Archon’s Queen

After reading Prophet of the Badlands, the first book of the Awakened series, I actually expected the story to just continue. But silly me, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The Badlands are changed for a futuristic London in ruins with a lot of observation and different social classes. Annabella ‘Pixie’ Morgan has a terrible life, she’s also one of the Awakened, able to manipulate electricity.

I took me very long to get into the story. It might have been because I was expected the same characters/setting as in the first book, but also because the first part was quite slow. Add to that the constant reminders of how awful Annabella’s life is, and it doesn’t make for an easy read. It’s not like Prophet of the Badlands portrayed such a nice life, but this felt much worse. Really, the book was hard to read because of all the hardships Annabella endures. She’s constantly being used by everyone and as a heavy drug addict, she keeps returning to dreadful situations.

The second half was better as in some things actually started happening and the connection to the series started to become more and more clear. Annabella still made some very stupid decisions but at least it looks like she’s learning. Although certainly not an easy read, I’m curious as to where the story is going in the next book.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!