Book Review: The Queen of Days by Greta Kelly

Title: The Queen of Days
Author: Greta Kelly
Genre: Fantasy
Date of Publication: October 24, 2023
Publisher: Harper Voyager

Synopsis

For Balthazar and his family of thieves, stealing a statue during the annual celebration of the god Karanis was just a good bit of fun…or a way to stick it to the governor who murdered his parents. And yeah, the small fortune in reward doesn’t hurt—even if his boss also hired the mysterious Queen of Days to join the crew as “the weapon of last resort…”

Whatever that means.

But Bal doesn’t know the ceremony isn’t simply empty words and dusty tradition; it’s true magic. The kind of magic that rips open a portal for the god himself. Only the idol that Karanis planned on using for a body now lies broken at the Queen of Days’ feet. And half of it is missing.

With the aid of a lovable brawler, a society lady turned bomb maker, a disgraced soldier, and a time-eating demon, Bal must hunt down the missing half of the statue if he has any hope of earning his money, keeping his crew alive…and perhaps even saving all of humanity. But as his journey sends him racing through the city—and across realities—he discovers that doing all this might just doom the city.

The city be damned. It’s time to kill a god.

– Goodreads

My Thoughts

The Queen of Days is a richly developed fantasy story that features a band of misfits that intend to embark on the heist of a lifetime. Balthazar is convinced that this heist will be their last, and that the windfall will fund their early retirement. The only thing is, he’s been asked by his patron to recruit the mysterious and unpredictable “Queen of Days” to their team. Nevertheless, he’s convinced that the heist will go off without a hitch, giving him both the money and the revenge he craves. But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

The strength of this story lies in the rich worldbuilding that’s inserted into the text so casually amidst the action. The story leaps off the pages in lyrical prose, with vivid settings and a complex magic system. The story is told in first person, past tense, both from the point of view of Balthazar, the crew’s leader, and the mysterious Queen of Days. It’s immediately apparent that the Queen of Days is not human–at least not entirely–and without spoiling anything, one of my favourite character arcs of the entire story is hers. While I loved Balthazar, his younger sister, and the Queen of Days, I wasn’t as enchanted by the other characters. They weren’t quite as well developed. This makes sense for a novel with a complex plot and setting to not spend as much time focusing on secondary character development.

This book is about revenge and relationships with blood family, but it’s also about found family. It’s heartfelt, but features lots of fighting and action scenes to keep the blood pumping.

This novel is a standalone, but there’s potential for a sequel, or maybe even a series set in this world. I know the author has other fantasy books, but I’m not sure if they’re set in this world. Regardless, you can go into this book without any familiarity with the author’s other work.

All in all, this book is recommended for those who enjoy a fantasy heist novel with an emphasis on worldbuilding.