Worlds of The Golden Queen

The Golden Queen #1-2

by David Farland, Dave Wolverton

Originally published as two books, Worlds of the Golden Queen is a stellar tale of love, adventure, sacrifice, and war set in a fantastic future.

In the first novel, The Golden Queen, the insectoid Dronons have slain the human queen Semarritte, thowing into chaos the ten thousand worlds over which she reigned. Desperate to save mankind, Lord Veriasse, her near-immortal consort, has created a new queen: Everynne, cloned from the dead original. Hotly pursued, Everynne falls in with cocky bodyguard Gallen O'Day; the pious Orick, an intelligent black bear; and the beautiful orphan Maggie Flynn.
With Gallen and the others newly sworn to her service, the young queen begins the great struggle against the aliens. Leaping from world to world via an ancient system of instantaneous transport gates, the heroes face terrible dangers and great wonders as they seek the heart of the dronon worlds, carrying the battle straight to the enemy.
In the second novel, Beyond the Gate, Maggie Flynn has become, by test of combat, the new Golden Queen. Gallen, Maggie, and Orick face an attack by Dronons on a planet where humans have achieved the pinnacle of genetic engineering. They must stop them while guarding the secret of Maggie's whereabouts, for she is only the Golden Queen until her champion, Gallen, is defeated by a Dronon challenger. In the midst of a slam-bang story, Farland raises and examines deep questions of humanity's definition and identity.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

560 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

David Farland is the author of the bestselling Runelords series, including Chaosbound, The Wyrmling Horde and Worldbinder. He also writes science-fiction as David Wolverton. He won the 1987 Writers of the Future contest, and has been nominated for a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award. Farland also works as a video game designer, and has taught writing seminars around the U.S. and Canada. He lives in Saint George, Utah. He passed away on January 14, 2022.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidf...

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting is what I'd say about this book because it's filled with heroes in the rough, a principled talking bear, a great queen, supernatural assassins, magical beings, hidden portals, mystical worlds in grave danger, genetically enhanced beings, alien creatures, and what not. It is a very imaginative story that is set in more than just one world and one reality. The story has a wide scope but to put the plot very simply: the queen Everynne need to overthrow the forces that threaten her existence and endanger her world. She needs as many strong allies as she could get to reclaim her conquered world from the Dronon warriors and stop them from vanquishing the rest of the worlds. Yes, so many worlds, and so many great characters especially Gallen the bodyguard and his buddy black bear Orick. So even if Im not a big fan of science fiction, it still kept my interest enough to finish the story.

[Drew Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books (they were originally published separately) are good old fashioned hero literature, infused with some interesting science fiction concepts, and interesting interactions with a society of beings that actually deserves the term 'alien.' It seems to me in most science fiction, the aliens are very human like. They are humans, but angrier. They are humans, but with a matriarchal society, gills, and most of them act like they are Buddhist... that sort of thing. The Dronon are actually quite an alien society, and therefore more interesting than average to read about.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sci-fi/fantasy story that continued David Farland's concept of countless different worlds filled with unique creatures and ways of life. I can see it as a parallel story with the Runelords books, though the two series are in no way actually related.

This book is actually two in one. And while I think I would have given the first book a 4 or 5, the second book was not nearly as captivating, hence the 3 rating.

Overall, I still haven't ready a David Farland book I haven't liked. Now if he could just hurry up and get the next Runelords book out...

[Janyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I have only read the first book in the series, The Golden Queen. It was an interesting sci-fi story, but I'm not quite sure I'm a fan of the genre. I love some sci-fi (Brandon Sanderson) but this seemed a little more science nerdy. Overall, it was a good read. I liked the characters, in particular I found Orick the bear to be an interesting twist to the norm. I did like the ending of the first book and felt like the resolution was very satisfying. For a free download, you get your moneys worth.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the Runelord series by Farland and maybe that set my expectations to high for this. This was a "good" science fiction book but it wasn't up to the same standards that he set with his runelord series. At times things felt very rushed in this book especially the ending. I thought he spent to much time on set-up and not enough on character development.

[Jessica Pesic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never been a fan of science fiction, but I enjoyed Dave's Runelord series so much, that I thought I'd give this book a chance... It wasn't terrible, but it certainly didn't convert me into a science fiction fan.

[Rozanne Visagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a wonderful journey that I was able to take with the characters. The descriptions are amazing, and its easy to read. Not one of those stories where you have to read the sentence several times to understand. It was amazing!

[James Shrimpton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of finished because I've only read the first book. An entertaining if somewhat predictable yarn. Lots of creativity in world building etc but a fairly standard story and didn't quite capture my interest as much as book 1 of the Runelords did.

[Jerramy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting Sci-Fi book, a quick easy ready and fun.

[Grey]

havent finished yet but seems so far like a good book