Thank you Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. This is my honest review.
To Kill a Queen is a story of Princess Raine, a reluctant heir, trying to find her older sister. She sets on a quest with Archmage Kirin where her life is in danger.
The world building in To Kill a Queen was good but needed a little bit more explanation. There was a very interesting premise and it is a good strong foundation for a new fantasy world. In hindsight, though, some plot developments were obvious but still didn't get much page time in my opinion. Something would be revealed and before the characters have had chance to absorb it, the story moves on. I also thought the last few chapters were rushed and could have been expanded into a whole additional book because here it seemed to be resolved a bit quickly. I think this book is supposed to be the first in a series but I don't really see how it could carry on. I think To Kill a Queen works well as a standalone so please no unnecessary sequels, Ms Uliano.

I picked this one up purely on the name relation, and really wanted to like it. Sadly I thin its marketing is doing more of a disservice than the actual writing is. This does not read like a New Adult Fantasy novel. It reads closer to upper middle grade save for a few things that could have been cut to suit that format without much impact. And had I been reading to that expectation, that would be enough to raise my opinion, at least marginally. Unfortunately, as it is, the book suffers from opening with an exposition dump that might have made for a more engaging beginning if we had seen it in narrative action. Small glimpses of promise couldn't carry me through.

DNF.
Although the summary seemed super interesting I had a hard time getting attached to the characters or follow the story. I did enjoy some part of the 20% I’ve read, so that's why I give it a 3/5. I will probably pick it up later and then give the rating it deserves! I do feel like this book could be amazing with a little more work on the storyline.
So, this isn’t my final review! I will definitely try reading this book again!

Good premise but a clumsy execution, so I stopped reading at 30% mark. I had several issues. The important parts of the story had happened before the book began. The disappearance of the crown princess (that didn’t seem to interest anyone); the bad relations between the sisters; the king’s illness; and most importantly, the love story between Raine and Kirin, even if they formally acknowledge it here. Basically, the reader is taken along a ride that has already gone. The prophecy, the inciting incident mentioned in the back copy, hadn’t come up yet by the time I stopped reading.

So what did I get? An exhausting first chapter where the entire back story is brought up as fast as possible followed by several chapters of filler scenes. Even those that seemingly matter, like the magic ritual to find the lost sister, doesn’t affect the plot and the rest is just random waffling about. A little girl (of twenty?) who throws a tantrum for being told she needs to marry—which she already knew—and runs away from home, leaving her dying farther behind without compunction. Inconsistencies in the world building (magic is illegal, but Kirin is a mage training other mages because of reasons). A romantic couple without a romance, which comes across as Raine clinging to Kirin and demanding he love her. A lot of head-hopping, where the point of view changes randomly from paragraph to paragraph. And an annoying copyediting issue, where a character who doesn’t know Raine’s real name nonetheless calls her by it in her point of view chapters.

With a bit of restructuring and rewriting this might be an interesting book. As it stands, I had to stop reading. It might improve later, once the prophecy gets going, so I’m giving it three stars to let other readers find out for themselves.

I just couldn't finish this book. I made it 25% through and just gave up. I didn't care about the characters or their quest. They were pretty one dimensional and both prudish and crude.

Thanks Netgalley and publishers for the free EArc

This book was provided to me by Netgalley for an honest review.

Raine is the second born heir to the kingdom of Altria. Her sister Alana disappeared years ago and nobody knows if she is dead or alive. Raine, along with her companion Kirin go on an adventure to find her sister and discover a plot to have her murdered.

It had a very slow start and was hard to get into at first. It may have been because of all of the descriptions and world building. About a third of the way through, the writing and overall story began to improve.

Raine came across as a very selfish character. Her father, the king, is dying and she decides to leave everyone to find her equally selfish sister. Kirin did not have much of a personality at all.

Overall I gave this book two stars.

Though it wasn’t my cup of tea, it is an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the character development and the overall story but there was some things I didn’t enjoy. Overall, I give it a 3/5.

this was a great start to a series, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the story itself. I look forward to more from the series.