Once Upon a Time meets Game of Thrones in New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter’s magical, romantic dark fantasy series, in which the fairy tales we know and love are prophecies of the future.Welcome to the Forest of Good and Evil, where villains may be heroes and heroes may be villains…it all depends on who you ask.In the realm of Enchantia, creatures of legend still exist, magic is … ask.
In the realm of Enchantia, creatures of legend still exist, magic is the norm, and fairy tales are real.
Raised in the human world, Everly Morrow has no idea she’s a fairy-tale princess—until she begins to commune with mirrors. Soon, a horrifying truth is revealed. She is fated to be Snow White’s greatest enemy, the Evil Queen.
With powers beyond her imagination or control, Everly returns to the land of her birth. There, she meets Roth Charmaine, the supposed Prince Charming. Their attraction is undeniable, but their relationship is doomed. As Everly faces disasters and betrayals, giving in to her dark side proves more tempting. Can she resist, or will she become the villain she was born to be?
Critics love The Evil Queen:
“Showalter (the Everlife books) delivers an entertaining series opener that condemns prejudice while championing self-determination. Romance-sweet and steamy, gay and straight-features prominently, action and humor abound, and the mystery of how each character figures into the legend imparts intrigue.”—Publishers Weekly
“The novel’s conceit has a lot of potential with its deconstruction of a cherished fairy tale, an interesting take on good and evil as actions rather than fate, and a long cast of characters in ever evolving roles that will leave readers wondering who they are supposed to be.”—Kirkus Reviews
The Forest of Good and Evil Series:
The Evil Queen
The Glass Queen
more
I have been provided with a copy of The Evil Queen through NetGalley for an impartial review. This is the first book in the new The Forest of Good and Evil series and this was just a great way to start off a new series. All I can say about this book is just wow. I am just stunned with how good this book is. It’s a different take on fairy tales and it something that I’ve never read before and that just had me so excited to try it and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. I was just transported to this new world and with these new characters and I just didn’t know what was going to happen next. I just lost myself in these characters lives and I just felt everything they were feeling. I can’t wait to see what’s next for this series.
Gena Showalter never disappoints. She took a well known fairy tale and twisted it into something magnificent. The story of Snow White and the evil queen this story changes the game and questions is the evil queen really evil and if so, what happened to bring her to that point. The story mentions other fairy tales being lived in neighbouring kingdoms, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast etc and I’m hoping that the author continues with these in other books. This particular story is left with an ending but also open so that there is the possibility of seeing our characters again. I have a feeling that Everly and Roth will be playing their parts in other stories to come. I just love a good fairy tale, especially one that’s been turned on it’s head. I highly recommend this if you love retellings, romance, secrets coming to light, and intelligent sassy characters.
It’s Gena so you know this book is awesome!
Hello My Darklings… Welcome to Enchantia, the land of myths, magic, and mystical creatures. It’s the place make believe is made of. Realms based on fairytales, with its people living out the stories one day and battle at a time. One day, in Oklahoma, Everly finds out that her life is not what it appears to be. She was born with a destiny and it’s time to take her rightful place amid the legend of Snow White and The Evil Queen. What part will she play? Is she good or evil? And is she strong enough to find out? Right this moment, fresh from reaching the end of this book, I’m eagerly anticipating the next one. I’m hooked on all things Roth and I NEED MORE!!
The Evil Queen could also be referred to as The Seven Sins of Everly. I swear, this young lady wanted and needed and craved it all.
Sloth: she wasn’t well liked, she didn’t like it, but she did nothing about it but complain and pout. She actually exacerbated the issue and still found cause for complaint..
Pride: when she found out she had mystical power, despite the warnings, she was proud of what she could do and did it anyway, regardless of the cost. Then whined about it afterwards.
Greed: she hoarded power and if she had her way, she alone would have any.
Gluttony: see above point; add in the fact that the more she had, the more she wanted. Enough was never enough.
Envy: she had green eyes for anyone who possessed something she didn’t have. Being a sorceress was her greatest boon because she could just syphon what she wanted. I guess this goes with Greed and Gluttony as well.
Lust: not only for power, but also for Roth. When you meet him, you won’t blame her.
Wrath: irrational scorn, justified rage, and generally mad at the world. That was Everly. I agreed with her reasons, not all of her methods.
I can imagine a lot of people hating Everly. I know that there were moments when I did. She constantly rubbed me the wrong way, tempting me to throw my kindle to get her to stop her nonsense. Like that was going to make it all go away There were times when she had me rooting so hard for her (most of the book) and times when I couldn’t figure out her logic. She went into everything with her own motives, which didn’t really gel with her agenda. Would it hurt the girl to come up with a feasible plan? Something that didn’t guarantee everyone’s heartbreak? She was eternally sorry AFTER the fact, pretending to one and all that she felt nothing, making her the perfect enemy. How could one not hate her guts? But then when you consider her many vulnerable moments, you can’t help but hope and pray and scream for her happy ending. Everly was a jumbled bag of contradiction, which I appreciated while I grumbled about it.
The characters I want to meet:
Noel, the oracle who aims to be Everly’s best mediocre friend; Ophelia, the witch warrior you don’t want to mess with; Hartly, Everly’s sister, who has a heart of gold and a strong affinity with animals; Truly, an archer who never misses; Saxon and Vikander, Roth’s besties and guards; and of course, Roth himself. He was honorable and kind, vicious and ferocious, a warrior of valor, honest to a fault, had the power of compulsion, an intricate back story, and HE WAS HOT! The man could turn you on with words, people! While any true heat in this story was fade to black, his kisses… dang, those kisses were incendiary!!
I’ve been a huge fan of Showalter’s adult romance books and was super excited to get my hands on her attempt at young adult. Color me impressed! I was completely engrossed in this story, its characters, and the world building that had me practically visualizing Enchantia and its inhabitants. I’m in love with Roth because he happens to be the most amazing character in this book and I only wish I got to enjoy his perspective. Maybe we’ll get something in the next one? *hint hint* Roth and his beast mode. Warrior Supreme. His pierced nipples and hot bod. Yeah, Roth was everything. Honestly, there were plenty of characters that got some shine and I’m hoping to get to know them better.
Holy poisoned apples! The Evil Queen is the kind of book that “consumed and devoured [the reader], lighting a fire inside” that cannot be quelled. You can’t exactly label this book either, just like you can’t claim to be good or evil.
You can try and say it’s a fairy tale (Grimm style; not Disney). You can say it’s a suspenseful mystery. You can call it a glorification of the villians. You can call it a love story. An adventure. A quest. A dystopian novel. All are wrong and all are right. Welcome to Schrödinger’s mind games.
Gena Showalter has zero remorse. I can tell by how many times she brought this full grown adult to tears. This novel is timeless and though it is YA, it is enough to make even the staunchest adult crack a smile, fly, and even believe in Peter Pan.
The Evil Queen is an incredible journey that proves actions are louder than words. With so many incredible quotes that I’m dying to share, I know that it’s not only an adventure you will never forget but it’s an inspiring journey that will shape your thoughts and change your views.
Evil…such a dark and depressing word. It conjures up very specific images in the minds of every person. The images vary but the meaning is the same. However, Gena Showalter shows us the truth. Evil is a choice.
The Evil Queen is a spectacular story. A genuinely awe inspiring story with so many characters to steal your heart, so many beings to capture your imagination, and too many feels to process.
I am forever going to need a place in Enchantia. Perhaps I can convince some of my new friends to give me a permanent home. Though I suspect I’m going to want to further research (read the rest of the series) before settling. Wish me luck in my relocation, I’m going to need it.
P.S. I’m totally getting a unicorn!
I enjoyed the start of this new series.
It’s rare that a fairytale retelling captures my imagination quite as this one does but this is not a tired retelling of Snow White and the evil Queen rather it takes that particular fairytale and turns it completely on its head giving it a fresh new spin and injecting some dark undertones so, in essence, a complete reimagining.
I’m incredibly critical when rating this type of fiction and this is definitely one of the better retellings for sure.
Hero or villain here nothing is assumed history is rewritten and who the ultimate villain is only a matter of opinion or ultimately how you look at things.
Sometimes following what’s been foretold means you actually force that destiny into truth giving it a life all it’s own a self-fulfilling prophecy if you will, Bringing upon yourself the very thing you’ve been trying to avert
Villains aren’t always born they can also be created pushed into a mould that has already been pre-determined, setting such events and there building blocks into place and triggering things that could have been avoided if only a different path had been followed or chosen.
Here Everly is that supposed villain but before the evil queen, there was just a girl, one who loves her mum and her sister and just wants to protect them and be the best version of herself she can be for them.
Forced into an uncertain future and then judged just for the accident of her birth Everly finds herself through no fault of her own with many enemies that want to destroy her.
She tries to be good and battles to balance her natural instincts against her much darker thoughts but when everyone thinks the worst of you no matter what you do is there any point in doing the right thing.
Genre-wise I’d describe this as mature YA it’s told completely from Everly’s POV.
I liked Everly a lot she has a lot of sass and despite being constantly betrayed and let down she still tries to do the right thing even when others around her don’t extend the same courtesy back.
She’s incredibly loyal and protective to those she cares about and it’s that treatment of her loved ones that finally pushes her from the ledge she’s been teetering on.
Roth the love interest well I initially liked him them I wanted to give him a swift kick where the sun doesn’t shine if you get my drift and then I was back to liking him again.
He’s definitely not perfect and his actions and words when he learns just what Everly is and her actual potential speak more of his own past and prejudice punishing her for the crimes of overs and no matter how much his own heart screams otherwise he sticks to his guns with detrimental results for poor Everly but despite the above Roth’s heart is essentially in the right place.
He most definitely could have done a lot more grovelling though there wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy me and my sense of betrayal on Everly’s part and Farrah his sister well, in my opinion, she got off far too lightly considering her heinous actions acting all holier than though when she was hardly an angel herself.
But for me, it’s Everly who is the standout star of the show here and she is the one that made this such an enjoyable experience I think I have a little bit of a girl crush.
This was fast-paced and easily kept my attention, I actually read it in one sitting and it’s not a short story either.
This was actually much better than I was expecting and though loosely linked with the Classic fairytale it’s certainly not in any way a rehash instead it’s very unique and stands completely on its own merit.
Full of surprises and unexpected plot directions this really was an unexpected gem and I’m excited to read the next book in the series.
Oh and just a heads up though this is mature YA It’s suitable for the older crowd as well I enjoyed it immensely despite me being slightly older than the usual target audience.
A big thumbs up from me this was all sorts of fabulous.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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This is one of those books that I picked up and was immediately angry with myself for not picking this up the moment that I got it! I loved the other YA series I’d read by Gena Showalter, the Everlife trilogy. I think that I searched for someone to have a copy of this on Twitter for a books for trade deal, and was lucky enough to get it. In fact, when I finished this, I immediately jumped onto Twitter again and reached out to see if there had been any physical ARCs of the second book that came out this past fall. Because I’d love to have a matching set!
Now when I started, I didn’t realize that this was not only going to be a fairy tale world for a setting, Enchantia, but that it also would begin in the real world that we are in, a world with no magic, that we know of. Basically the main character finds out that she is part of the Snow White fairy tale, but isn’t exactly sure what character she is. She believes she is the evil queen, hence the title, for the majority of the book. And something that we learn with this story, something I’ve seen in a lot of the reimagining stories for villains, is that we are all heroes in our own stories, and others are the villains. I loved the way this story handled that, and how it made it all work in the end.
I totally was on Everly’s side for the story. But I was also wanting her not to do the vengeance actions she was going to do when she decided to just own the character everyone had pushed her into becoming. And oh did I love Prince Roth Charmaine. I was so mad at him during certain parts, but really, I just adored him by the end.
This book really had everything. There was humor, but there were also so many moments I was moved to tears on Everly’s behalf. The world was beautifully written, so vivid. I think this would be a great tv series. Similar to the tv show that I did watch all but the last seasons of, Once Upon a Time. Loved, loved, loved, and now I need the second book!
OH MY GOD! This book is amazing! I loved it so much, with every fiber of my being.
I cared so much for the characters. All I could do was talk about them if I wasn’t caught in the midst of reading this book. This book had so many twists and turns. It was as heartbreaking as it was amazing.
The Evil Queen had won my heart from the very first page. I was so enthralled with all the character, but the Evil Queen especially. She had my unconditional love from the second I began reading her story.
She is everything I love, witty, strong, loyal and as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She kept fighting for herself and others no matter how many times she seemed to be getting defeated. Every time she fell, she got right back up.
This book had strong side characters, strong main characters, a great plot and such a realistic description of Enchantia that I felt like I was there with everyone in Sévon.
I love Gena Showalter’s books (granted I’ve only read two) because they always get me right where I feel it. My heart. When I get my hands on a Gena Showalter book I can do little else but read. I can’t wait for the second installment in The Forest of Good and Evil series!
Initial Thoughts/Expectations:
I was really excited to get my hands on the first book in Gena Showalter’s The Forest of Good and Evil series. I love fairy tales and Snow White is one of my favorites. Plus Gena Showalter wrote it, and I haven’t read a book of hers I didn’t like. Since I HAVE read a lot of Gena Showalter’s books, my expectations were very high. I expected to be thoroughly captivated from beginning to end. (To the exclusion of anything getting done around my house.)
What I Loved:
Great worldbuilding. I easily could visualize each scene, be it high school, or the fairy tale realm. But what I liked the best was the sister’s love and loyalty to her sister. How she felt the need to keep her safe. I found the different perspectives of who was the Evil Queen, Snow White, her protector a refreshing take on an old tale.
What I Didn’t Love:
I like to say nothing, but unfortunately, there was a major problem. I had a very hard time getting into this book. Normally, I’m hooked on the very first page or two. However, that did not happen. I actually had to restart the book a time or three. Part of the problem was I kept getting pulled away, but it was also the fact that straight off we’re pretty much told that Everly was going to do something unforgivable. It made me very anxious. I actually had to push myself to finish reading the book.
Final Thoughts:
I am so very happy to say, that while the beginning was much slower than I expected (or I prefer), it was worth the effort. At about page 115 the story started to pick up and my interest was piqued. I will recommend this to others and add the next book in the series to my TBR reading list.
This book took me a long, long time to really get into. I realize it’s fantasy and it’s the first book in the series so there has to be a lot of world building but good lord I felt like between the unnecessarily in depth details snd the constant inner monologue that repeated the same thing over and over again, this could’ve been half as long and twice as good. I’m rounding up to a 4 even though this story was tough for me to finish because it’s Showalter and I love her books so I think it’ll get better from here on out and also because of the interesting take on the old fairytales. I’m interested enough with the ending to look for book 2 to find out what comes next for the frenemies within Enchantia.
How can we know whether or not a person is good or evil?
Author: Gena Showalter
Publisher: inkyard Press
Kindle
Rating:4/5
A great retelling of Snow White, the Evil Queen gives us a different view of our favorite characters.
First I have to say this is an instalove book, but be mindful that EQ is based on a fairy tale, so insta love it’s a most.
The characters are great I really enjoyed Everly’s voice. like everyone in real life her choices set the path to her future and like everyone she gets things right and wrong but she tries to do her best in every situation.
I felt sorry for her more times than not, yes she did bad things but it was always prompted by the actions of the other key players in the book. She tried her hardest to be good but betrayal and hurt tend to obscure her decisions.
Roth is the epitome of a fairy tale prince and at the same time he’s everything a prince should not be. He’s loyal to his core and handsome as sin but he’s also judgmental and a hypocrite.
This books is exactly why I always side with the villain, it’s why Maleficent and the Evil Queen are one of my fav. Characters ever. They wouldn’t be “evil” if the people around them haven’t shattered their trust and their hearts. They are the ones to blame, after all how can you be evil when you are fighting for your life and those you hold dear?
EQ is a unobstructed view of human nature, we all have the potential to do great things but we also have the ability to be despicable.
I really enjoyed it, the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I got lost a couple of times, some characters didn’t make sense to me, like there was no motivation behind them. Maybe is something that will be addressed in next books. Which I’ll be reading for sure.
All in all The Evil Queen is a nice new look on one of my fav. villains and I enjoyed it deeply.
3.75 – 4 stars
Not too bad for my first Gena Showalter read. It took me a bit to get into the story, but once things picked up, it really picked up.
Everly was definitely ruled by her emotions and was often conflicted with the many prophecies that would determine her future. Although there was growth with her character, she definitely had some setbacks towards the end. I understood her need for vengeance, the amount of pain she went through physically and emotionally. How can you expect someone to bounce back so easily from that?
Gena definitely wove us a fantastic world and I was completely intrigued.
The book did feel a bit too long and often we were stuck on the same thing for what seemed like forever. There’s a lot of information coming at you and got pretty overwhelmed by it, but eventually caught on to who was who and what was what.
I haven’t read a YA fantasy like this in a while, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. I often shook my head at the many decisions made by some of these characters, but that was definitely to be expected. I wasn’t expecting the flooding of emotions this one was going to put me through.
I’m pretty eager to see how the rest of the series goes.
I love this book! Gena worked on my every emotion. I was yelling at the characters. This is a must read!
Interesting twist on the fairy tales!
The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter is a YA Paranormal fantasy extravaganza There’s never been a Gena Showalter book I didn’t love and this is no exception. Her characters are so divine! This is a book you’ll love. Teens-YA will relate to her motives and her frustrations. This is a must read!
Just as Everly is compelled to look in her mirror, I was compelled to keep reading her story! Keep reading. Just a little more. You don’t need sleep. I couldn’t put it down!! As the story unfolds, you’re never quite sure who the characters are supposed to represent in the tale of Snow White.
I know I kept cheering on Everly. I so badly did not want her to end up being the Evil Queen. I was surprised but not surprised by the ending.
I just wish I could read it all over again without knowing the outcome. It was that good! Definitely 5 stars!!!
This is another amazing book from Gena Showalter!! It took me a while at first to get into the story but once I did I didn’t want to put the book down. It’s going to be another incredible series from Gena & am waiting for the next one!!
The Evil Queen, YA Paranormal fantasy. I always love a Gena Showalter. Her characters are so well-developed! This is a book you’ll love. Teens-YA will relate to her main character and her frustrations.
An amazing start to a wonderful new series! I just loved it!