Review of Chasing The Red Queen

[Johane De Kock]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Chasing The Red Queen" by Karen Glista.]

---

2 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Chasing the Red Queen by Karen Glista is a mysterious fantasy novel with an intriguing love story unfolding, you get to know the characters in intimate ways as they face their troubles and triumphs, determined to protect the ones they love.

The beginning chapters were slow and uninteresting with loads of Geographical facts and History lessons throughout, making it feel like I was reading a History textbook instead of a Fantasy Novel. The author also has an unfortunate habit of over-using certain phrases, such as "By no will of her own", throughout the book. The characters also show an inability to deal with difficult emotions, as they kind of just skip over them and continue as if nothing has happened, or they deal with them in one of two stereotypical ways : Uncontrollable sobbing or Aggression, where they scream and resort to violence.

The storyline has a lot of gaps, where the author left out details or simply didn't write chapters to explain certain things. The novel has the potential to be expanded, to include some scenes, I think, every reader is going to be wondering about, just as I had.

The pace eventually picks up towards the last chapters, but it's as if the author tried to "squish" all the major plot-points into 30 pages or less, making it very summarized and forced. There was just too much happening, too fast, where it could have been separated into a few extra chapters and better detailed.

I'd rate the book 2 out of 4, simply because it was very difficult to read. A lot of details were left out, so you often found yourself wondering about a character or a spesific situation that never got explained and the ending that was incredibly rushed.

This book is perfect for Young Adults and anyone who loves Fantasy, but I wouldn't recommend anyone under the age of eighteen read it. I'd also recommend setting an "Abuse Warning" for this book as it contains scenes that may be sensitive to some readers.

******
Chasing The Red Queen
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon