I unfortunately couldn't get into this book on my initial try! It's been sometime so I may try again in the future!

i really enjoyed this book! it reminded me of one of my favourite series - age of shadows by kelley armstrong, but x100 better!

When Gollancz began their cover reveal for this book, I was instantly drawn in and was dying to know more. So, when I was invited to participate in the blog tour for The Girl King I jumped at the chance. Thankfully, the book proved to live up to the striking cover (all be it with a few minor niggles on my part).

Like many books of this genre, the premise is simple yet affective; Young Woman who is coming of age is trying to break the patriarchal society by becoming the first female leader of her country/empire. However, this is not meant to be as her birth right is denied to her when her cousin is named as heir. This sets in motion a series of events that end in showdown with serious repercussions for all those involved.

The first thing that struck me about this book was how similar Lu and Min were to the Stark sisters from Game of Thrones (apart from the age reversal with Lu being the rebellious one and Min, as the younger sister, wanting to confirm to societies demands on her). This is where the two series end, for The Girl King has its own voice and identity far from Game of Thrones.

Overall, I found myself enjoying how the book played out and Yu has created a world that is familiar, yet different with its inspiration from Asian folklore and fiction. However, by the end of the book Lu is no closer to gaining, to what she sees as her birth right, which is to be the first Female Emperor of her people. On reflection, this book seems to be setting the groundwork for a much bigger fight to come. There are many loose ends and though I did feel satisfied, there were still many unanswered questions; the main one surrounding the circumstances surrounding Min being cursed with immense power that she cannot control. In fact, there are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding this that left me frustrating. I do think we may get answers to this should Lu’s plan succeed in book 2 and there may be something more to Lu that is yet to come.

The strangest thing is that although there is minimal character development on the three main characters, at least from a personal growth point of view, I still enjoyed the book. If I were to choose one character who I had became the most interested in, it would have to be Min. She has been thrust into a vipers den and is alone in trying to navigate her way through it in order t survive. Yes, I do feel that her misplaced “love” for her cousin/husband reminded me so very much of Sansa Starks crush on Joffery, but as her power begins to manifest and grow, I wanted to see how long Set, his advisor and her mother could keep her under control. By the close of the book, I still feel that there will be a reckoning, but how much this power will corrupt Min and therefor destroy or damage her relationship with her sister, I don’t know. I do know I cannot wait.

VERDICT

The Girl King is a great start to a new series, with lots of mythology and world building within. For a debut author, Yu has a great knack for world building that a few established authors could take lessons from. For me this was slightly at the expense of her charcters, but the book is saved by Min, at least for me.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this novel.

DNF @ 20%

While I really wanted to love this YA fantasy, unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I've tried 4 times now to get into this story, and each time I can't make it past 20%. I definitely see why people love this, and I'll be sure to check out more by this author in the future, this just wasn't my cup of tea!

I really enjoyed the plot and build up of the book although I did find the ending quite rushed. I liked the characters but I did feel the narrative was a bit weird. With Min's story I felt like everything was revealed really quickly which was different from the other two perspectives.

The cover art was gorgeous. Yu has a very beautiful and piercing quality to their writing that wowed and unnerved me equally. I wanted to love this book but I didn't.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
-I wish the relationship had been developed more between the sisters.
-I was not a fan of the romance.
-I really wish Min had grown up at some point.
-I did actually enjoy most of Lu's storyline and almost wish it could have been only about her.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me but I’m interested in seeing where the second book takes us.

Overall I woud still recommend this book to fantasy lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mimi Yu and Orion Publishing Groupfor providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

"One of the things I loved about The Girl King was that it focuses on multiple strong female characters. These characters are also distinct with one another, have different traits, relationships and goals. Each of them has a story, a path to follow, and the fight to lead ahead of them.

Min and Lu are sisters, however the book never really touches on the sisterly love most often seen in YA. I felt that this was refreshing, to see a different dynamic than I expected from the blurb. I was completely assuming they would kiss and make up after an initial conflict, and team up. But as the blurb states, they are enemies.

Personally I preferred Min's storyline, which is odd as Lu is the one going on an 'adventure'. I loved how Min as a character developed over the course of The Girl King. Whereas I felt Lu did a lot of things, but didn't change quite as much, and the journey often felt slow and boring.

Talking about slow, the pacing at the start is slow. Although I find that with many books, it takes some time to get into it. Especially when building up an idea of the world. However it doesn't pay off in the book, because the world building itself was sometimes disappointing.

The world building left much to the imagination. It clearly pulls from Asian culture and the world descriptions fit this well. However at times I struggled to imagine what the surroundings actually looked like. I think at one point we're in a mountainous or hilly area near a lake, and it just kept changing in my mind for what it could be. This is always a problem for me, as I enjoy large expansive worlds that I can imagine.

I enjoyed Nok's shapeshifting magic and how entwined with lore it was. It's a key part of the culture of his people, and it created a lot of interest for me. His story arc was intriguing for me, especially as it's so connected to multiple characters and the main storyline.

The plot itself can be unfortunately predictable in places. Princesses needing to fight for the throne because of patriarchy and going on the run from banishment feels common place. But to give credit, sometimes there were a few twists and turns and nice additions which weren't as common."

I loved The Girl King! Strong female characters, multiple POV, and phenomenal world building.

Shape shifters and magic set against a stunning cultural and historical background. I can't wait for more.

The Girl King had stunning potential, but failed to keep me engaged long enough to witness its fulfillment. I'm giving it 3 stars because while this book was not suited for me, it might appeal to other readers! Thank you to the publisher for the early copy!

First impressions:I was so excited to get this approved on Netgalley and devoured it in a matter of hours, despite the length!


After reading it, I have very mixed feelings. There were many things I loved about it, but also a few elements which I felt could have been improved. I was looking forward to the Asian-inspired fantasy, sister relationship and courtly intrigue and deception.


I loved Lu and Min, two very different sisters and was looking forward to their relationship being one of the central ones in the book. Unfortunately, they spent rather a lot of time apart, but it was interesting to see how the dynamic between them changed during their childhood, adolescence and finally when they end up on opposite sides of a conflict.


Set was a rather weak but adequately dislikable antagonist, though I wanted to know much more about his advisor, Brother, and his knowledge of magic. Despite Lu training to be her father’s successor, I could see his choice coming long before it happened. I just wish he had time to explain it to his daughter or had helped to prepare her for the eventuality of marriage rather than ruling as ‘the girl king’.


I found Nokhai the most interesting character, especially due to his complicated history and the fact that he is not a stereotypical ‘macho male’ protagonist. His story is revealed in pieces which was intriguing but, at times, confusing. The prologue also took a while to fit into the larger scheme of the book so I had almost entirely forgotten the significance of it when it eventually came into the story.


Lu and Nokhai’s relationship had some potential, but I feel like it didn’t have enough development, particularly considering the years and issues that have separated them. There was an attempted rape scene which seemed gratuitous and a few uses of derogative slang language such as ‘pinks’ and ‘slipskins’ which were never addressed. The expulsion of the foreigners has historical parallels, but the implications or effects weren’t examined, leaving me wondering about some of the world-building. Hopefully, many of the questions raised will be addressed in the next book.


Overall, this book had lots of good ideas, but was not without issues.

What I liked: The differences between Lu and Min, their sibling relationship, Lu’s determination to take the throne, her character development throughout as she finally sees the negative side to the Empire her father and grandfather established. I liked the Asian-inspiration for the world-building, although, because there were recognizable elements from China, Japan, Korea and other countries, it did risk becoming a bit muddled.

Even better if: There had been more time spent on establishing Lu and Min’s relationship before they were separated, if some of the coincidences in the book hadn’t been quite so useful to the plot (e.g. being captured by the exact people who could help you rather than one of your many enemies), if Nokhai’s backstory had been expanded upon and explained more clearly, if some of the slightly problematic uses of language had been addressed.

How you could use it in your classroom: This would be better recommended for older teens or adults due to the level of violence. It could be used to spark discussions about power and gender, looking at different countries and the traditional roles of power, the implications of imperialism, etc. I would like to use it as a ‘What if…?’ exercise. Which historical events might be different if there had been an Empress rather than an Emperor etc? You could also look at historical figures, such as the famed Last Empress of China, etc.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

I was so excited when my Netgalley wish was approved as this title was one of my most anticipated of early 2019. And I got it early.

And….it’s another one I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I read the first half of the novel pretty quickly. The world building was interesting, and I loved Lu’s fierceness and determination to stand against the male dominated norms of her society. She was convinced her father the Emperor would name her his heir. She was a strong warrior, smart and determined, if a little headstrong. She certainly had an attitude about her, but it suited her character pretty well.

Of course the start of a 500 page plus fantasy novel, it’s never going to go as smoothly as this awesome girl is going to get what she wants and become the first Female Emperor. Lu’s mother is cold, horrible and manipulative. And clearly has an agenda of her own planned. Lu’s father is kind of passive. He’s a decent man but easily swayed.

So naturally Lu is absolutely livid when she finds herself betrothed to her moronic cousin Set and Set will be the emperor. Set is a jackass to say the least. Power hungry and dumb as a bucket of rocks. The other main character in the novel is Lu’s younger sister Min. Min is the more reserved sister, favoured deeply by their mother, Min is a proper, demure lady who at first seems happy to do as she is told.

Furious at her father’s decision to make Set emperor Lu formulates a plan to get him to realise Set is the wrong choice. Which of course goes hideously wrong and before you know it while Lu is out of the palace the emperor mysteriously dies and Lu is wanted for his murder. Thrusting Min into a spotlight she never expected.

Min discovers she has secret magic, Set has a companion – a priest of sort who can help Min train her magic and help Set win over the empire. Min’s mother is all for Min getting together with Set. Min discovers countless twists and secrets in her new position. Her power is ever growing and in ways no one thought she was capable of. Min realises she doesn’t have to do what everyone always tells her. There was so much more to Min as her story developed and I found myself routing for her as she grew over the course of the novel. She discovered inner strength and determination of her own. She could be just as powerful and manipulative on her own.

Lu meanwhile finds herself forced to make an uneasy alliance with a strange boy, Nok, whom she remembers from her childhood, a brief encounter but brief enough to make an impression. Nok (as far as he knows) is the last survivor of a race of magical shapeshifters. Who were exterminated by Lu’s family.

There’s a rumour of mystical race hidden in the mountains, people of immense power and a great army, and both Lu and Set seem to think that they can get these people on their side to cement their claim to the throne. Set by sheer force and domination, Lu by negotiation and determination. With Nok’s help. Of course, none of this goes according to plan and nothing is as it seems.

I really liked the magic system and the mythical side of things. Lu and Nok also showed incredible growth throughout, their views changed, and while some aspects of their personalities of course remained the same, (they wouldn’t be so interesting otherwise) they showed brilliant strength in their own ways.

Some of the novel dragged a bit, and all the things going wrong seemed a like one terrible thing happening after another and it did get a bit boring towards the middle with Lu and Nok’s story. Min’s story helped bring the novel out of its lull and things started picking up again towards the end. Which was unexpected. A cliff hanger of course. But I definitely want to know where this story is going.

Excellently written with some lovely imagery, and some interesting world building. It wasn’t without is problems but definitely an enjoyable read and would recommend for fantasy lovers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing for granting my wish to view the title.

This should have been one of those "I've read this before books", and although the premise is similar to many books out there, the author brings an utterly fresh take and I found myself unable to put this book down.

Lu and Min are two sides of a coin. Lu the first daughter, trained all her life to take over the throne, described as beautiful and strong willed, and Min the daughter no body really takes notice of, not as pretty or as self-assured as her older sister. However Min has a power within her that no one foresees.

I thoroughly enjoyed how although this is a book about rival sisters, they weren't set against each other in the typical sense. They love each other and would never want to cause the other harm. Lu does what she can to protect her little sister, and although Min resents not being as beautiful as her sister she still wants no harm to come to her.

Lu is, to start off with, not an overly likeable character. She seems entitled and brushes her sister off along with the rest of the world. However, as the book progresses, you come to see things from Lu's perspective. Raised to believe she would become "The Girl King" and then to have that all taken away by a scheming mother and a weak father, you find yourself bonding with her easily. Min, on the other hand, you feel sorry for from the get-go. Shoved to the side to make room for her "better" sister, she is easy prey for those who seek to use her for her station in life and her unseen power.

The writing in this book is sublime, and the detail the author goes into when describing scenes really drags you into the book. I really loved the lore that Yu used, and although shapeshifter's and the like and quite prevalent in fantasy books these days, she managed to make the story seem fresh and keep you intrigued.

The only part of this book I disliked was the romance arc between Lu and Nokhai. It just seemed irrelevant to the story and I felt it was slightly rushed. This didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book though and I will be giving it 4/5 stars.

I received this book from the publisher for an honest review, which does not affect my opinions.

I was super excited for this book because it is Asian inspired and high fantasy, but unfortunately I couldn’t connect to it. This ended up being a DNF for me and because I am in the business of reading books I enjoy, I decided to call it a day.

Some people seem to love this and then there are others like me who found it a little boring and couldn’t connect to the characters.

Oh how I wish I could tell you I loved this one. It started out okay, and promised so much, but for me (and it seems a few others) this fell short of expectations.
I love a good rivalry, and have been loving worlds inspired by the Asian continent/myth/legend, so this was definitely something that caught my eye. But the rivalry was lacking, and the plot sided on the stereotypical YA fantasy kind of things.

This is just another story about a girl trying to reclaim her throne, in the company of a guy we're supposed to find broody, yet attractive, whom she is not supposed to fall for, but inevitably does. Throw in a rivalry with the man trying to take her throne, an evil mother (step or otherwise), and another character with magical powers, and this could be any other fantasy on the shelf, only with a different cover and a fancy new title. A few come to mind immediately that I could relate this to.

So how was the plot? Or should that be called a journey. I'm getting lost with which books call it what nowadays. Truth be told, I found it tedious. I kept waiting for the action, only to find that literally nothing was happening for a good 80% of the book. I think I managed to speed through parts of this purely because it was a change of scenery! You spend so long following Lu and Nok on their 'journey' that when you finally get a chapter from Min's perspective, it's like a breath of fresh air! (polluted by the slight smell of manipulation, but hey ho, you get what you're given I guess...)

And what of the characters?
Honestly? I think they could have been better... Because the book is written from a third-person POV, it's difficult to connect with the characters. Add the fact that out of the three narrators, two felt like they could have been any other YA heroine/love interest, I just didn't find myself drawn to them at all. I appreciated the fierceness of Lu occasionally, and the turmoil Nok felt every now and then, but I just didn't feel like I really knew them. Min was the only one I ever really felt anything for (towards? which ever is better suited here)



If we look at the bigger picture, this book didn't surprise me. The twists and turns were predictable, and completely expected, and the fact that this will have a sequel at the very least, was yet another thing that I merely shrugged at. Sure, this wasn't extremely bad, but I just expected more from a YA fantasy I'd seen so much about. In my opinion, it's been over-hyped, much like Sky in the Deep was as well. I couldn't connect to the characters, the plot was lacking something different and unique, and by the end I was just glad I'd got through it, even though I didn't quite know what to make of it.

But, if you're looking for a generic YA fantasy to speed through, and want to try and break away from the western world inspired stuff, this might just tick the boxes for you. It just didn't tick any for me.

On paper, this looks like a really cool East Asian inspired fantasy with strong female characters and with a sibling relationship at the forefront. I really should've liked it.

I gave up when I was just under halfway through, according to my e-reader. Even that much had taken me much too long to read. Every time I went to pick up the book, I felt like I would rather be doing anything else, and I had long journeys to fill! At a fundamental level, it simply wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention. However, there were also specific things that made me not want to read any more.

Firstly, there are three pov characters, and they were all present at a certain event when they were children. What event? I have no idea. They were all really cagey about it in their internal monologues. It very quickly stopped being a mystery to be revealed at a later point, and just became annoying that there would regularly be paragraphs of narration that were meaningless at best, but were often just confusing.

It takes quite a long time to be given an age for one of the pov characters. The reader is told quite early on that Lu is 16 years old, which is a fairly standard age for ya protagonists, and there is no doubt that that's her role. The boy, whose name I think is Nok, is presumably around the same age. But it takes quite a while for the reader to be told the age of Lu's younger sister, Minyi. Before that point I had decided that she was probably aged somewhere between 10 and 12, based off of how she thinks and reacts to people and events around her. She also gets her period for the first time over the course of the novel, so that added to my thinking that. But apparently she's supposed to be 15. The difference in maturity between real 15 and 16 year olds is tiny, but if you were to go by what's presented in this book you'd think that people magically become adults upon their 16th birthday.

The specific event that caused me to stop reading was an attempted sexual assult that occurs just before the halfway mark. 9 times out of 10, those don't need to be there, and it didn't happen in a way that gave me faith that there would be far reaching emotional consequences for the character it concerned. If this is something that would bother you, then I'd advise against reading this book.

Honestly, I stopped reading this a week and a bit ago. It's only now that I've gotten round to marking it as such and writing up this review. I was that bored with it.

Admittedly, it took me a while to get into this one as it set-up the world and the mythology that was key to the plot - after about 100 pages things were finally set in motion and I was swept along for the ride.
The Girl King has a refreshing take on Asian culture and mythology and it fit perfectly with the epic world that Yu has created. I love the different Kith gods and I can't wait to see what happens with Nok and Lu in the future.

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<p style="text-align:center">"<em>Why&nbsp;did&nbsp;the&nbsp;Gods&nbsp;make&nbsp;you&nbsp;like&nbsp;this?&nbsp;Just&nbsp;to&nbsp;torment&nbsp;me?"</em></p>
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I'd been eyeing this book up since last year when the first lot of proofs were going out but I emailed late 2018 and I was lucky enough to have received a full cover copy of this book and be on the blog tour and it was one of my most anticipated reads of January! So this may be cliché for me to say but I've honestly not read a book like this before and it's been such a lovely change of pace and style! I will admit that I felt that a couple of the chapters dragged on a little bit but they always reeled you back in with a twist!

The book was done from three different points of view, the two sisters, Lu and Min and also Nok who actually knows the sisters from when they were all younger. At the beginning I did get a little bit confused with the chapters of which sister we were viewing from as it did seem to switch but I did get into the swing of things a bit more easily after the first few chapters.

My favourite character in this book was Nok, he is such an interesting character and I absolutely love the way that he can shapeshift as well, I really felt more connected with Nok throughout this book than the other two. I did find Lu a bit mean at the beginning of the book but I grew to like her more throughout it and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Min yet, I think I'm going to need to read book two before forming an opinion about her.

This book was just filled with twists and turns which just kept you hooked and wanting more, it was such a fantastic read, I was forever saying to myself 'Just read <strong><em>one</em></strong> more chapter before bed' then it's been almost 60 pages and I've not realised, I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to wait until 2020 to read the second book in the series?!

I was originally going to give this book 4.5 stars but when I was writing this review I was just gushing to myself about how much I enjoyed it and just had to bump it up to the full five stars I just enjoyed it so much, I loved the characters, the world building, the twists and turns and I just really enjoyed it if you couldn't tell! I highly recommend reading this so if you haven't bought yourself a copy yet, you should!

"Why can't you see you've lost?"
"In order for me to lose, you have to win. And you're never, ever going to win. It's not in your nature.

Wonderful well written book, strong female lead from the start and not shy about it ! Great pacing, didn’t want to put this down and can’t wait for more ! A real epic on fantasy and a rising star. I look forward to many more books , I am excited if they are all this good !

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

The Girl King was an interesting read, with a storyline that keeps you on your toes, and a wide variety of characters to interest you. Told through three main perspectives in the third person – Lu, Min and Nokahi – it is a politically-minded story that has themes of imperialism, colonialism and xenophobia. Lu is the older daughter of the Hu (an ethnic group)Emperor, and a natural leader – she has been trained like a warrior, studied statecraft like a politician, and the grace of a princess to round her out into the perfect heir. Which is why she is enraged when her father instead chooses her first cousin (and her archenemy) for his heir, and her to be his wife. Meanwhile, Min, her younger sister has been bullied by the Empress (who is Hana, another ethnic group) into being a docile obedient princess who doesn’t have much aspirations of her own, but who is starting to awaken some latent magical powers. Nokhai comes from a line of shape-shifters called Kith, whose culture had been decimated and people enslaved by the Hu two generations ago.

With such a volatile political situation, the ascension of the next Emperor results in Lu being framed for her father’s death, and ridiculed as the eponymous Girl King. The people in the kingdom are a mix of Hu and Hana, but while their loyalties are more towards the Hu monarchy, they definitely are much more comfortable with a man in charge; Lu rails against this misogyny as she thinks she is better than her cousin Set, who marries Min instead (manipulating a 15 year old is super easy for the golden warrior). As a fugitive, she goes on with Nokhai to gain support from Yunis, another city-state that was conquered by her own ancestors. While on the way, she has to face the truth about her line, how they have destroyed other cultures or subjugated them, how they mistreat people just because they have magic, and contend with her family’s bloody history.

While Lu is a good character to look through, primarily because she is, well, badass, and also because she grows so much in the book, understands her privilege and the honor she falsely attributed to her family line, Min is pretty much the opposite. The latter is set up to be the antagonist, or at least to be used by the antagonists which makes her blatant oversight over the terrible things her husband and his advisor do even more frustrating. Granted, she was bullied by her mother and Set showing her any interest was enough to give her loyalty to him, but she keeps supporting him even when he shows he has no qualms about endangering her, or even after ‘witnessing’ what he and her mother did; heck, she keeps going on and on about giving him babies to be heirs *eyeroll* Even when she gains her own power, she only wants to use it for Set’s sake, with no ambition of her own. Nokhai, meanwhile feels terribly underutilized only as a love interest and I hope with that ending, he has a larger role to play in the plot of the next book.

The magic system of this book could have done with more development. For most of the book, I was confused as to the existence of Yunis, and why there were gates made before it crossed into the Inbetween. Then there is the whole shamanesses thing, which is never really cleared. As for the sisterly rivalry, that seems to be an exaggeration in the blurb – Min and Lu barely have any interaction, and Min is never really at odds with Lu; her resentment towards the golden child seems justified, but she also looks up to Lu, so it seems odd that she sides with Set over her (yes I know he is her husband but still…). Otherwise, on a plot and pacing level, as well as diving into the themes it wanted to discuss, this book was pretty good. I just feel it needed to do better in the amount of detail that went into the world-building and motivations for the characters.

I was lucky enough to get my paws on an early copy of this book, which was one of my most hightly anticipated books of 2019. While it wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea I think a lot of readers are going to love this debut.

You all know I love books that feature sisters, and this was the main draw of The Girl King, and this was one of the highlights of the book  for me. I really loved the way the sisters’ relationship changes, evolves, and becomes more and more complex. This book had such an interesting take on the sisterly relationship -- they are not particularly close, however their love for each other complicates the separate paths they’re going down. As much as I love reading about sisters who have a fierce love for each other, it was so refreshing to read about a more complicated sibling relationship.

Lu and Min are our two main characters and they’re so incredibly different. I was absolutely fascinated by Min’s story arc. In the beginning, she is so incredibly meek and timid but has such an incredible rage burning beneath the surface. The way that rage begins to develop into mysterious powers was so intriguing, and I loved watching her give in to her anger. It was so easy to forget that she was so young -- only fifteen years old -- and Yu did a great job balancing that rage with the thought process of a child.

While I really enjoyed Min’s side of the story, I had a tougher time with Lu. Lu is our Girl King -- she’s been training to sit on the throne her entire life and it is snatched away from her at the last minute. I think Lu is going to appeal to a lot of readers for her fierce, stubborn personality, however she just didn’t click with me. In a lot of ways her personality reminded me of Lila Bard, a character I dislike but is beloved by so many readers. That kind of character is not someone I enjoy reading about and I really struggled with Lu’s chapters, which make up at least half of the book. The two sisters really overpower Nok, our third POV character, who should have had the best storyline but felt a little underwhelming.

Overall, I liked The Girl King, but it just didn’t quite click with me as a reader. However I think this book is going to be perfect for you if you like fierce, headstrong heroines, political intrigue, complex families, and magic.