Born a Queen

Lilith's Shadow, Book 1

By: Benjamin Medrano

Narrated by: Sarah Beth Goer

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

For some, hopes, dreams, and ambitions come easily. Not so much for Lilith.

Created by one of the most feared supervillains, Shadowmind, she has no past of her own and only a passing familiarity with the world as it is. With a death sentence hanging over her head due to who created her and how, she escaped into the world to see and explore, and perhaps find a meaning to her life. There, she encounters heroes and villains alike, including those who brought her maker to justice.

Gina and Rachel are superheroines in San Francisco, and freak chance brings them into contact with Lilith. As they interact, the three grow to be friends...but with villains after them, who knows what the future will bring?

©2017 Benjamin Paul Medrano (P)2017 Benjamin Paul Medrano

cant wait for the next book

its got good characters a nice plot and good pacing.
i was afraid when at the start it says the main character is a lesbian. that it would try too hard, but it allows the characters to fall in love slowly and not just throwing them into bed.
if your looking for a story about super heroines this is great. if your looking for lesbian smut look elsewhere.

Great Book

What did you love best about Born a Queen?

I like the whole setting. I looking forward to seeing more books from this world.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Born a Queen?

A bad guy in Blue getting what he so deserved.

What about Sarah Beth Goer’s performance did you like?

Very good at distinguishing between different characters.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes!! If only I had that kind of spare time.

Lesbian SciFi with a hint of polyamrous romance.

as a geeky polyamorous lesbian I must say this book was refreshing. I loved it so much.

This isn't good

There is potential in this story, but the execution is teeth-grindingly bad.

First, this is a male author. That's not a sin, but what IS is the fact that he has this character that has had NO real-world experience, but she KNOWS she's beautiful cuz her butt and boobs.

The conversations are awkward How often do YOU refer to your friends by their name when you're having a one-on-one conversation with them? "Hi Gina!" "Hi Lillith!" "Hey Gina, there's this thing we should do, Gina." "Good idea Lillith, let's do that thing, Lillith." Uuuugh.

It's just a horribly written piece of work. It could have been good, but no. It's not.

The narrator isn't BAD, but there are instances when she's supposed to be yelling defiantly, and she's definitely whining instead.

It COULD HAVE been good...

It’s not the subject matter that bothers me, it’s the lack of depth. It could’ve been really good, but I felt like like I was reading a story written by a teenager. The use of imagery was minimal and the author failed at trying to makeup for it through flimsy dialogue. This could have been really good, but the author wasn’t up to the task of telling it.

Above average, has potential.

I had to adjust to the narrator. She's not the best, but far from the worst also. Once I did adjust, I was properly immersed into the story.

I read so many books about powerful characters where they frustratingly display their power so little. It leaves you feeling disappointed and unfulfilled. This was not one of those books, so kudos to the author for that.

Based on this book and reviews I've read for his other books, I've concluded this author is obsessed with lesbians, so if you're reading this review after reading his other books, be prepared for more lesbians. For what it's worth, in this story I enjoyed the lesbian element.

I look forward to listening to the next book. I probably wouldn't have bought this book if i had known the remaining were not out yet. I hate waiting for new books in a series. Also, this book could have been a bit longer with more progression.

Polyamory and comics

As a comic nerd there are many tropes that get over used, this book seemed to play with all of them a little. The narration is robotic, and while I get that the protagonist might have an excuse for that, everyone else was lacking significant depth. With their no killing or crippling rule it removes most of the tension and uncertainty of their heroic encounters ( heroes often use it, villains rarely do that's what makes them villains). Points for the poly resolution to the love triangle, no one ever uses that and it's a refreshing change to what most media portray as the biggest conflicts in fiction, curious to see what happens if that representation turns out to be positive or a source of additional conflict ( which in real poly triads happens sometimes). Glad to see queer representation without it being a stereotype in the process.

like the story... most characters are too simple.

I really liked the story, the narrator has workable distinctive voices. What I find annoying is that most characters have being very simple such as most males come in three flavors evil stupid, good stupid and stupidly irritating. Hoping to see the next one.

Fairly entertaining

The story wasn't bad, and the characters, mostly, were decent. The concept does present quite a few story possibilities, and I was fairly entertained. I'd been reading lesbian romance lately, because I love the character depth and development I tend to find in them, and the questions posed by the romantic trio in this novel were fun to explore with them. Is this a real connection? Or is it just super powers? I thought those questions could have been pursued a bit more, but I think it'll come out in the next novel, in more detail. The narrator wasn't bad, and I hope she does Book 2, for continuity, but I felt that some of her dialog was a bit stiff...admittedly, that may have been just how it was written, but some of it just didn't feel smooth or natural. She did a good job making the characters sound distinct, though, and the non-dialog was flawless. I was a little irritated with how the "heroes" invaded the Super Villainess lair in the Arctic (I think it was the Arctic) without so much as a letter of marque from someone with authority to give them any semblance of legitimacy to rend and destroy, proceeded to beat on a helpless (in that situation, since her powers weren't effective) handicapped woman, and then essentially raped her mind, trying to get what they wanted out of her. There was some vague justification about atrocities she'd committed in the past, but by their own admission, she hadn't even been active for months. From the reader perspective, it hadn't felt like she'd even done anything yet. Fortunately, there wasn't a crap-ton of this behavior all through the book, and I ended up enjoying listening to the story, through to the end. The villains were properly scary and amoral, and the romance was interesting. I'll admit, I'm a bit of an anti-statist, and people just rolling in and doing what they want just because they think they are the "heroes" bothers me. So, the way the story unfolded rankled a bit, for a while. BUT, that being said, I was intrigued by the possibilities, and I will be picking up Book 2. :)

Magic

Benjamin Medrano has an amazing talent for world building, in addition to making strong lead characters that are interesting and fascinating- when coupled with Sara Beth Goers awesome voice acting giving every character their own unique voice you get something magic to listen to.

Restraint & Disturbing Content

Would you try another book written by Benjamin Medrano or narrated by Sarah Beth Goer?

I would not try another book by this author but I may try another book by the narrator.

What was most disappointing about Benjamin Medrano’s story?

The dialogue was middling and sometimes awkward, particularly when characters spoke to themselves.

What character would you cut from Born a Queen?

Blue Impulse.

Any additional comments?

The scene devoted to Blue Impulse enacting his revenge was entirely too long and too detailed. It would have gotten the point across just as well by "fading to black" as it were, rather than continuing until the whole thing felt revoltingly lurid. It made me so uncomfortable that I stopped and deleted the book from my device.

It was utterly unnecessary to carry on like that with a subject matter that was so deeply unsettling.

nice start

I have enjoyed the previous series although I felt the writing was alittle simple. but as the series progresses so has the style. I am pleased the ancient dreams series got finished prior to this book. the style has improved again. I hope to see a more natural style in the character interactions. all that said. this has been a great book and I am eager for the next.