The Iron Queen

 Having loved Blood Queen and since King Lear and Cordelia hold an exceptional place in my heart, I was more than enthusiastic to start Iron Queen.

I was severely disappointed...

Through four ‘units' named after the four major festivals in the Celtic Calendar (Imbolc, Samhain, Lughnasad and Beltaine), this is the story of Cordelia, Goneril and Regan, daughters to Leir and Branwen, taking part in a furious, relentless game of power and domination.

But.

Why do we need 150+ pages about dog breeding, puppies and dog tags?
What's with the wings and flying? Ancient Greeks did it first and did it well.
What's with the jarring, outrageously ridiculous nicknames of Dee, and Ree, and Gee? Are we in a series set in junior high school or something?
What's with the ‘‘er''s? The druidesses/prostitutes? The uninspiring dialogue, the love story suitable for teenagers whose only relation to reading is the screen of their mobile phones?

359 pages and the story becomes vaguely interesting (and then, falls flat again) after page 284. The Historical Notes were atrocious, revealing a woeful self-absorbed side of the writer and I begin to believe that Blood Queen was written by a different author. If you want to write Game of Thrones - style, you must know how.

Unfortunately, in this case, the Bard did it better and his monumental play should have remained untouched and not made into a ridiculously shallow teenage rump.

I will continue with Fire Queen but my expectations have become significantly lower.

Sidenote time: Dear writer, Christianity may be a ‘rigid' religion to the likes of you, but at least WE DO NOT SACRIFICE PEOPLE.

Idiots.