Title: Queen of the Sea
Author: Dylan Meconis
Pages: 394
Finished: January 27, 2020
First Sentence: A queen.... does not abandon her people.
Summary: Margaret has spent all her life in the Convent of Elysia on the Island. They're visited twice a year by a ship to get supplies, but otherwise, life is just a quiet day of routine in a convent. But then the ship brings new arrivals - a boy named William, and then years later, a woman named Eleanor. And with these new arrivals comes politics, intrigue, and the threat of prison.
Thoughts: I am working to read more children's literature to be more effective at my job. As a department, we're working to read more diversely and out of our comfort zones. This book is definitely not a book I would typically pick.
First and foremost, it's a graphic novel (or a illustrated hybrid depending on who you talk to). Graphic novels are not my forte. I forget to look at the pictures and then miss half the story. I'm sure if I practiced at it, I'd be better, but I'd rather save my reading brain for classics.
Secondly, the book is historical fiction. I like history. I don't particularly enjoy historical fiction. Particularly kids historical fiction for whatever reason.
But I read it. The story is inspired by the early years after King Henry VIII's son Edward's death and the turmoil of succession that followed. We follow Margaret, a ward of the nuns of Saint Elysia who live on the Island. Margaret is fairly ignorant of what life is like in Albion, but when she gains and then loses a friend, she finds out the Island is really a prison for those the King declares his enemy.
It was... boring. I'm sure there's a middle school who would be all over this, but it was just rough. Firstly, it feels like the book goes through two complete story arcs one after another. First with William, then with Eleanor. I was ready for the book to be over when William left. The intrigue wasn't strong enough for me to really want to keep going.
We don't get to know the nuns that well, but they seem innocuous enough. Margaret is a kid moving into preteen who feels believable to me. But the two main women who we meet are fairly unlikeable. And the nun/guard is evil to the levels of Kai Wynn. I don't mind unlikeable women in novels. Scarlet O'Hara is an example of an unlikeable woman who I actually didn't mind reading about. But this one was hard to really enjoy any of them.
I wonder how much of it was due to the graphic novel nature of the book.
Anyway. Read for work. Would recommend to middle schoolers interested in Tudor England. Could potentially be a read-alike for Redwall depending on what it is someone likes about Redwall. No talking mice, but plenty about convent life.
This book also counts as a LibraryLove Book as I did, in fact, check it out from work.
First and foremost, it's a graphic novel (or a illustrated hybrid depending on who you talk to). Graphic novels are not my forte. I forget to look at the pictures and then miss half the story. I'm sure if I practiced at it, I'd be better, but I'd rather save my reading brain for classics.
Secondly, the book is historical fiction. I like history. I don't particularly enjoy historical fiction. Particularly kids historical fiction for whatever reason.
But I read it. The story is inspired by the early years after King Henry VIII's son Edward's death and the turmoil of succession that followed. We follow Margaret, a ward of the nuns of Saint Elysia who live on the Island. Margaret is fairly ignorant of what life is like in Albion, but when she gains and then loses a friend, she finds out the Island is really a prison for those the King declares his enemy.
It was... boring. I'm sure there's a middle school who would be all over this, but it was just rough. Firstly, it feels like the book goes through two complete story arcs one after another. First with William, then with Eleanor. I was ready for the book to be over when William left. The intrigue wasn't strong enough for me to really want to keep going.
We don't get to know the nuns that well, but they seem innocuous enough. Margaret is a kid moving into preteen who feels believable to me. But the two main women who we meet are fairly unlikeable. And the nun/guard is evil to the levels of Kai Wynn. I don't mind unlikeable women in novels. Scarlet O'Hara is an example of an unlikeable woman who I actually didn't mind reading about. But this one was hard to really enjoy any of them.
I wonder how much of it was due to the graphic novel nature of the book.
Anyway. Read for work. Would recommend to middle schoolers interested in Tudor England. Could potentially be a read-alike for Redwall depending on what it is someone likes about Redwall. No talking mice, but plenty about convent life.
This book also counts as a LibraryLove Book as I did, in fact, check it out from work.
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