Customer Reviews

The Elf Queen: Clan Elves of the Bitterroot Series

5 star:		(3)
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I enjoyed the first book in the Bitterroot Series and am looking forward to seeing where this series leads.

I was charmed by the setting for this seemingly straight-ahead fantasy. We've seen elements of the plot before in many other fantasy works (elf clans battle amongst each other for supremacy with the involvement of an apparently human protagonist), but Alexander gives it interesting "green" and "native American" twists that make the story fresh. Present day Missoula, Montana is a terrific setting, made even more so because it isn't the first place I would have thought to go searching for elves.

I also liked the hippy vibe of the human characters in the book. The band of latte-drinking, slacker/hacker, eco-warriors already live in a kind of fantasy world of their own construction and the events in the book cause them to rethink their lives in different ways. One of the humans, an agoraphobic with a painful past, hasn't left his apartment in years. He is drawn out of his own world and discovers the "real" world is more inviting than he could have imagined.

This is the first of a series, but it stands alone as a complete story with a satisfying ending.

I had quibbles with a couple of plot points. For example, why did Jelani have to travel all the way to Indiana to pick up a couple of boxes of papers when her stepmother could have just sent them via UPS? The fate and role of the cop ex-boyfriend at the end fell flat (literally). But overall this was a nice piece of escapist fantasy with interesting characters and told with a fresh voice, and I'm looking forward to returning to the Bitterroot Mountains when the next installment comes out.

Totally enjoyed this fantasy novel, particularly it's mix of modern day human adventure combined with elves and fantasy. It's a unique and creative juxtaposition of computer hacker meets eco-terrorist meets North American deep-woods meets real life elves.

Jelani is a young American woman who discovers there is more to her family history than she realizes when she is unwittingly pulled into an adventure involving strangers in a small town. Readers see her humanity as we explore Jelani's family history and her relationships with a group of odd-ball friends during her adventure into the elven nation.

In future novels in this series I hope to see more about where and how the elves actually live and am excited to learn Jelani's next adventure into the woods.

Good read - and good job Ms. Alexander!

What a fascinating and quirky world Lyndi Alexander has drawn in the Elf Queen. The fantasy of the elven world combines with the exotic (at least for an easterner) Montana locale to take us to a different world. Yet it is all so familiar in so many ways. Relationships are key, and finely detailed. These are people I know, at least in part. And there's plot and action and suspense. What more could you ask. I'm lookingforward to the next installment.