As I stared at the cover of a strong woman cloaked in Persian attire and a dagger ready to attack in the library, I stood there in front of the book shelf with amazement. I wanted a good read about a female leader who could kick butt in a world that knew nothing about knights and chivalry. I thought I was going to get a good read as I checked out that book and went home that day. I couldn’t had been more wrong when I opened that book at home. There’s two things one should know about this book: 1. Never judge a book by its cover. 2. This book disappoints on so many levels. Queen of the Amazons is a fantasy novel told around the time Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons is said to have met Alexander the Great in Persia. The queen gives birth to a child who’s perfectly healthy but has no soul. Seeing her as a soulless creature who can’t do anything but stare and do things mindlessly, her people call her Etta (which means “that thing”) and think that her mother is insane for claiming the soulless being to be her heir. Instead of narrating from the Queen’s or Etta’s perspective, the story is told from Etta’s babysitter, a reluctant seer named Selene. Perfect. The idea from a different perspective could have been interesting if the writing didn’t seem watered down. All I know about the Amazons’ way of life is that they only use men for breeding daughters, women for making love, ride horses, and carry spears for battle.
That’s it. Not much information can be said about the Persians either. Woman aren’t considered much in Persian culture, so why is Selene, an independent woman, going out with a Persian prince? The story becomes dull and more of a chore to read once you get to the middle of the story where Alexander finally comes into the picture. Why because I could already tell what was going to happen when Etta finally got up and left camp in search of something while hearing tales from villagers about a man named Alexander. It was too obvious when Etta’s quest came to an end at Alexander’s feet. Anybody could tell how and who she was going to get her soul from. A big disappointment. A well written narrative could had made the mystery an actual mystery. The only good things about this book was that it’s a fantasy novel not based in the medieval era and Selene is clearly bisexual. Too bad the novel was clearly not planned out and Selene’s relationships aren‘t made clear enough. Looks like I’ll have to look for other books to recommend for people who want a break from the typical fantasy worlds.