ALC Review: Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis
Release date: 18 February 2025
Rating: 2.5-3/5
Narrator: Amanda Leigh Cobb
Narration Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.
Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.
When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…
Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?
Review
I keep falling for the romantasy trap because of gimmicky tropes, and I only have myself to blame. Plus, the library on the cover totally lured me in for this one. Wooing the Witch Queen kicks off the Queens of Villainy series of interconnected romantasies, with each book focusing on a different couple. Saskia and "Fabian,” whose real name comes up in the book, so I won’t spoil it, make up the first couple for the series. I wasn't drawn to this book for one reason or another, so my expectations were neither high nor low. I didn’t find the book to be remarkable one way or the other in the end, but I know it could be pretty popular with fans of the mainstream romantasy genre.
I fall easily for marketing strategies involving library settings in books. They always give an immersive and pleasantly cozy atmosphere to really curl up and daydream in. I loved the main character's personality and interactions with the other characters, and though I strictly avoid picking up a book only because of tropes, I do occasionally appreciate a good cinnamon roll of a leading man. Some of the circumstances surrounding his relationship with his family and how he got out of one place and to another provided little to no explanation. I don't expect too much world building and logic in a romantasy, but the magical mechanics were completely absent and glaringly convenient. Nevertheless, once the matter of figuring out how to get this character from one place to another worked itself out, the story plugged along well enough.
Saskia, the inaugural Queen of Villainy, sports a bristly nature, which I know is purposeful, but it don't find the extent of her cantankerousness appealing. Onions have layers and all that, but she seems to reserve kindness only for certain underlings and not any of her equals. The dynamic confused me a bit—it felt like an inverse of elitism, almost as if Saskia was okay with other people as long as they don't challenge or threaten her authority. After learning Fabian’s true identity, she demonstrates a hard time coming to terms with things until he obstensibly ingratiates himself and gravels to a nauseating extent. There's a huge difference between humble kindness and simpering sycophancy, and Fabian feels more like the latter instead of the former, which I don't find particularly romantic.
In the end, the book wasn't long, it didn't require a mental load to process, and I'm sure it will entice crowds of mainstream romantasy fans. I need a bit more substance in my books, no matter the genre. I didn't get much here and may not continue the series. I'm not really the target audience.
I got to experience this book as an ALC, and I found the narration pleasant. It helped with the experience of the story as a whole. I listen to quite a few audiobooks every year, and the narrator, Amanda Leigh Cobb, performs well with both tone and enunciation. I easily finished the book at over 2x speed because I had no difficulty whatsoever hearing or understanding anything.
Overall, 5 stars wholeheartedly for the narration. Unfortunately, the book didn't wow me and I can't give more than 2.5-3 stars. I don’t fall into the grouping for the target audience really, though readers who typically devour any and all romantasy they can get their hands on may love it anyway.
My thanks to Bramble via Macmillan Audio for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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