The Crown Plonked Queen a funny entertaining read with plenty of drama

The Crown Plonked Queen: A Humorous Fantasy Novel (The Western Lands and All That Really Matters Book 4) by Andrew Einspruch picks up where The Light Bearer (Book #3) left off. Young princess Eloise has recently returned from her journey to rescue her twin sister, Princess Joanna. She still wears the cast on her arm, her once-dark hair is white after her Purple Haze experience, and she sports a very short hairstyle after hacking her hair off when it became coated in blood. But none of those things are her real challenge--her mother's death is her number one concern. Not only did she die. She was murdered, and as heir to the throne, Eloise must fill her shoes.

As a teen queen, she must prove herself, but it doesn’t start out well. As she tries to learn the ropes, she is faced with daunting tasks on every side and it doesn’t take long for her to suspect some may be working against her, including her First Advisor Leccino Ligurian. Is he for her or not?

 

When threats on her own life become real, she surrounds herself with some of her most-trusted friends including Jerome Abernathy her lifelong chipmunk friend, her loyal guard Lorch Lacksneck, and a couple of the royal horses who traveled with her across the kingdoms when she rescued her sister. Together, they seek to get to the bottom of the truth of who killed the Queen, and as they work on it, they have to sort out who can be trusted. With all this going on, Eloise wonders about magic and its role. Did her ancestor use it? And what about the Star of Whatever? Can she tap into that someway?

 

The Crown Plonked Queen is a delightful read on more that one level. If I had to sum it up in one word, I'd say "satisfying." The story is an entertaining fantasy, filled with subtle humor, well-defined quirky characters, plenty of drama, hints of a budding romance slowly percolating, and a mystery or two to solve with a who-dun-it trail of breadcrumbs. I give The Crown Plunked Queen five stars and recommend it to people who enjoy a good story, a laugh, and believe in magic. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that it ended and I am now waiting for the next book in the series to come out. If you haven’t read the series, check it out.

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As Book Hookup, I am a long-time book reviewer and I received this book as a free review copy and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites. 

 

About the Author

Andrew Einspruch is the award-winning author of the humorous fantasy series The Western Lands and All That Really Matters. He's also had more than 120 children's books published, both fiction and non-fiction, that have sold around the world. Starting with the four-book "Dunkin' Dazza" series in the 1990s, Andrew's work has covered everything from basketball to DNA, biographies to histories to mysteries, outback heroes to Christmas Island red crabs, and from how the rides work at amusement parks to how the Australian Government works (perhaps the greatest mystery of all).

Andrew is the co-founder of the not-for-profit charity the Deep Peace Trust, which fosters deep peace for all species. Based in rural New South Wales, Andrew, his wife Billie, and their adult daughter Tamsin run the Trust's A Place of Peace, one of Australia's largest farm animal sanctuaries. The cows, sheep, horses, goats, dogs, cats, and geese, as well as local wildlife including kangaroos, wombats, and cockatoos, are a constant source of inspiration.

 

If you ask, he'll deny he ever programmed in COBOL for a bank.