The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen is two very different books spliced together, and it doesn't work. The background of the series is that it's a fantasy world with magic that came after a dystopic future of ours, but mainly Queen of the Tearling, which I enjoyed, was about Kelsea's evolution as a person and ruler and her relationships with several people as she faces a number of challenges. The Invasion of the Tearling doesn't develop the Tearling or Mort much further because it's too busy introducing Lily, a rich, isolated, and abused housewife having a political awakening in a dystopic future United States of massive wealth disparity and gender discrimination. Too bad it is boring, has been done before much better than this, and seems to have very little bearing on the present events in the Tearling, which is what I was reading the book for.
Kelsea seems very dissociated from herself and the people around her, which might be the point but also makes it a less immediate read. We briefly gets glimpses of the Kelsea we knew in the dinner she has with the head of the Church but that's it. It would have been far more interesting to have an outsider POV on what's happening to her, as her friends and those loyal to her watch this young, nearly installed queen who picked a fight with the vastly superior military of Mort change her appearance completely, start using her magical power in cruel ways, (magically!) cut herself all over, and wander the castle in fugue states for hours at a time. Seriously, none of them have major misgivings about this.
It doesn't help that more intriguing events are happening at the edges, like the conditions on the front of the Mort invasion, the corruption in the Church (the book just totally drops its plot on Father Tyler), or the rebellion in Mort.
Kelsea seems very dissociated from herself and the people around her, which might be the point but also makes it a less immediate read. We briefly gets glimpses of the Kelsea we knew in the dinner she has with the head of the Church but that's it. It would have been far more interesting to have an outsider POV on what's happening to her, as her friends and those loyal to her watch this young, nearly installed queen who picked a fight with the vastly superior military of Mort change her appearance completely, start using her magical power in cruel ways, (magically!) cut herself all over, and wander the castle in fugue states for hours at a time. Seriously, none of them have major misgivings about this.
It doesn't help that more intriguing events are happening at the edges, like the conditions on the front of the Mort invasion, the corruption in the Church (the book just totally drops its plot on Father Tyler), or the rebellion in Mort.