Belinda Primrose is the bastard daughter of Queen Lorraine and her adviser, Lord Drake. Trained since childhood to serve her father, and through him the Queen, Belinda is the Queen's secret weapon, an assassin wrapped in a pretty face and a woman's body. Held within, unknown even to herself, is the power of the witchbreed, placed out of reach by her father's witchbreed magic. Sent to Gallin to spy upon Queen Sandalia and to discover if she or her son, Javier, stir up rebellion against Lorraine, Belinda becomes entangled in political intrigue and a prince's heart in ways she had not planned. And now her powers are awakening....
Impression: While I generally enjoyed The Queen's Bastard and think I might like to read the sequel (if only to find out what happens to Belinda from here), I can't say the book totally held my interest. It was actually easy for me to put it down, and I can’t completely put my finger on why. This saddens me as I was, when I first bought the book, really looking forward to reading it.
Belinda is an well-rounded, engaging character, loyal to her father and the Queen she remembers being born to. The other characters are equally well written. The story itself, once it gets started, is rather predictable, however, but the writing itself is good. I think one of my biggest problems is the answer to the question of the witchbreed powers. There is absolutely NO hint of the implied answer prior to the last few pages of the book, so it takes you a bit by surprise, and for me it was out of line with the world setting that had already been established. This occurred so late in the book, however, that I can't say it was the reason I had difficulty keeping a sustained interest in the book. Perhaps it was the predictability of the plot. Maybe it was the heavy focus on sex (not that I'm a prude; I enjoyed the first 4 or 5 books of the Anita Blake series). As I said, I do kind of want to know what happens to Belinda and Javier after this, but I can see it not being a priority. Not going to say don't read the book, but I also can't really recommend it.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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