine. Her mix of strengths and flaws provides solid reading material as she develops throughout the book, and that same mix sets up a stunning domino fall for the final scenes.
Murphy has a gift with expressing emotion more than setting, and that imbalance is unfortunately obvious in a few spots. Her most annoying literary artifice is her swap between present and past tense depending on how t...more
Murphy has a gift with expressing emotion more than setting, and that imbalance is unfortunately obvious in a few spots. Her most annoying literary artifice is her swap between present and past tense depending on how t...more
Previous reviews suggest that this is very much a love it or hate it book, and reading through it, I can see why.
There are things that frustrated me majorly: the two main examples were the constant playing with tenses (which, granted, I finally worked out was about reflecting the main character, Belinda's POV vs anyone else's); and the decision to have a world that's EXACTLY like Elizabethan Europe except that all the names (both country and monarch names) are different but still 100...more
There are things that frustrated me majorly: the two main examples were the constant playing with tenses (which, granted, I finally worked out was about reflecting the main character, Belinda's POV vs anyone else's); and the decision to have a world that's EXACTLY like Elizabethan Europe except that all the names (both country and monarch names) are different but still 100...more
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This book is terrible, and I have to say that it is probably one of the worst ones that I have ever started reading, and I couldn't read it until the end because I my brain cells really couldn't suffer through it.
The beginning was so awful that I don't really know why I read as far as I did. Everything is jumbled around, names and lands and events have whatsoever no connection, mentions of sex are unnecessary and sometimes even revolting, not to mention the main heroine who does her ...more
The beginning was so awful that I don't really know why I read as far as I did. Everything is jumbled around, names and lands and events have whatsoever no connection, mentions of sex are unnecessary and sometimes even revolting, not to mention the main heroine who does her ...more
I write this review having finished the book mere seconds ago. I am a bit disgusted and a tad outraged, I think. I was set to love this book. I loved the premise upon first reading its summary. Shortly after beginning, I found the setting to be a poorly disguised 16th century Europe. Not an ideal setting for a fantasy, in my mind. So after choking on this realization for quite a few chapters, I decided that the premise was enough to overcome this. I continued reading. The idea of an assassin who...more
So I am not entirely sure if this is a fantasy world, or an alternate universe, or alternate timeline. It has the essence of 16th century Europe and there is where she lost me the first time. You see there is with one particular person too much that is the same. Queen Lorraine, who has the same appearance, family history and more as a certain Virgin Queen. It is so obvious that it is her that it is not funny anymore. The rest she hides better and I liked that. But I wish she at least could have ...more
Schnaucl
rated it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
C.E. Murphy really finds a different style here, which is much different from her more fast-paced, high energy urban fantasy series. It's not badly written, but was hard to sink into. The first half of the book is a slow and meandering, almost tedious, introduction of the players and build up of the back story. Even though it's basically an alternate history of 16th century Europe, with all the political talk I was dying for a map, just for a sense of scale and to be ability to solid associate s...more
It took me a little while to get into this book, but only because of the format that it's written in. But its easy to get used to, like, 10-20 pages into it, I was hooked.
Belinda is the Queen's Bastard. She is also trained from a very young age to be the Queen's secret weapon. She is a spy, an assassian, the works. From the completion of her first 'mission' at the age of 14, also the age she realizes that she is the Queen's daughter, she is sent to and fro, on missions for the cr...more
Belinda is the Queen's Bastard. She is also trained from a very young age to be the Queen's secret weapon. She is a spy, an assassian, the works. From the completion of her first 'mission' at the age of 14, also the age she realizes that she is the Queen's daughter, she is sent to and fro, on missions for the cr...more
Not nearly as good as I expected it to be. I've read only one other book by C.E. Murphy ("Heart of Stone") and it was erudite, respectful, a little run-of-the-mill, but GOOD.
This book disappointed on every level... most aggravating, though, were the many nagging details that never managed to make sense.
From the premise - a queen who has managed to bear a bastard daughter who acts as her spy, all without anyone suspecting - to a main character with a long wig of ...more
This book disappointed on every level... most aggravating, though, were the many nagging details that never managed to make sense.
From the premise - a queen who has managed to bear a bastard daughter who acts as her spy, all without anyone suspecting - to a main character with a long wig of ...more
This book constantly bordered between 1 or 2 stars. If there'd been a half-star mark, I probably would have given that instead. This book was kind of a chore sometimes. There was way too much interior monologue going on, a lot of thinking instead of action. Sometimes the writing was too subtle and just left me confused instead of impressed. Also the constant reminder of sex and desire got a bit annoying and made me feel like I was reading a cheap bodice-ripping novel (and there is actually ...more
I liked where the book is going. I like Belinda. My only real problem with this book is that the author writes on a different level of comprehension than I am on, therefore, I have a hard time reading her book. It almost feels like I have to have a translator around to explain to me what just happened. I can follow the events for the most part but then it feels like the author monologues and I start to fade out. It seems that she can't just put the story out there, but that she works overtime...more
Not my favorite of C.E. Murphy. I am waiting for the next Walker Paper books and really enjoyed the Negotiator series. Maybe it is just not in me to enjoy fantasy set in the 1500s. It could also be that I was not happy with the fantasy part of this book and found the beginning to be confusing and the characters irredeemable. With that said, I found I wanted to find out what happened and devoured this book. It says something to me about C. E. Murphy's writing that I did not have a clue as to ...more
This is not too bad. It's a fictional recreation of Renaissance Europe, with names changed -- England is Aulun, France is Gallin. Paris is Lutetia, which reminded me of Asterix comic books and kept me from taking the thing too seriously, if there were any danger of that. Also there is magic and sex (the main character sleeps with everyone). It is certainly amusing, but this fantasyizing of the setting frees the author of the necessity of historical accuracy (Parisian opera in 1587? Really?)...more
Mature content?
Oh. My. Goodness.
Yes.
This book has, hands down, the most sex of anything I have read to date.
Despite this...I really enjoyed the story. (Yes, there was story. This is C.E. Murphy, after all, not some trashy romance novel.)
It really gets into your head, and it stays there. I stayed up almost to midnight- on a school night, let it be noted- to finish it, because after a certain point I simply could not put it down.
So- Not reccomended for those ...more
Oh. My. Goodness.
Yes.
This book has, hands down, the most sex of anything I have read to date.
Despite this...I really enjoyed the story. (Yes, there was story. This is C.E. Murphy, after all, not some trashy romance novel.)
It really gets into your head, and it stays there. I stayed up almost to midnight- on a school night, let it be noted- to finish it, because after a certain point I simply could not put it down.
So- Not reccomended for those ...more
First, let me say that I really love C.E. Murphy's Urban Shaman series.
I liked this book but it didn't match the quality of the Walker books,
The story is basically a reworking of Elizabethan England. Belinda Primrose is the bastard daughter of the Virgin Queen Lorraine. She is raised by her uncle to be the queen's spy and assassin. She is raised to kill without question. Given that, the main character is slightly antisocial and less endearing than Murphy's normal character.
...more
I liked this book but it didn't match the quality of the Walker books,
The story is basically a reworking of Elizabethan England. Belinda Primrose is the bastard daughter of the Virgin Queen Lorraine. She is raised by her uncle to be the queen's spy and assassin. She is raised to kill without question. Given that, the main character is slightly antisocial and less endearing than Murphy's normal character.
...more
Thank god I'm done this, that's all I can say. I forced myself to finish it in the hopes the ending would redeem the whole book and make me want to read the sequel. Unfortunately the ending fell as flat as the book itself. I think I probably skimmed the last four chapters just so I could finish it and move on to something more interesting.
Belinda/Beatrice as a character was so completely unlikable I can't even believe that I put up with her. The other characters were so thinly veiled...more
Belinda/Beatrice as a character was so completely unlikable I can't even believe that I put up with her. The other characters were so thinly veiled...more
This book had me torn. Sometimes I absolutely HATED this book and the next I couldn't put it down. It was definitely a love-hate relationship. The main character Belinda Primrose confused me. I would feel so bad for her because her entire life she has been trained to be an assassin but she dreams about what it would be like to be normal and find love. Then she would do something so nasty and I would just be disgusted with her character. I had a tough time keeping everything straight with the dif...more
A real page-turning book with a unique twist on history of the Tudor period. Belinda Primrose is the queen's illegitimate daughter. Turned into a spy and a murderess at the tender age of 12, she is an expert at the game of hiding within plain sight. A mistress of disguise, expert in languages and local customs, she slips in/out of political intrigues in a world gone bizarre. Yet through all the royal households the reader can see the strange similarity to our Renaissance past. NOTE: NOT a book f...more
All the right elements are in place in The Queen's Bastard: court intrigue, the lust for both flesh and power, tested loyalties, supernatural abilities. And yet, despite the inherent possibilities, the book does not deliver. The tale is long-winded, the characters unsympathetic, and the political intrigue lackluster at best. I found myself barely skimming large passages of text. The only intriguing tidbit comes at the end in Belinda's glimpse into the origins of her powers-but even the strange i...more
Errr, I dunno, I'm listing this book here because I like this author and this book for SOME reasons, and don't like it a lot for others. This book started out VERY interesting with a complex heroine and some interesting world-building, an alternate Elizabethan-Era world with some magic thrown in. There were a lot of confusing turns though, and some outright left-field character behavior that made it VERY hard to plow through and continue the journey with the main character. I dunno, I might r...more
While I generally enjoyed The Queen's Bastard and think I might like to read the sequel (if only to find out what happens to Belinda from here), I can't say the book totally held my interest. It was actually easy for me to put it down, and I can’t completely put my finger on why. This saddens me as I was, when I first bought the book, really looking forward to reading it.
Belinda is an well-rounded, engaging character, loyal to her father and the Queen she remembers being born to. The...more
Belinda is an well-rounded, engaging character, loyal to her father and the Queen she remembers being born to. The...more
Kim
rated it
Recommends it for:
fans of alternate world history NOT sensitive to violence
Shelves:
fantasy
This is probably the most negative review I will ever write for a book of this quality. In fact, The Queen's Bastard has a fascinating setting inspired by Renaissance Europe and plenty of political intrigue, and is pretty well written. Not only will I probably read other books by this author, I might even read other books in the series . . .IF there is a different protagonist. I actually enjoy reading about characters I would not like in daily life: thieves (Offutt's Shadowspawn and Feist's ...more
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C.E. Murphy is a writer of fantasy novels and short stories. She also writes "action-adventure romance" novels under the pseudonym Cate Dermody, which was her grandmother's maiden name.
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