the queen of all that dies laura thalassa

The world building in The Queen of All that Dies is tight. So why am I recommending this book if I can’t stand the love interest?īecause of Serenity and the universe’s world-building. He’s a compelling character and I could go into detail talking about narrative choices, character evolution, and the like, but I didn’t root for him the way I’m rooting for If you’ve read one powerful fictional dictator with a heart of gold, then you’ve kind of read them all.

I’m going to be honest I could take or leave King Lazuli. He was charming and Laura Thalassa’s descriptive prose was such that I could easily picture his handsome face, but wow I really couldn’t get over how awful he was. The character makes me uncomfortable – he’s menacing, makes threats towards Serenity that skeeves me out, and acts as if he can do no wrong.

It’s a little hard to come to terms with. He’s still a man responsible for a nuclear bomb spree across the world and who only shows remorse near the end parts of the book where it becomes evident that Serenity’s presence is changing him. Sure, we get to see that he has his soft spots underneath all of that distancing armor and terrible choices but personally that makes no difference to me. It’s so hard to care for him because well… he’s an egotistical dictator that sees nothing wrong with ordering genocide. Even with the dramatic backstory reveal we get near the last quarter of the book, King Montes Lazuli is a piece of work. Now as much as I like Serenity, I have such a hate-on for the king. I love that she’s this strong character who’s willing to shoot someone in the face in one moment but when her world is literally torn away from her, she does break and she does give into the urge to cry. She’s been put in a position where she absolutely has to kill or be killed for the sake of her country and her people and the strain that puts on her is backbreaking. She’s five years younger than I am but the character is miles more mature than I probably will ever be. Even before the significant plot twist that puts her up as a person that could run the world, she’s intense. She’s a fighter from the start, adapting to the world around her and becoming someone that could very feasibly be a contender for serious power on her own. I can assure you that there was none of that dark dank depressed feeling associated with this book.įrom the start I liked Serenity Freeman, our main character and the person whose POV makes up the majority of the book.

I’m a “Happily Ever After” kind of person and if that’s not guaranteed by the author or if I can’t figure out the ending within a few chapters of the book, I get bummed out. One minute I was looking for comic book history books on my kindle and the next thing I know I was neck deep in this gritty-as-hell post-apocalyptic universe and I couldn’t get enough of it. I’m not sure how I stumbled across this book.

The queen of all that dies laura thalassa