The Queen's Bastard (The Inheritors' Cycle, Book 1)

I downloaded the sample of this book onto my Kindle without knowing anything about it, and by the time I reached the end of it, I was breathless with the twists and turns and had to read the rest. This is not a book for everyone. It's not filled with good people doing things for the better good, but instead, assassins, spies, and sex that is brutal more often than not. But for me, the characterizations, plot twists and lush settings and descriptions made it difficult to put down. The AU historical setting unfolded in ways that at first confused me but then entranced me, addressing the issues women in power would have in a world that still belongs to men. I thought it was rip-roaring entertainment and recommend it to readers who want something different.

Set in an alternate reality of Elizabethan Europe, The Queen's Bastard highlights the life of Belinda - The queens bastard and trained assassin. Magic, death and court politics, this book drips full-bodied, lusty appeal. Belinda, while a strong, death-wielding assassin, is basically a slave to the system she was bred into. She has been raised in total ignorance of who she is. She has been taught to act a certain way, believe a certain belief system and follow her Queen with blind faith. She kills indiscriminately and has very little remorse over doing so. In fact, Belinda shows very little feeling what-so-ever. She is just a tool. When Belinda is given an assignment to infiltrate the elite of a neighboring enemy country, Belinda is given the opportunity to behave differently then she is used to. Her usual roles have been those of the servant class, on missions of assassination. This role is that of a spy and for that she has to get close to her targets, befriend them and wait for word. She is not used to this role and in so doing, her feelings, which she has pushed to the side as meaningless become more and more apparent. Belinda begins to care for the people she may have to kill. Along with her realization of the magnitude of emotions, Belinda also realizes that there is something quite different about her, something that gives her the ability to blend into the shadows and become the perfect assassin. Belinda is witchbreed and she is not the only one of her kind. This is a very different read than my usual modern books with bit, but I do recommend it for those interested in historical dramas and the paranormal. There are some explicitly violent and sexual scenes in this book. Overall the book was good and kept my interest. I do plan on picking up the second novel when I get a chance.

I've read only 3 of her books, now. This one, Pretender's Crown, and Urban Shaman. This was, by far, my favorite. I understand why so many of Murphy's fans hated this book. It is nothing like Urban Shaman, a pretty typical flawed-wise-cracking-heroine-saves-the-world kind of novel. Urban Shaman is pure fantasy with characters that easily sort into good and evil. This is book is nothing like that. I had mixed feelings about the main character, she could be completely evil and then charming and sympathetic. Foremost, she is, what an asassin should be, cold and utterly ruthless. She may have a conscience, but it isn't much of one. That was a point in the book's favor for me. If you are going to have a character who was raised in isolation to seduce and murder for a living, s/he had better have limited feeling for the people around him/her. People with limited empathy are going to do evil things. Even "good" people with power are liable to abuse it. She isn't a good person, who discovers she has awesome power, and it was a fierce struggle to priviledge duty over abusing it. She fails at that struggle, on more than one occasion, and it was disturbing. The struggle is really interesting. Here is a character who knows she is high born at a time when royalty are considered just under God. Yet, to serve her Queen (something, literally, in her DNA), she has to debase herself and kill against her limited conscience. She does it, but it still bothers her. She keeps her head down. She meekly accepts every humiliation, sexual and otherwise, in order to get close enough to do her duty and get out alive. But on her mission to infiltrate the Essandian crown, she finally gets a real taste of respect, freedom, love, and real power. She can't handle it emotionally. She starts acting out. She victimizes in ways she had previously been victimized. She is wonderfully complex. I loved her struggles and all the complex political agendas swirling around her. I loved the twists and turns in the story line (where some other reviewers got lost). I thought this was a great book. It is dark though, and as others have said, not for the faint of heart.

I like all of Murphy's books and this one is no exception. The style is completely different (as another reviewer pointed out) which has a formal feel to it but not so archaic that could be distracting for some readers. I agree that some of the sex scenes are surprising, perhaps shocking at times, and yet it fits the whole concept and character of who Belinda is (and the other characters as well). Belinda's behavior can be repugnant but she does have a conscience - she was molded into the person she has become - a ruthless spy. I could easily imagine her working for Walsingham during Elizabeth's reign. She is very believable as one. Murphy does a good job of creating Belinda as likable even if the reader may not always like what she does. The other characters are well done, flaws and all and the thing that's interesting about this book is there isn't one particular villian - everyone is working on their own schemes all at once. I couldn't even imagine how to categorize this book, although Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series comes to mind. There is a bit for everyone, a faux historical, romance, spy thriller and fantasy - the supernatural element is intriguing. Oh, yes there is the sex, too, and not for the fainthearted. But there is so much more to this book that, for me, it's just a small part of the whole. Looking forward to the next one!

I can't believe I get to be the first to review this amazing book. I am a fan of C.E.Murphy's Urban Shaman series (not such a fan of the House of Cards), so I got this book as soon as it came out. I gulped it down in one setting staying up to 3am becuse it was so engrossing. This is nothing like the Urban Shaman or House of Cards series, it is hard to even believe it was written by the same author since the style is so different (in a good way). The book is set in a version of Elizabethan England/Europe. Country names are changed (Aulun=England,Parna=Italy,Lanyarch=Scotlan),etc). Our heroine Belinda is the bastard daughter of the Queen of Aulun(aka, Elizabeth). The twist is that her father Robert Drake trains her to be an assasin at age twelve. The fantasy part comes in because Belinda, her father and certain other characters have powers called witchbreed. Belinda is sent on various assasination/spy trips by her father. And on one of these meets another witchbreed powered character, our hero, Javier. The story, which is the first part in the series (? a trilogy) goes on from there. What makes this story so amazing is the character of Belinda and the Machiavellan politics in which she is enmeshed. Belinda is not a sympathetic character- she uses sex as a tool, kills without remorse, and uses those around her to further her mission. There is a lot of sex because when she uses the witchbreed power she goes into an sexual frenzy. The things she does are not pretty, and at points I was disgusted/repelled and fascinated all at once. Hopefully there will be redemption (through love with Javier?)for her at the end of this series. The ending is a cliff hnager. There is mystery surrounding what exactly the witchbreed are (hints of some kind of alien race?). All in all this is an intricate and amazing book. The sex scenes(there are a lot) are not for the squeemish because of some graphic descriptions. I can't wait for the next book!