Review--Long Live the Queen by Kate Locke

Xandra Vardan thought life would be simpler when she accepted the goblin crown and became their queen, but life has only become more complicated. Everyone -- vampires, werewolves and humans -- wants the goblins on their side, because whoever has the goblins -- wins.
 
With human zealots intent on ridding the world of anyone with plagued blood and supernatural politics taking Britain to the verge of civil war, Xandra's finding out that being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, and if she doesn't do something fast, hers will be the shortest reign in history. 

The fantastic conclusion to the series that started with the spectacular undead steampunk debut, God Save the Queen and The Queen is Dead.

FINALLY finished Kate Locke's The Immortal Empire series with Long Live the Queen! Don't ask me why I'm not reading my new RT reads! I wouldn't be able to explain it properly, let's just say that I'm weird!

It's been a long time (as usual) since I last read The Queen is Dead, but luckily, it didn't seem to matter. I was able to jump into this story and follow along rather nicely. The past events weren't entirely critical to know in order to follow along. Sure they get mentioned, but it's not like a key piece of evidence from book 1 was a need to know topic in this one!

In this one, we deal with a lot political upheaval. There's hate groups forming, humans against the supernatural types. They are wanting to claim back their kingdom/world from the supernaturals and naturally, that isn't going to fly for any of our supes. Let alone Queen Victoria!

And apparently in this one, Xandra has a clone running about causing trouble. Major trouble, like the murdering kind. And naturally eyes turn to the real Xandra and wondering just what is going on!

Like I said, lots of political upheaval and sinister schemes are going on in this one! It wasn't hard to follow, but I am finding myself struggling to explain it without giving away spoilers. Plus, that cold I've been having all week is still working its way out of me, so I'm still not up to 100%, more like 95%! I'm getting there!

I've found this to be quite an interesting series. Steampunk with paranormal twists are always my fave when it comes to that genre. Of course, being a paranormal reader, that's not surprising!  I liked how Kate built up this world and didn't make it overly confusing. I've tried a few other steampunk novels where I struggled to adjust to the world-building. The plot and characters were good and everything else, but that world-building always dragged me down. But not here! She didn't throw out too many complicated gizmos or other whatnot that is typical in a steampunk world and I was greatly appreciated of that!

I was a little sad to see that Xandra and Vex didn't get much time for romance. True, I'm not a romance reader, but I like to see a little bit here and there. Poor Xandra and Vex didn't get much time for that in this one. But the moments they did share were intense and quite emotional, so kudos again to Kate for that!

The action was well paced! This is what kept me eating up the pages! As there's quite a bit of mystery/conspiracy going on! I won't get into the details, but I will say the story kept me highly engaged! I enjoyed seeing Xandra's character development over the course of the trilogy. She went from not knowing who she was, to getting some understanding to a total acceptance! It was remarkably done!

I might have had a few things that left me a bit upset. Some things that just didn't get answered too much. But I guess in a way, I understand why they weren't. It just wasn't necessary. But the nit-picker reader in me would still like to know! But oh well! And naturally the ending was nicely done as well! We get the sense that our characters are in their places for a happily ever after setting and are on the brink of new beginnings, that are hopefully happy as well!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars