Review by Mantha1 -- The Queen of Xana by Fred Pilcher
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Review by Mantha1 -- The Queen of Xana by Fred Pilcher
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Queen of Xana" by Fred Pilcher.]
4 out of 4 stars
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The Queen of Xana by Fred Pilcher is a story that centers around the life of a princess, heiress to the throne of the kingdom of xana, who had a mind of her own when it comes to leadership. Princess Agatha could have followed the same pattern her mother, Queen Julia and many others before her employed in leading the people of Xana, but she had a deeper calling, a vision and a mission to free her people from the claws of poverty, which never sat well with her mother as well as the aristocrats who ruled the kingdom along with Queen Julia.
While Agatha's mother did not agree with her thought pattern of bringing prosperity to everyone in the land, she told her of her fairy godmother's visit when she was born and to support her, she introduced her to her new tutor, Hector Ramirez, an account expert, who was part of Queen Julia's inner circle, but different from the rest, due to his modest way of life but was very much interested in numbers.
Although, Agatha had a gift to read people's character which her fairy godmother blessed her with, Hector's addition to her life couldn't have come at a better time as she was soon to realize that her plans of freeing her people from poverty was not going to be as easy as she had thought.
Fred Pilcher, did a great job of showing the disparity between the leadership styles of Agatha and her mother Queen Julia, who later died before getting a chance to pronounce her as the heiress to the throne, on her twentieth birthday celebration, which had dignitaries from all over in attendance. We were made to see that while Queen Julia addressed her people from above and never knew them up close, Agatha on the other hand, knew her people by name, had true connection with the people and had a horizontal relationship with them, which she achieved by coming down to their level even when she was only a princess, which was how she found out about how deeply rooted the people of Xana were into poverty.
Fred Pilcher, managed to introduce a narrator in this great read, who gave readers the options of seeing the main character of the book in different perspectives, one in which Agatha led a simple life as a leader, she wore simple clothes with no jewelries. Another perspective is one in which the Queen was completely naked both in character as well as physically.
Readers may be led to believe Agatha's nudity could also mean her transparency in leading the people of Xana when she ascended the throne after her mother's demise but would later find out that Agatha could have been walking amongst her people with no clothes on, owing to the fact that she copulated in the open with her Prince whom she was told to find on her own in the midst of her people with the help of her good judgement of character. This argument of nudity, was left to the reader to decide, which is an element that I liked about this book. Also, the author's portrayal of Xana as a land that promoted gender equality and the fact that this book is not the typical fantasy book that ends with happily ever after, are other elements I loved.
However, the inclusion of children in the counsel of Queen Agatha, is something I believed could have been handled better. It is one element I disliked about this book. Other than that, I totally enjoyed this book, which was professionally edited as there was no noticable error and I would rate it "4 out of 4 stars".
I recommend this book to adult readers who are open minded about subjects bordering on politics, leadership and gender equality. I wouldn't recommend this book to children or religious people because of the scenes of nudity included in it.
******
The Queen of Xana
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4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Queen of Xana by Fred Pilcher is a story that centers around the life of a princess, heiress to the throne of the kingdom of xana, who had a mind of her own when it comes to leadership. Princess Agatha could have followed the same pattern her mother, Queen Julia and many others before her employed in leading the people of Xana, but she had a deeper calling, a vision and a mission to free her people from the claws of poverty, which never sat well with her mother as well as the aristocrats who ruled the kingdom along with Queen Julia.
While Agatha's mother did not agree with her thought pattern of bringing prosperity to everyone in the land, she told her of her fairy godmother's visit when she was born and to support her, she introduced her to her new tutor, Hector Ramirez, an account expert, who was part of Queen Julia's inner circle, but different from the rest, due to his modest way of life but was very much interested in numbers.
Although, Agatha had a gift to read people's character which her fairy godmother blessed her with, Hector's addition to her life couldn't have come at a better time as she was soon to realize that her plans of freeing her people from poverty was not going to be as easy as she had thought.
Fred Pilcher, did a great job of showing the disparity between the leadership styles of Agatha and her mother Queen Julia, who later died before getting a chance to pronounce her as the heiress to the throne, on her twentieth birthday celebration, which had dignitaries from all over in attendance. We were made to see that while Queen Julia addressed her people from above and never knew them up close, Agatha on the other hand, knew her people by name, had true connection with the people and had a horizontal relationship with them, which she achieved by coming down to their level even when she was only a princess, which was how she found out about how deeply rooted the people of Xana were into poverty.
Fred Pilcher, managed to introduce a narrator in this great read, who gave readers the options of seeing the main character of the book in different perspectives, one in which Agatha led a simple life as a leader, she wore simple clothes with no jewelries. Another perspective is one in which the Queen was completely naked both in character as well as physically.
Readers may be led to believe Agatha's nudity could also mean her transparency in leading the people of Xana when she ascended the throne after her mother's demise but would later find out that Agatha could have been walking amongst her people with no clothes on, owing to the fact that she copulated in the open with her Prince whom she was told to find on her own in the midst of her people with the help of her good judgement of character. This argument of nudity, was left to the reader to decide, which is an element that I liked about this book. Also, the author's portrayal of Xana as a land that promoted gender equality and the fact that this book is not the typical fantasy book that ends with happily ever after, are other elements I loved.
However, the inclusion of children in the counsel of Queen Agatha, is something I believed could have been handled better. It is one element I disliked about this book. Other than that, I totally enjoyed this book, which was professionally edited as there was no noticable error and I would rate it "4 out of 4 stars".
I recommend this book to adult readers who are open minded about subjects bordering on politics, leadership and gender equality. I wouldn't recommend this book to children or religious people because of the scenes of nudity included in it.
******
The Queen of Xana
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Mantha1's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Misery Loves Company by Paul Marino
