The Queen of Blood (The Queens of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst

The Queen of Aratay controls spirits that want to kill humans who invade their forests, air, land, and water. When Daleina's village is destroyed by wild spirits as a child she discovers she has the ability to control them. As the only survivor, along with her sister and parents, she goes to an academy to get trained in her new powers. The academy trains girls to protect the citizens in different military capacities; however, only one girl will replace the Queen when her powers wane. Daleina makes good friends with her classmates and learns her powers are meagre at best. Her determination, hard work, empathy, and perfectionism are what allow her to pass but she has quite the inferiority complex as she is unable to work the more powerful spirits.

The point of view switches from Daleina to a warrior who serves the Queen keeping rogue spirits in check. When he notices a pattern of villages being attacked by spirits, he questions if the Queen is losing her powers. Usually this is a sign and the Queen dies. The Queen denies her loss of power and banishes him for suggesting it. When the warrior's heir that he trained is murdered he decides to go to the academy and choose a girl to mentor. Daleina stands out not because of her skill, but for her mindset. She knows that the goal should be to protect the people and put them above herself, not to rise to a throne for the power only.

The strength of this novel is the main character's development. The plot can be shaky at times and predictable. Daleina is plagued by doubts and confidence. She is not as skilled as the other students vying to be heir to the throne. Her strength lies in her compassion and cooperating with spirits rather than controlling them. She's flawed and more interesting than your usual archetype heroine who excels at everything. She understands what it means to be a team player and uses that strength. She's a reluctant hero and layered in complexities.

The fantasy setting is well-done and the world is easy to visualize using elemental spirits that act like Norwegian beserkers when not controlled by humans. The plot reminded me of Harry Potter, the Ranger's Apprentice, and Norse myths. The academy part is not overly long but shows her creating friendships and adds a humorous break in the dark plot line. The mentor part shows an adult pushing her to reach her potential and showing her how to use what she sees as failings, as strengths. She can sense and redirect spirits with more power than the other students. He helps her not focus on her weakness. People live in the trees and while there is no one great tree like Yggdrasil, there is a tree kraken that is more like the destructive serpent in Norse myths. The name, Midforest, in Aratay is similar to the Norse Midgard, the name for Earth. The spirits fight like the Viking beserkers.

When the warrior refuses to see what's happening with the Queen, it gets dragged out too long. The author tries to show him blinded by love, but it's a weak plot device for moving the story forward. The romantic parts are abrupt and felt tacked on rather than worked into the plot seamlessly, especially Andare. Some of the plot twists were interesting and the blind incident worked well into the theme of power and its effects on people.

The sinister owl spirit does not represent today's wise owl, but is more the shady Middle Ages owl associated with witches. The owl that was active at night but blind during the day. This owl is blinded by hate and wants genocide. While the Queen is shown in her complexity, the owl spirit is a one dimensional villain that cannot be reasoned with even though Daleina tries on several occasions.

This book is violent with more deaths than usual. The minor characters are not developed enough for me for their deaths to have much impact. I never get to know most of them in depth; therefore, the deaths stand out as a plot technique to try and draw emotion from the reader and doesn't work. The author does go into depth with the protagonish and shows how the deaths affect her and her relationships with others. This is well-done. She suffers and feels responsible at the end emphasizing that she has the potential to be a compassionate and wise leader. I'm not sure I'll remember this book. I think the character will stick with me because she is not your usual invincible superhero, but the plot could have been better.

3 Smileys