God Save the Queen (The Immortal Empire) [Hardcover]

Kate Locke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2012 | Series: The Immortal Empire (Book 1)

Queen Victoria rules with an immortal fist.

The undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground and mothers know better than to let their children out after dark. A world where being nobility means being infected with the Plague (side-effects include undeath), Hysteria is the popular affliction of the day, and leeches are considered a delicacy. And a world where technology lives side by side with magic. The year is 2012.

Xandra Vardan is a member of the elite Royal Guard, and it is her duty to protect the Aristocracy. But when her sister goes missing, Xandra will set out on a path that undermines everything she believed in and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to topple the empire. And she is the key-the prize in a very dangerous struggle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Fabulous and fun.' (New York Times bestselling author, Keri Arthur )

"A fantastic ride."
(Gail Dayton )

"God Save the Queen is a fresh, witty, and darkly beautiful ride through a London ruled by a vampire Queen Victoria. Carried along by enchanting Alexandra Vardan you'll enjoy every minute of adventure and mystery. " (Philippa Ballantine )

"Delightfully hard-boiled attitude... this is a fun adventure all round." (Locus )

"Rapid-paced action and an original interpretation of goblins (they are not J.K. Rowling's cranky, clever, gold-centric goblins) add much to differentiate Locke's fantasy from the rest of the pack. Fans of urban fantasy who appreciate the supernatural with a side of romanticism will enjoy this." (The Library Journal )

About the Author

Kate Locke is a shameless anglophile who wrote her first book at age 12. Fortunately, that book about a British pop band is lost forever. During 'off' hours Kate often screeches along to Rock Band (being a rock star was her second career choice if the writing thing didn't work out), watches BBC America, or plays with makeup. She loves history, the paranormal, horror, and sparkly things. Find out more about Kate Locke atwww.katelocke.com and on twitter @KLockework.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; 1 edition (July 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780316196123
• ISBN-13: 978-0316196123
• ASIN: 0316196126
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.2 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars God Save Us From MarySues August 19, 2012

By John Green TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The awesome tagline "Keep calm and pray for dawn" is a tease- promising a slam-bang hell-ride of a story but GSTQ fails to fully deliver on the goods.

The backstory is similar to the Underworld franchise, where paranormals emerged from a viral strain instead of magic. Here we have the Prometheus Plague- a mutagenic virus whose effects, as the name implies, change the course of human development, giving rise to vampires, werewolves and goblins. It's Queen Victoria's transformation into a vampire that both alters the balance of power and stunts the development of Western Civilization. To keep the new aristocracy (vampires) at the top of the pile, they begin breeding with humans and producing 'halvies', turning them into their own version of MI5 and a buffer against the teeming masses of humanity. Here we meet Alexandra (Xandra) Vardan, a halvie, who along with her siblings, serve Queen and Country with a vigor that would do James Bond proud. But as a high society scandal involving one of their sisters begins spiraling out of control, Xandra's investigation of the matter sets her to unraveling secrets and conspiracies best left alone. And the poor girl herself's at the core of them.

Steampunk versions of modern technology are the order of the day, making everything old new again. It's a fun twist on an oversaturated genre, but that's where the fun ends.

The big problem with UF/PNR is the MarySue Effect: where the story pretty much revolves around the main character's rear end and this one's no different. No matter what powerful, influential characters inhabit the world it's still all about HER- the relative nobody who'll somehow end up controlling the fates of everyone simply because of their very existence (hint, hint). And this being a UF/PNR novel, it's the biggest problem here. Characters are characters because of WHO they are, not WHAT they are. Because the plot boils down to what Xandra is, there's almost no point in exploring who she is because we can already see where it's all headed. There are some interesting layers and textures to the story, but as everything centers upon our girl nothing ever ranges too far beyond her grasp. Xandra possess skills and advantages even a halvie shouldn't have and the reason for them is no big reveal; in fact it's been done so many times it's already a standard UF trope. And being a MarySue, Xandra's already on the romantic radar of the uber alpha of the Scottish werewolves- who's also an aristocrat in his own right, making them even more compatible- so as soon as they finally meet face to face, well... you already know.

The showdown with one of the conspirators at the end is such an anti-climax and cliché it's almost corny! Didn't help any that it had been telegraphed about halfway through the book so there was no suspense or drama involved whatsoever.

GSTQ is both fresh and stale at the same time. And that's a shame, 'cause it looks like it could be a fun ride if we could just toss ol' MarySue off the train.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Steampunk and UF collide in a hilarious, paranormal thrill! August 2, 2012

By keira

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Although this series is marked as steampunk, "God Save the Queen" reads more along the lines of a mash up between steampunk and urban fantasy.

Xandra, the protagonist, is a halvie, a half-vampire with noble blood on her paternal side. She lives in a world where Queen Victoria of England still lives and prospers as a vamp; where the date is 2012 yet the cars and dress are still old fashioned; where werewolves and vampires make up the aristocracy, plagued with mutated blood thanks to the Black Death; where goblins creep through the sewers of London, snatching children and dragging them back into the dark depths.

Xandra's world is turned upside down when her youngest sister, Dede, disappears and Xandra fights tooth and nail to get her back, risking everything and shoving past her own fears. Little does she realize, her problems are a lot more complex, more dark than just one missing sibling. Her search leads her to much more than she'd bargained, questioning Xandra's fierce loyalty to her Queen and those that have raised her. Conspiracies. Traitors. Science Experiments. Deception. Nothing is as it seems.

I loved this book. Admittedly, not enough to give it five stars (Though that may be because I never had time to sit and have long reads, just having to keep snatching little bits. Always takes away from the read.), but certainly enough to continue the series.

What really drives this story is Xandra. She's fiercely loyal, with an inherent sense of honor and familial bonds. Everything she knows is doubted, and yet she stays strong, keeps fighting, doesn't cave. She makes sacrifices, is forced to come to terms with terrors of her past, and she comes out better for it. Oh, and she has a nice dosage of spunk. Always good to keep things lively. :D I really liked her and am looking forward to seeing how she progresses in the future.

I think my favorite aspect was the goblins. Not very popular in most UF books, that only made them all the more interesting. And they were really funny in a creepy, we-want-to-eat-you way. But it worked, and I somehow thought they were cute. But in a vicious way. They were just amusing and I got that feeling that Locke had a great time creating and writing them.

If you're looking for a steampunk with a heavy dosage of ground-shattering tech, this isn't it. This is Victorian London with relatively normal technology, paranormal aristocrats, and an intriguing conspiracy.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Just Okay... August 16, 2012

By Amanda TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The undead seem to be in right now. Not just the undead, but in another vine Victorian-period steampunk novels are becoming popular these days. And, strangely enough, I've found that I enjoy the steampunk elements -plus, it's hard for me to say no to an alternative Victorian history. Thus, the oh-so-fun looking God Save the Queen seemed like the perfect fit for me.

In an alternative version of England, Queen Victoria continues to rule 100 years later as an immortal. The aristocracy is immortal -werewolves, vampires and the such -and humans are left to live in fear of the nobles and a horrible plague. Young Xandra is a member of the Royal Guard and her duty in life is to protect the nobility -to the death. Yet, as Xandra digs deeper into the mysterious murder of her sister, she finds a conspiracy hidden in the depths of the London underworld that could bring down Victoria and the empire.

On paper, God Save the Queen seemed like a fun and fairly carefree book. I was expecting humorous dialog, fun moments and a fairly frothy plot. There was some of this in here -plus a good dose of the paranormal and the undead -but this just didn't hold up for me as the book went out. It didn't stay fun, the humor and witty dialog seemed to completely disappear and the plot became strangely...serious. This may seem somewhat uncharacteristic for me, but I was expecting this to be a light and fun read, but it just wasn't frothy enough.

I was also a little disappointing with the setting. The book promised a paranormal-driven novel with heavy Victorian steampunk elements, but the setting frequently seemed distant -hard to find sometimes. I was also unhappy with the heavy use of the vampire elements -I thought there was going to be more here than just that, but (and I don't know about you) I'm sick of vampires.

Overall, a decent book that started out okay, but didn't hold up as the story went on.