Elle ♡ [semi-hiatus]'s Reviews > A Deal with the Elf King

I really wanted to like this, but I found it so boring. I should've just DNF'd, but I felt compelled to finish it.

Part of this could just be my fault, maybe I'm not that into (upper?)YA fantasy, anymore? But truly I feel like I can be captivated by anything if it's got a good plot, writing, characters, etc. This just left a lot to be desired and while I have no doubt lots of people will love it, it just didn't work for me at all.

I found the story very unoriginal, there was nothing unique or exciting. I felt no connection to either of the main characters nor did I feel their connection to each other, the romance was so, so lackluster. The plot didn't make a lot of sense and was very predictable. For a book filled with magic it lacked any sort of magical feeling. The world-building was really weak and unimaginative. I'm going to expand more on all of this with spoilers below...

*Spoilers below*

It's been 101 years since the last human queen and no one knows why they can't find the new one. Each and every queen for 3,000 years has lived 100 years after going to Midscape when they die then like clockwork? Not really explained why they die so precisely, but they must die for a new queen to come every 100 years exactly. So we start off with Luella and her childhood friend, Luke, confessing their love to each other and it turns out Luke is the reason they can't find the new queen because he's hidden Luella's magic and gets punished... that whole storyline just felt unnecessary (more on that later).

Once Luella gets to Midscape it's explained that she's the weakest queen yet and they've been getting weaker progressively. But she's totally committed to being queen, helping Capton and Midscape, and doing her duty. Yet after one day and sitting on the throne once she completely changes her mind and decides she needs to escape back home? She's making this sacrifice for everyone then all of the sudden she decides there can't be any reason these queens stay for 100 years, all she needs to do is feed the throne once, spring is back, she's done... REALLY? On what basis are you making this stupid decision?

ANYWAY, back to why the Luke plotline was stupid if the Queen's are really getting weaker and have been for hundreds of years how do they all last the 100 years? Why is Luella basically dying after she is convinced to stay and sits on the throne for two weeks? They've made it very clear she won't be able to sustain the throne for long so they must figure out how to end this and save both Capton and Midscape because Luella is definitely the last human queen. Okay, sure... What would've made this way better to me is erase the Luke plotline, that was boring and dumb he literally never comes up again once we leave Capton. What would make this whole "the queen's are getting weaker, you're so weak, blah blah blah" plotline a whole lot more believable is if, say, a human queen died way earlier than they were supposed to, maybe after 20 or 50 years. Then since Midscape can't survive without a human queen the Elf King has to come and steal a human girl before the 100 year agreement. That way we have a reason the new human queen is untrained and unprepared, like Luella is, and an explanation about why she might be the weakest of all queens. The Elf King would just be selfishly sacrificing this human girl to sustain his lands. That would've made way more sense IMO.

Also. On to Elf Kings and Human Queens... Elf Kings are like any other royal monarchy, the 'power' passes from father to firstborn son. Human Queens are random... just some random human specifically from the town of Capton on the other side of the Fade that randomly shows powers as a late teenager. Why? Why is the human magic not passed down generationally as well? The world-building was just so like 'this happens, no reason why, I'm just saying things with no basis or support'. Also, 'The Viel' that Elf Kings maintain that traps...the dead?... is mentioned, but never elaborated on. Why the Fade is even really necessary is a mystery...humans used to co-exist with all the Midscape creatures thousands of years ago, seems like if they're dying they should just agree to not kill all the humans? Wasn't really explained why that couldn't have been an option.

The elves were portrayed as so bad as "they come for queens and bring death" or something like that... Eldas was so lame. He seemed kind of cool and badass when he came for her, but he was like a little marshmallow when we start to get to know him, a marshmallow that occasionally kills people, but still.

When I read the blurb and saw she was forced to marry an Elf King I was expecting forced proximity, living together, maybe in the same rooms, some pretending to be romantic at the very least in front of the people of Midscape, but there was none of that. Zero expectation from this King/Queen union for romantic relationships in the thousands of years it's been going on, so the romance in this was sooo slow to get going and not very believable or exciting.

The 'answer' to ending the human queen requirement seemed weird, like why not make it more clear that there was a way to end it? It didn't seem like a 'sacrifice' of sending a human girl was necessary for any reason. Everyone would've been happier to just have the mirror of the redwood throne in Capton creating seasons in Midscape without having to marry a dumb human and the people of Capton would've loved not having to give away a girl every 100 years. But no, the first queen knew that "when the time was right" some human queen would figure it out... okay...

Also, why is Capton so small? Why wouldn't other humans be flocking to a place that lets you live longer? Why is there only one healer? So.many.questions.

Anyway, I could literally rant and ramble about every aspect of this book and plot, but I'm going to be done now. I just think this could've been a whole lot better. It's not a terrible idea, it just needed better editing, more creativity in regards to plot and world-building, and more romantic tension between the leads. Oh well, on to the next.