Lucie V.'s Reviews > The Mad King and the False Queen

I was provided an e-copy of the book by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

✅ Magic wielders and assassins
✅ Princess and assassin switching places
✅ Dagmara
✅ Politics and scheming
✅ 2 POVs
✅ Marriage of convenience
✅ Hate to love
✅ "Only one bed"
✅(🆗) Pace
✅🆗 Plot (✅ for Dagmara and 🆗 for Magdalena)
✅🆗 Romance & love interests
🆗(❌) Magdalena
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: death of loved ones, chronic illness, poison and murders
❗️❗️Mild cliffhanger

3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved Dagmara’s plotline but didn’t like Magdalena or get invested in her quest.

After discovering that she has magic she shouldn’t, and witnessing her father and brother’s assassination, only barely escaping death herself, Princess Magdalena knows she has to travel to the neighboring kingdom to learn more about her powers. But, when Magdalena receives a marriage proposal from the Mad King, she knows she also needs to investigate him, for she believes him to be responsible for the assassination of her family. Magdalena decides to send Dagmara, her father’s assassin and Magda’s best friend in her stead, to meet with the Mad King and try to find proof of his involvement in the murders.

There are politics, lies, scheming, and betrayals in this book, all mixed with an interesting magic system based on elemental magic. It is fairly simple to grasp, yet is more complex than simply having individuals with powers. The magic is linked to the land and the different kingdoms, and it directly affects nature and the people of the kingdoms when magic wielders die.

The pacing was good, but a few time jumps in the first part of the book might not have been the best choice. First, the funeral of Magda’s loved ones is skipped, then the mourning altogether is absent, and the next thing we know is that she is leaving for her quest to discover more about her magic. While traveling, Magda bartered passage onto a ship and told them she would work in exchange for passage, but we don’t see any of that either. Seeing as I struggled to connect with Magda and like her, I think seeing those moments in more detail might have helped me care for her more, and enjoy her chapters more.

I like Dagmara, and her chapters were engaging and interesting, but I don’t care about Magda and her quest. I feel that Magda had a half-baked plan and spent the whole book running around, trying to accomplish something, but only managing to appear gullible and naïve. Her plan was not well thought out. Flaustra’s queen told her not to come, but she decided to go to Flaustra anyway, she wanted to keep her identity a secret though, so she didn’t tell the palace’s guards who she was, yet she was shocked to be denied entry. What was she expecting? That just anyone could waltz into the palace because they said they needed to see the queen?

Then there is Ravi. She only just met him, and trusts him way too easily, especially considering that she is a foreign princess and the heir to her kingdom… But that’s okay because Ravi tells her that she is a very special snowflake oozing true bravery. And don’t get me started on the “romance” between Ravi and Magda. It was predictable, and cliché, and I was not invested in their relationship at all. Even when there was a “twist” to try to add angst to their romance, it was very predictable.

I also think that Magda’s priorities need some reorganizing. She sent her best friend to an enemy kingdom for who knows how long, while she embarked on this quest to find more about her magic, but ultimately, she didn’t find anything about her magic. She mostly ran around in Flaustra, trying to devise a plan as she went. She was ready to drop everything for her dog, which I understand, but at the same time, she also needs to think about her people, her kingdom, and her best friend. Dagmara was in danger every day she spent in Ilusauri, yet Magda didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get back to her friend and relieve her of her insane mission.

While Magda was wasting her time, Dagmara accomplished so much, helping her kingdom, guiding the Mad King toward a goal that would help both their lands, forming alliances, and trying to figure out who sent assassins to kill Magda’s family. Dagmara was a much more interesting character. She is King Bodgan’s assassin and best friend to Princess Magdalena. She is brave and selfless, accepting to put her life on the line for Magda’s unrealistic plan. Dagmara’s romance was also better-paced and developed, and much more interesting.

That being said, her interactions with Sabien annoyed me, because of Sabien’s behavior. I found the banter to feel forced instead of being natural and quirky. Also, considering that she is pretending to be a princess intending to marry Sabien’s King, I would think that he would refrain from flirting with her, even if he knows she is hiding things, but he does not hesitate to flirt, implying that they will end up in bed together and that she will end up with him instead of Claude. It annoyed me so much to see him behave this way, especially after Claude introduced him as a friend of his. Doesn’t Sabien have any loyalty and respect for his King and friend?! I dislike him.

I liked the story as a whole, but a few details bothered me, and I have to say that I only liked one of the main characters. Overall though, it was a good start to the series, and I am curious to see what the next book has in store for Dagmara and Magdalena. The ending is a mild cliffhanger too, and it makes me wish I had the second book, mostly so I can know what happens to Dagmara.


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