To be clear, I think that The Queen of the Tearling is going to make a terrific movie! It has everything you’d want for a teen-drama-fantasy: Nineteen year old girl is the long-hidden queen She has no experience of the wider world, and falls inexplicably for the obviously dark and brooding criminal She makes decisions based almost entirely from her heart, and only seems to be cross-examined well after such opinions would have been useful She’s ‘plain’ looking, but kicks ass!īut as a book, there is much missing. Sadly, I found myself working very hard to keep reading this book, and by the end I was left disappointed – as if I hadn’t actually had the opportunity to read a new book, but rather just the screenplay for an upcoming movie, with all the plot holes and two-dimensional characterisations you’d expect. The blurb seemed interesting enough, and while I was a little nervous of finding myself reading yet another ‘Hunger Games’/’Twilight’/’The Bone Season’, I wanted to make the decision for myself.

Understandably, given my love of all things Emma Watson, I wanted to know more about this book she so loved. She will not only star as the main character in the movie, but she is taking on the responsibility as one of the producers for the film as well. The first I heard of Erika Johansen’s ‘The Queen of the Tearling’ was news that Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) was championing the cause of a movie based on the novel.

No longer is a book written solely for the purpose of entertaining a hoped-for reader, rather, some authors view the book-stage of their stories as simply a convenient stepping stone towards the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and big-budget movie deals. I have been reading and reviewing books for nigh on seven years now, and in that time I believe I have noticed a creeping trend migrating from the world of comic books, infiltrating the world of genre literature.

Queen of the tearling book 3