The Witch Queen (Fern Capel Trilogy) and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.88 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
The Witch Queen
 
 
Start reading The Witch Queen (Fern Capel Trilogy) on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Witch Queen [Hardcover]

Jan Siegel (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback --  
Unknown Binding --  

Book Description

July 30, 2002
Jan Siegel has created one of the most compelling fantasy series in recent memory. What began with Prospero’s Children and continued with The Dragon Charmer now comes to a dazzling conclusion with of The Witch Queen. Magnetically gifted Fern Capel has at last come into her own with her magical powers—and just in time. . . .

It is a fearsome world of witches, dragons, and goblins, where a gnarled tree bears fruit of human heads. Fern Capel believes she has left it all behind. But now that world is seeping into modern day England: The witch-queen Morgus, who had imprisoned Fern in the ghostly Otherworld, has returned from countless years of exile beneath the gruesome Eternal Tree. Stalking the twenty-first century in her Prada stilettos, Morgus has the mind-set of the Dark Ages and vows to rule the ancient kingdom of Logrez, now modern Britain.

Most of all, Morgus wants revenge on Fern Capel. Rejuvenated through sorcery, neither charm nor weapon can harm the witch-queen. She has planted a cutting from the Eternal Tree in the real world and awaits with impatience the ripening of its terrifying bounty. When Fern learns that her enemy cannot be defeated through conventional means, she turns for help to her best friend, Gaynor, her brother Will, her old mentor, Ragginbone, and Maldo, the goblin-queen. Together, they track Morgus through London’s high-society parties and seedy, sinister contacts, until they finally draw a magic circle in a Soho basement. Fern Capel knows that survival is not enough: This time she must win. But she does not yet understand how high a price she will have to pay.

In this thrilling final novel of her acclaimed trilogy, Jan Siegel takes advantage of her greatest strengths as a writer—weaving magic into a modern-day world and bringing vivid life to a host of characters that readers will not soon forget.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Siegel offers stylish, satisfying fantasy-horror fare in her third installment in the story of Fern Capel, a cute London PR whiz and fledgling witch. In the first two novels, Prospero's Children and The Dragon Charmer, Fern became aware of her magical powers and acquired a crew of mortal and supernatural allies. This time, an old, once-dead witch queen, Morgus, invades her home turf to seize control of the world and to take sadistic revenge against Fern, who now has to destroy an unkillable foe while protecting her friends. This may sound like Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a U.K. accent, but Siegel does some distinctive, startling things with an apparently trivial form. For one thing, she writes in a quiet but uncommonly witty style that can soar into eloquence or mute into dread as needed. For another, she uses myth and legend in daringly eclectic ways, combining offhand but authoritative-sounding references to, say, Atlantis and King Arthur in the same breath. The author is particularly good at seeing past the actions surface to grapple with what really matters. In this case, as Fern realizes, the goal is not simply to defeat her rival. Morgus has dedicated herself utterly to mastering magical lore, so that in gaining power, she has also wound up grandly alone and insane. So how can Fern beat her without imitating her? How, in other words, can she avoid becoming the new witch queen? The answer is not only disturbing but also tough-mindedly convincing, leaving readers anxious for the next Fern Capel novel.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Modern-day witch Fern Capel strives to piece her life back together after her imprisonment by the ancient sorceress Morgus only to find her dreams disturbed by intimations that her battle with her captor is not yet over. Following Prospero's Children and The Dragon Queen, the third installment of a series featuring a young, resourceful practitioner of magic in the modern world draws upon Arthurian legends and Atlantean myths to create a new twist on an old tale of passion rekindled and love betrayed. Siegel creates complex, believable characters caught in a web of treachery and intrigue. For most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Del Rey; 1 edition (July 30, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345439031
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345439031
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,719,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Feels Like a Retread to Me, August 31, 2002
By 
This review is from: The Witch Queen (Hardcover)
Jan Siegel is a wonderful, very poetic and visual author, and her technical skills in this book are at their usual level. However, I was very disappointed in the story.

In the first two books of this trilogy, Siegel showed the reader something new each time. I will agree that Prospero's Children is the best of these novels and The Dragon Charmer wasn't as good, but at least in The Dragon Charmer we got new, interesting characters such as Moonspittle and Kel, and fascinating pictures of different worlds--the Tree and Hades.

In the Witch Queen, however, the only major new character is Luc, and he is not very interesting--at least, he didn't seem that way to me. Compared to his Atlantean counterpart, he's downright dull, and I didn't feel any sexual tension between him and Fern. We also didn't get to see anything new in this book. Essentially, it was just Fern in London and Morgus in Kent, both trying to figure out what the other was up to. I kept thinking, Why don't you just get over there and find out and get this plot moving somewhere interesting?

The magic--the circle casting, the Tree, etc.--is basically what we've seen before. Even more vexing, the characters from previous books that I liked weren't around that much, and when they did make an appearance, they didn't seem to do anything; it was as if they were present merely for decoration.

Finally, I did not like the ending. It seemed more of a cop-out--on the part of the author AND Fern--than a closure.

Essentially, I feel this books lacks the level of creativity and thought that was found in such abundance in Prospero's Children, and less so in The Dragon Charmer. Even if you do love Jan Siegel, I would recommend that you wait until it comes out in paperback, or get it from the library.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A weaker effort than previous novels, February 27, 2003
This review is from: The Witch Queen (Hardcover)
The Witch Queen (Witch's Honour, in the UK) is the last in Jan Siegel's trilogy began in Prospero's Children and continued in The Dragon-Charmer. Numerous characters, history and plot are carried over from the earlier novels, including the main "enemies" of our heroes Fern, Will and more stranger people such as Rattleskin. Once again Fern battles against Morgus and Azmordis. However, it is a complete story in itself, not absolutely requiring you to have read the earlier novels, but this is obviously going to help in order to understand the background of the novel's mythos.

Siegel's world is set within ours, in our own time, but it is a world of witches, wizards, goblins and earth-powers which coexist with ordinary and mundane people. The Gifted, or Prospero's children have witch powers derived from the fall of Atlantis. Robert Holdstock, Tim Powers and Charles de Lint handled this kind of thing more successfully, though Siegel's excellent descriptive talents ensure a chill or two as the story develops. The young Witch heroine battling evil obviously has echoes of Buffy the vampire slayer and House-Goblins are rather familiar following Harry Potter's House-Elves, but the material is handled quite well would appeal to the older teenage market, though there is a few minor and mild references to sex.

One irritation was the thoroughly middle-classness of major characters who all seem to have smart flats in London, work in PR or The City and who had well-off parents live in large houses in the country. At times it almost seems to be a fantasy version of Bridget Jones. This will attract or repel depending on taste. In all a weaker effort than previous novels, suffering from a little padding midway through, a fault experienced by middle volumes of trilogy's rather than the last; but the finale works quite well, but too tidy.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Passion vs. Desire, September 19, 2002
By 
wayne m ford (rockledge, fl United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Witch Queen (Hardcover)
I read novels and trilogies as a hobbies. I found the first two books from this author to be sufferable, if that's a word. I thought they were very entertaining and not too risque. None of the main characters were killed. Put in peril maybe, but not banished. I found that refreshing. However this last book had most of the suspense removed about 3/4 of completion. It was as if the author was writing a paper and came up about 75 to 100 pages short. My opinion (and I probably mistaken), it appeared that the last quarter of the book was a fillibuster to complete the novel with little or no effort to build the continuing storyline.
The author has excellent skills and imagination. Somehow she was allow to end a story with what basically amounted to "THE END". I was disappointed with the ending and the book as a whole. The story left too many questions unanswered. Several points refer to substance with out conclusion. THE GOBLIN CAT. THE DIG SITE. THE TWIN. These are the ones that stick out most to me. I am not a really great fan of the 800-900 page novel. However, time has to be taken to create and develop a storyline properly before it ends. Maybe the author's next offering will be planned better.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews






Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
It was New Year's Eve 2000. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dragon charmer, goblin cat, coven sister, witch queen, red file
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Eternal Tree, Kaspar Walgrim, Dale House, Lucas Walgrim, Dane Hunter, Dark Tower, Old Spirit, Fern Capel, New Year's Eve, Sir William, Dana Walgrim, Queen Square, Farsee Hill, King's Cross, Prospero's Children, Selena Place, Spear of Grief, Ulan Bator, Christmas Eve, Lord of the Serafain
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Citations (learn more)
This book cites 2 books:
 
1 book cites this book:


Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject