Date published April 2008
ISBN 978-0-345-4946-1
Fantasy/Series
Trade Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn
A world gone mad by power mad religion fanatics. The world as it was once known is being made anew by them. Belinda Primrose is about to begin a career that she has trained for all her life, Assassin for Queen Lorraine. Fluent in languages, cunning and seductive, Belinda weaves herself around the courts wherever she is told to go. A new twist is on the wind as Belinda finds herself in a court where fears, magic and rivals are embroiled in a power game that will have one or the other dead. Can Belinda save herself amid all the treachery or wills he succumb to the aphrodisiac that is power?
C. E. Murphy’s latest series has been introduced in THE QUEEN’S BASTARD. It is a vivid, complex story that will have the reader wondering if they should have place cards for all the main characters. You get many different points of views as this reviewer found out and was highly confused as I read this new book from one of my favorite authors. Here you meet Belinda Primrose, a woman who has been trained since age 12 to be an assassin and she relishes in it. She is devoted to her career and her loyalty knows no bounds to her Queen, Lorraine. She is cunning, independent and yearns for some freedom from her assassin life every now and again. She is a character that is multi faceted yet also very mysterious as well. I was intrigued at first by the introduction and uniqueness of Belinda yet I had a hard time finding out why I should care for this character. The reader is introduced to so many characters; it is hard to place many of them. I felt a score card or a who’s who list should be placed in the front of the book.
THE QUEEN’S BASTARD is an interesting yet hard to get into book. As much as I adore Ms. Murphy’s other series, The Walker Papers Series and the Negotiator Series, this is a series I just couldn’t get into, no matter how many times I put it down and picked up again. Very disappointing to say the least but this reviewer is willing to try to see if the second book, The Pretender’s Crown, is better. Overall, if you enjoy magic, political intrigue, some interesting characters and a rich storyline, then grab THE QUEEN’S BASTARD.
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