The Queen's Gambit

Rogue Queen Series, Book 1

By: Jessie Mihalik

Narrated by: Rachel Dulude

Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

When the Quint Confederacy and the Kos Empire went to war - again - Queen Samara wisely kept her Rogue Coalition out of the conflict. But staying neutral in a galactic war doesn't pay the bills, not when both sides refuse to trade with neutral sectors.

With her people on the brink of starvation, Samara hatches a daring plan to snatch the kidnapped Kos Emperor from the Quint mercenaries holding him. The Kos Empire will pay a fortune for their emperor's return, enough to feed the Coalition's citizens while they wait for the return to a begrudging peace.

But when her plan goes sideways, Samara finds herself evading Quint mercenaries with the very man she intends to capture. And the more time she spends with Valentin Kos, the more she realizes that he's not the coldly indifferent villain she imagined. Torn between duty and desire, Samara must decide if saving her people is worth giving up the one thing she's always wanted.

©2018 Jessie Mihalik (P)2019 Tantor

Not Romantic

If you're looking for a good romance novel, this isn't it. The story itself is enjoyable, but it wasn't the romance I was hoping for.

Problem 1: The narrator gave Valentin a child-like voice. All the male dialog sounds like it is spoken by prepubescent boy. The female characters are given deeper voices than the men.

Problem 2: The story lacks romantic development.
I would have enjoyed this story more if Samara had taught Valentin how to defend himself and fight dirty. And if Valentin had taught her about philosophy and idealistic ideas. Neither character grew nor developed as a couple during the story. They didn’t grow together. They made an awkward couple. I hoped they would grow out of their awkward state. I hoped it would be a romantic and funny journey, but it just wasn’t. I enjoyed the world building and high-tech space travel, but as a romance this store was a disappointment.

Good story but narration wasn’t right

This was a rather simple but enjoyable story. It was hard to get past the almost monotone delivery of narration, but especially the soft, whispery voice given to the Hero. I got around it but many of the women sounded more forceful and vigorous in their tones.

I wanted more

Frankly, there wasn't enough of this book. I enjoyed it so much I wanted more of it. I liked the unique political situation and the uses and drawbacks of technology. The world was minimally but adequately described characters' likeability or villainy believable. I'm eager to dig into the next book in the series.

Action packed

Good narrator, but Valentine sounded about 16 years old. Enjoyed the story overall and will look for the next in the series.

great mix of characters, narration, and story

None of the parts were 5 star but the combination is very close. Very good listen and I am just starting the second book. Very enjoyable. I listen to over 200 a year and this was well above average.

good story, okay narrator.

I love the story, but the narrator was not my favorite. some of the emphasis she chose didnt flow well and I'm not a fan of most of her Male voices. the audiobook was still pleasant overall, however.

Alpha Female Meets Beta Male-Child

I've read 4 other books by this author, and they weren't amazing, but they were enjoyable and passable. This book was terrible. The narration made it worse. The dialogue was awkward at times and cheesy. The names of the characters actually prevented me from buying into the story. And this helpless beta male of a male protag was like a feminist's dream of crushed manliness where women fulfill the role of the man. This just doesn't work for selling any kind of romance story.

Needed a lot more coloring between the lines

Ari: “Anything else? Like how you got that shiner? Or maybe an apology for leaving your head of security behind while you did something incredibly stupid and dangerous?”
Samara: “Stupid, dangerous and successful- that last one makes all the difference.”

This had the potential for Buck Rogers space opera, only with a lady rogue going on 80s style missions and finding romance amid cheesy intrigue. Unfortunately, not enough time is spent on dialogue and description. Blink and you’ll miss what anyone looks like. What precisely does Valentine Kor do to earn the constant butterflies in Samara’s stomach? And can I really care for a one-note bad guy that gets mere seconds of screen time to utter some cliche line, pew pew attack, and then flee?

There was zero romantic chemistry, partly because there was so little effort to develop the characters, plot or setting, and partly because the narrator gives Valentine a very soft voice. There’s a little more coloring between the lines in the next two installments, but I’d recommend this author’s other series over this one.