God Save the Queen (edition 2012)

Thank you to Orbit for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
Expected publication: July 3rd 2012 by Orbit

This is one of those hodgepodge of genres that is usually a catastrophic mess in my opinion. This wasn't exactly catastrophic but it wasn't anything excellent. In 'God Save the Queen' we've got vampires, werewolves, goblins, 'halvies', with steampunk and Victorian elements (think Gail Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate series'...also worth note is a group of individuals contracted as guards for the aristocrats entitled the Peerage Protectorate. Hmm.)

I've grown to dread starting a brand new series because of the probability of huge info-dumps that occur when explaining a brand new world. When not done well it can really hurt the overall story. The massive info-dumps occurred in the beginning but were clumsily mixed with the actual storyline of main character Xandra so while you're trying to figure out who she is, where she's going, and why... you're also trying to sort through the strange world and the society and the Prometheus protein aka 'the plague' and... it could have been done better in my opinion.

The writing in general left something to be desired; with the story set in Britain it was inconsistently 'British' with only the occasional British word thrown in for good measure, it wasn't a true Steampunk in my opinion as there were just simply references to some gadgets and nothing more, and it had the feel of a YA novel except for a few dirty scenes. I wasn't surprised to find out that the author 'Kate Locke' is also YA author 'Kady Cross'.

The class system was a bit distasteful how the aristocrats were the supreme beings, then next were the halvies which basically were born to be protectors, and then the humans. It reminded me a bit of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series how the dhampirs were born to protect the Moroi's but I don't remember straight disliking the class system; I don't think that it was made as blatant that they were beneath the Moroi's. The halvies treated the aristos with a sense of awe that was a bit awkward.

The inevitable relationship with the two main characters was done all sorts of wrong. Sure, you ended up loving the two together but the whole introductory period was completely missing. If you're going to have a character in a book have a one-night stand then treat it as such. It's completely unrealistic and downright ridiculous that after sleeping together that you end up a couple without even having a discussion about it and he's making you breakfast and meeting your family and... I had whiplash. And a headache from all the eye-rolling.

The one saving grace for me was that I felt a semblance of originality finally bloom before the book ended. I was left intrigued and I will say that it was an overall enjoyable story, but didn't bring enough of anything 'new' to garner a higher rating. I will be interested to see how this series continues to develop in the second installment [b:The Queen Is Dead|14781171|The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire, #2)|Kate Locke|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340394774s/14781171.jpg|20434241]. ( )

This was a fun, intense and quick read. I simply could not put it down and devoured it in one afternoon.

Some people complain in their reviews and find similarities with other books, but I found the world Kate Locke created quite original and interesting. (Maybe because I did not read Parasol Protectorate series...)

The plot is based on the premise that the plague did not kill all the people that were infected but created a gene mutation. So now we have vampires and were-wolves and goblins and half-breeds. The world of today in the book is so very different than our own. There were no world wars. Adolf Hitler was just a not very talented German painter. Queen Victoria still rules in England (since she is a vampire). The fashion and technology can be best described as mild steam-punk. It was all very interesting.

The heroine Xandra is half-human half-vampire and she is in a Royal Gard sworn to protect vampire nobility. She is very good narrator, her descriptions of surroundings can be almost poetic but can also be short and precise in action scenes increasing the tension. When she was fighting sometimes I felt like I was watching the movie.
Maybe the romance part of the story was a little bit under developed, but there were so many things happening to her that I did not feel like anything was missing.
I can not comment anything that happens to her without big spoilers, but I will say that there were a couple of major unexpected twists. Did I mention that I could not put it down? :)

The big plus for a book is that everything is resolved in the end. There is no pesky cliffhanger to torture us until next year. I will definitively read the next book in series. ( )

This novel stretches the usual Steampunk setting into the present day. But it is not the present day as we know it, but an Alternate History present day that is the home to the denizens we are with familiar seeing in Victorian times.
The setting itself is pretty much what you would expect from a Steampunk novel that has the werewolves and vampires from modern Urban Fantasy, but that doesn't mean that this is a formulaic novel. There are lots of great ideas here, and Locke manages to take the elements that make up the novel and make a very entertaining story out of them.

Locke puts a very nice twist on the origin of werewolves and vampires that I found very interesting. In fact he whole worldbuilding is very nicely done, there's much history too it, and it has many very interesting elements. There's actually quite a bit to take in here, and that is something I really appreciated. It shows that Locke can create a vivid world, and has the skill to make it come alive on the page.

The characters are also done in a realistic fashion. Xandra comes especially alive, and we get a very good insight into her. That events take her to places that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable to her adds to both her depth and her strength. She's a strong female, who is both special, and for what she is, also feels realistic. Xandra is definitely a character who is worth spending some time with.
Supporting Xandra are quite a few diverse characters, along with some historic persons who add to the realistic feel of the novel. All of these are well realised, and are interesting in their own right. They never feel like they exist just to be "scenery" for the main character.

On to the story. Locke gives us a story that has action and mystery from the start. Central to it is a conspiracy that Xandra is thrown into. Along the way there are lots of twist and turns, the pace is fast and there is plenty of tension.
Locke is very good at getting the balance been a fast pace and the building of tension. There is a sense of never quite being in the know that runs through the whole novel, and as we learn more we get dragged into the events. There's a real sense of the story developing before our eyes, and being taken along for the ride. And it is a thoroughly entertaining journey to go on.

This is a very good example of the Steampunk/Urban Fantasy crossover genre done right. The setting is well developed enough to satisfy fans of Alternate History, and the werewolf/vampire elements will be great for fans of that type of Urban Fantasy.
Locke has created a great world, and some great characters well worth spending time with. And I look forward to future installments in this series.

This review originally published on my blog: http://weirdmage.blogspot.com ( )

I had looked forward to reading this book ever since I saw the cover, but the story proved to be even more than I expected. Xandra is an interesting character in that she is judgmental and lives mainly for other people's approval at the start of the book. If she had stayed that way throughout the book, it may have bugged me, but she really grew during the course of the story. She had to learn to accept not only herself, but also that the people in her life weren't all they appeared to be either. She definitely still has some growing to do, but I look forward to reading about it.

Vex was just about perfect. He makes a good love interest for Xandra and also a good partner in crime. Plus, he's hot.

The world building is intricate and it may help to read the information in the back of the book first. I didn't, so for the first few chapters I felt a touch overwhelmed by all the info. Once I figured it all out, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
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This book is fraught with problems which might not bother those readers who are big fans of the urban fantasy genre, but which bothered the more picky and demanding reader that I am. I also would use "urban fantasy" rather than "steampunk" here - even though the novel is marketed as the latter - because the book is far more a mish mash of your usual paranormals than it is a combination of past times future technology. In fact, the author's note at the beginning contained almost more technology than the story itself.

I'm not going to be entirely negative, I can see why some will find this entertaining. I love the cover and I think the GR description is fantastic... an alternate Britain where Queen Victoria is immortal and still on the throne, where vampires and werewolves roam, where goblins terrorize... it's rare that you come across something that sounds so unique. Unfortunately, it just didn't live up to my expectations.

The writing felt very juvenile. I know for someone who reads mostly young adult this might seem an odd complaint, but I expected something darker, sexier and much more adult. I don't know how old Xandra was supposed to be, I'm fairly certain we weren't told, but whatever she was she read like a young teenager and this made the whole novel feel lighter and fluffier and the one night stand thing seem even weirder to me. As if the thing didn't feel unnatural enough as it was.

Also: too many creatures all at once. I understand why authors might want more than just one type of supernatural creature in their story, it's more exciting, caters to more people's interests, mixes things up a bit... and if we are to believe that vampires exist, why wouldn't werewolves also? And goblins? But Ms Locke tried to create a complex world in which all these creatures are major players all at the same time - it didn't work. She could (and should) have done something like [a:Charlaine Harris|17061|Charlaine Harris|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1307925926p2/17061.jpg] did and allow the readers to come to terms with one species first, before introducing the others later on in the series.

Being British myself, one of the things that struck me immediately about the book is that it is so British it just wasn't. What I mean is - and I'm sorry to disappoint people who seem to love this - we really don't say shag and bloody hell and bollocks in every sentence. Or twat. Or sod off. We say it, yeah, but Locke went crazy with it. I suppose she was just trying really hard to be convincingly British but it felt fake. Or it did to me, anyway.

If you were really looking forward to this and you have a lot of good experiences with the urban fantasy genre, then you should definitely still check it out. Unfortunately, [b:God Save the Queen|12823329|God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire, #1)|Kate Locke|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324511715s/12823329.jpg|17973055] just didn't work for me and I won't be returning for more. ( )