THE SHROUDED QUEEN - Ashley Tropea

Amunet Khada is a royal princess of Ashorah. Her life is a preparation to become the queen. Attending her are a number of servants who are generally treated fairly, though harshly if they don't follow protocol. The servants know their place and they know that they are all expendable.

When the Kaldfolk attack the palace and the king is killed, Amunet, now queen is whisked away by trusted guards, under the guise of being a servant, while her servant, Samira, is made to be a decoy - anticipating that she would be killed as the new queen. Instead, however, she is captured while the Kaldfolk put her through a series of trials intended to discern her divine powers.

Knowing her role is to impersonate the queen so that the true queen can make her escape, Samira continues the deception to the best of her ability, knowing that the rigorous trials could end her life at any moment.

With Amunet on the run, trying to reach the god of the underworld before she loses her powers, and Samira trying to keep up the pretense that she is the queen, the fate of Ashorah lies in the hands of the one who can connect with the gods and express her power.

I was initially excited to get into this book. It was billed as a YA fantasy "inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology" with a Prince and the Pauper concept of mistaken (or exchange of) identities theme. What I found, though, was a generally slow fantasy with the barest hints of Egyptian mythology in a world that wasn't very clear.

The set-up is done quite well and we get invested in out two main characters early. The secondary characters are really not as well defined, even though they have rather significant roles in the book. But after the set-up and the inciting action, the bulk of the book is taken up with ... well, I'm not sure. It felt like a lot of the same thing. Amunet is running and trusting her guard. Samira is confused but going through the trials, trusting her guard. And repeat.

The 'ending' (this is a duology so there's not really an ending) did take me by surprise and I enjoyed it, elevating my rating of the book. But so much in between the beginning and the ending felt like filler - as if this duology was one book that was filled to make it two.

I don't know what world we're in. Ashora. Kaldfolk. Ancient earth? Another planet? Just a generic fantasy world? There's really not a lot of world-building going on. There's a goal to get to the surprise ending and defining the world would get in the way.

This was tough to get through because it felt like so much of the same, but the set-up and ending were definitely enjoyable.

Looking for a good book? The Shrouded Queen by Ashley Tropea is a fantasy with a Prince and the Pauper theme with two characters of interest but slow much of the time. 

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Shrouded Queen

author: Ashley Tropea

publisher: Gallery Books

ISBN:  9781668096215

paperback, 448 pages 

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