Queenslayer (Spellslinger #5)[August 27, 2024]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell starting on August 27, 2024.


Happy Reading!

[Monika]

can't wait LOL!

[Ann-Marie]

So I started, through ch 7 and I am enjoying it so far but I am definitely on edge with Iain's warnings in the last book's thread. (view spoiler)[Kellen has met the girl queen and will not be immediately put to death, there is much more to her circumstances for sure. The narrator is using the same voice from the other series for the girl Greatcloaks which is weird (especially since I remember the voice but not her name....). (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Through ch 43 and (view spoiler)[Kellen is doing normal Kellen stuff, trying to be helpful but bumbling it quite a bit. Stupid Charla has popped in and out a couple of times much to my displeasure, holding a return to his home over his head if he helps her be terrible which come on, she doesn't know him at all! At least his stupid father hasn't made an appearance yet. The duel where Kellen killed that Leo guy was AWESOME, loved that! Nor Reichis has been kidnapped and Kellen may be going into the part Iain warned us about, not looking forward to that.... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Chapter 44 was the one alright....(view spoiler)[I am very annoyed at this entire chapter and how Kellen blames himself for having the shadowblack and thinks so poorly of himself. It is getting old so much so I am not sure that this author is for me. It's like de Castell is trying so hard to be a grimdark author but he has no clue how to do it well. I'll finish this since I am nearly at the end and that fucker Kalfax needs to die a horrible, painful death as does his buddy but I am going to have to think about even reading the finale next month and also continuing with the prequels after. (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Through ch 55 and (view spoiler)[this is like torture porn. Now that asshole Kalfax wants Kellen to help overthrow the queen for the good of the throne since he isn't supposed to protect her personally? What was that crap when they tried to get Kellen to "rape" that girl? And btw making it be a fake rape does not make up for it, that was some bullshit. Hating this book right now! (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Finished and yeah that twist at the end was not enough, will be considering if I will read the last in the series next month or nope out of it.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I feel bad for you, Ann-Marie... but simultaneously, VINDICATION!!!

Anyway, despite hating this book, I thought the finale was decent, and it's hard to ruin a trilogy about Ferius Parfax too badly...

The new Court of Shadows and return to Greatcoatsland is asking for trouble tho, with grimdarkiness...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I feel bad for you, Nirkatze... but simultaneously, VINDICATION!!!

Anyway, despite hating this book, I thought the finale was decent, and it's hard to ruin a trilogy about Ferius Parfax too badly...."

Did Nirkatze enjoy this book????? And I'll likely read the next, I just need some time to get this dumpster fire out of my brain.....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I meant you, Ann-Marie, so sorry... popping around too many open comment threads and chose the wrong muscle memory name type :D

ETA: I meant vindication in my one star rating... my memories were vague...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I meant you, Ann-Marie, so sorry... popping around too many open comment threads and chose the wrong muscle memory name type :D

ETA: I meant vindication in my one star rating... my memories were v..."

lol that makes sense and yes, I absolutely agree with a 1 star rating for this book!

[Monika]

Started today. Up to chapter 9 so far.

[Monika]

Finished. Hmmm... 3.5*. it could be better really.

[Nirkatze]

Glad I found this! I'll be very late.

[Siobhan]

Ouch one star!!

I started today and I'm actually enjoying it so far. Only about 25% through though so it could go anywhere from here 😅

[Ann-Marie]

Siobhan wrote: "Ouch one star!!

I started today and I'm actually enjoying it so far. Only about 25% through though so it could go anywhere from here 😅"

The first 75% was good, then the last 25% happened and was most definitely not for me lol

[Siobhan]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Ouch one star!!

I started today and I'm actually enjoying it so far. Only about 25% through though so it could go anywhere from here 😅"

The first 75% was good, then the last 25% ..."

Ahhh! I can't remember how it ends. I'm intrigued now.

[Rob]

I am finally getting a chance to start this today.

[Siobhan]

I just finished today and I'm sticking with my 3 star rating. I liked it on the whole, it was decent. (view spoiler)[ Trying for grimdark with all the horrific forced rape and maiming of poor Reichis, but I like grimdark. I liked Kellen in this one.
I thought I remembered him reconnecting with Ferius at the end though, so I'm disappointed that didn't happen! :( (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

I feel like de Castiel tries to be as good at grimdark as Joe Abercrombie and just does not manage it in the slightest. There were a million different choices he could have picked besides the one he did here to achieve the same result, I felt like so far both series I have read by him have had scenes of gratuitous violence against women to achieve the grimdark cred and he just doesn't do it well.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Ouch one star!!

I started today and I'm actually enjoying it so far. Only about 25% through though so it could go anywhere from here 😅"

The first 75% was good, then the last 25% ..."

That's my experience, on re-read, too... I think this is my favorite on re-read, so far, for the first 75%... but I'm hitting the last 25% now, and not looking forward to it...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Now that I'm deep into the muck of it... (view spoiler)[I'd say there's nothing that irks me more while reading, than wanting to bash the MC/etc over the head for being stupid...

And here, is the mind-controlled rape scene isn't bad enough, Kellen quickly jumps on-board with taking the blame for it, like it wasn't all Colfax and the White Binder (fuck Colfax here by the way)...

And then continuously acting stupid for much of the rest of the book, facilitating the coup that seems inevitable since the start of the book...

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

Never mind Shalla, and all the other repetitive shenanigans of the series... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Now that I'm deep into the muck of it..."

Exactly! The way (view spoiler)[Kellen blames himself for something he had nothing to do with, he was a baby! Very annoying..... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Read this last week and enjoyed it! I think being forewarned definitely helped--agree with y'all that what bugged me more than the (view spoiler)[actual bad parts--like the forced attempt rape (that turned out to maybe be a hired prostitute playing?), almost killing the child-queen and Reichis getting beat up--was Kellen's repeated stupidity--blaming himself, believing what evil people said about him instead of trusting his business partner and friends, and almost caving even when he knew that he couldn't trust the bad guys to live up to their word. Agreeing with Ann-Marie's description--the self-blame and emo-wallowing made Kellen come off as very immature. Most of the aspects of the book that annoyed me came down to that immaturity. His repeated insistence that he is a coward and good for nothing. Hasn't he grown at all yet?

Not even just Kellen... the other people blaming Kellen when hey, he's just a card-tutor, isn't there like, a while Queen's Guard supposed to save her? Assholes. Blaming Kellen for their own incompetence and traitor members.

It reminded me A LOT of the Greatcoats series--but with younger characters. I was NOT expecting the sex scenes. I WAS fully expecting the child-queen to die. Enough-so that I was just remembering the name of this book as they were torturing Reichis & the child Queen and trying to control Kellen make him sign. So I was quite happy when that bit turned out okay.

Hoping for more growth in the next one! (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "Read this last week and enjoyed it! I think being forewarned definitely helped--agree with y'all that what bugged me more than the ..."

I agree the self-hatred was very annoying!

[Nirkatze]

It's almost a form of ego-centrism... everything revolves around him, thus he must be to blame for everything... never mind that the people actually doing the evil have free will and made their own choices... someone needs a head-smacking...

[Rob]

Finished yesterday. I had a similar experience to everyone else with the (view spoiler)[Ok, why this choice, Mr. author and in otherwise YAish kinda series. (hide spoiler)].

[Choko]

Through Ch. 7 and so far so good. Poor Reichis, getting shot:( But the young ranger adores him and he was being so slick pretending to be all cuddly and cute earlier, for treats:)))

[Choko]

Through Ch. 17.... I don't trust anyone... And now his sister showed up...

[Ann-Marie]

Choko wrote: "Through Ch. 17.... I don't trust anyone... And now his sister showed up..."

You are good until chapter 44, then it all goes to hell.....

[Choko]

I am so not looking forward to it....

[Marie]

I am currently in chapter 36...

I find it curious that while Goodreads rating shows clear drop for this book, the Czech equivalent to Goodreads doesn't. It actually shows drop from book 3 to 4 and then continues the expected rising tendency.

[Marie]

Alright, I finished and although I get what people are mad at, it didn't bother me that much even if it was hard to listen to. (view spoiler)[It's a scene that explores how horrifying it is to lose control of your body... The rape scare makes sense. They make him do something horrific that he would never do and out of all options, rape is something they could have bought a person for... They still wanted to feel like they were the good guys after all, justified in their actions, so it makes sense they would buy a girl that is fine (at least from their POV, who know if she is fine with doing that job) with acting it out in exchange for compensation. Also, they try to scare him with the possibility of him doing that to the child queen which definitely leaves him too horrified with the idea to think clearly. He basically wants to kill himself to never have to go through that again and to protect others from himself... The self-blaming was quite irritating for sure. But the experience must have been so horrifying to him that I can't blame him for reacting unreasonably. And you could argue he got to that point because of all the blundering and weakening of the queen so that might be his reasoning for the self-blame.

Overall, in this book, Kellen felt quite lost and blundering about... I get that the court intrigue might be beyond his street smarts this time but still, it didn't really fit with how he was growing up and getting smarter and able to read people better. (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Marie wrote: "Alright, I finished and although I get what people are mad at, it didn't bother me that much even if it was hard to listen to. ..."

I can see your point but I still feel like there were other things the author could have picked to demonstrate the same thing especially after what he put Falcio through in Greatcloaks! At least that was an adult series, this skewed more YA to me so too far.

[Marie]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Marie wrote: "Alright, I finished and although I get what people are mad at, it didn't bother me that much even if it was hard to listen to. ..."

I can see your point but I still feel like there w..."

I haven't read the Greatcloaks yet so I don't really have the "here we go again" association. Maybe it would have bothered me more... But I grew up with Czech fantasy and no age restrictions/recommendations so I have read worse. Little bothers me nowadays. I do think more on these things lately and see if the use of SA is justified or makes sense for the narrative. Funny thing is the worst SA infested books I have read were written by a woman.

I agree that as Kellen just reached 18, the books are getting bit more NA.

[Choko]

I finished and I actually agree with Marie. I wonder if it is an Eastern European thing... When I was growing up, apart from international fairy tales, everything I read as a kid was adult.

In this book, I was much more upset by his feelings of helplessness and self-hatred, than the SA attempt... (view spoiler)[ I did have some issues with his internal monologue all together. He really does need Reichis for courage and just taking some more decisive steps. His lack of initiative really doesn't sit well with me...

His sister is also a very strange character. I have no idea what to think of her at this point.

The twist with the little queen being also a Shadowblack was unexpected and I am very intrigued about how the two of them are going to find a cure in two years time... (hide spoiler)]

I actually didn't mind this one. Hoping for a satisfying ending:)