Member assessment:
(8 votes) —
Recommended by Donna Sirianni, Drew Daniels, Gavin Williams, Sonja Nitschke, and 4 other members.
Queen of Seven
A serialized novel, updating weekly.
Queen of Seven is a novel about the past, the present, and the future. A story about family. A story about growing up, and growing old. A story of how you can never escape your ghosts or hide your secrets forever. It’s the story of Elly, a girl blessed –– and cursed –– with more power than anyone should ever possess. And it is the story of those who loved her, lost her, and will never forget her.
Queen of Seven
A sequel to Alisiyad.
— contains some harsh language —
Tags: angst children coming of age family drama fantasy first love ghosts modern supernatural online novels past tense romance teenagers third person
Links: review feed
sort order: editorial preference member preference listing date name
Reader recommendations . . .
Similar listings . . .
Editorial Reviews
Seven is my favourite number
And "Queen of Seven" is currently my favourite web-serial.
Liseli and Russ Markson of "Alisiyad" return for the sequel, and, impossibly, become more nuanced, realistic and engaging. However, the story continues because of the birth of their daughter, Eliasha (or Elly). Elly’s parents are affected by their journey to Alisiyad, and these changes are passed down to Elly, who develops magical abilities.
Taking place on Earth, "Queen of Seven" is even better than its predecessor because it is firmly rooted in reality. Liseli and Russ deal with the emotional ramifications of their adventures with conflict, passion and humour, just like real people reacting to traumatic circumstances. Their love for each other is palpable, emanating from the page. And Elly’s life comes across as something that could really happen (if a real person had magic).
The dialogue between characters always rings true, there’s never the tendency in fantasy for overlong exposition or flowery speeches. Because these are real people. Everything is motivated and a natural outgrowth of previous events. Nothing is wasted.
And when Sien Auriel enters Elly’s life and brings romantic and fantasic elements back into the story, she deals with it in the way an exceptional young woman would in real life.
In short, this is a story that you can live inside, and never want to leave.
Help us improve! Register or log in to rate this review.
Is this review inaccurate or abusive? Report it!
Amazing
The usual warning applies — Queen of Seven is still an ongoing regularly updated web novel and my review will be subject to change. But until then, my thoughts on Queen of Seven:
I’ve tried to write this review for a while now, but I couldn’t really think of the right words.
I love Queen of Seven. I love it more than Alisiyad.
I’ve tried to ask myself why, but honestly, comparing the two is kind of like trying to compare oranges and apples. Sure, Queen of Seven is the sequel to Alisiyad, but it’s also different.
The story is even more deeply anchored in the characters than Alisiyad was. It has focused mostly on Elly, Russ’s and Liseli’s daughter who is gifted with magic — powerful magic (all at the same time avoiding Special Child Syndrome).
It touches on themes of guilt and honesty and love (not the mushy kind of love — something better and realer than that).
In the form of bonus stories, Sarah has given us bits and pieces of mythology, beautiful mythology that is both real and poignant.
The Myth and the Stories, together, effect me very deeply.
They are real to me.
Help us improve! Register or log in to rate this review.
Is this review inaccurate or abusive? Report it!
This gives sequels a bad name . . .
Aren’t sequels supposed to be lesser than the originals? Aren’t we supposed to expect less from a sequel purely by default because, when you love the first one so much, the second doesn’t have much of a chance to compare? Well thanks for screwing up the dynamic of sequels, Sarah!
This was one story that I wanted to break my five chapter limit rule for but I held off and I’m still twitching to keep reading and find out what happens. If those beginning chapters are any indicators of what’s to come (and I have no doubt they are), then I’m missing some good stuff right now.
Right from the opening we are reintroduced to Russ and Liseli as we knew them from Alisiyad. Nothing’s changed. There are moments where I still want to smack both of them (which, really, is a good thing. I really, truly, feel for and with this characters.) but their dynamic is unwavering. In fact, I think it’s been made stronger since the first story. I think it can be a challenge for authors to maintain the integrity of their own characters from sequel to sequel, especially in an online setting where reader input has the potential to influence the writing so I commend Sarah for keeping these two grounded and steadfast in their personas. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
What’s even better about this sequel is that we’re not bombarded with the bane that is infodumping at the start. So tempting is it for a writer to fill in all the blanks to bridge the first story to the second but Sarah doesn’t do that. In fact we know relatively little about what happened during that time except for an occasional snippet when the timing is right in the current arc. She fought the temptation to divulge all and won.
I haven’t read up to any of the fantasy elements yet but judging from Alisiyad and where this piece is going, I’m going to say that the fantastical elements in the story aren’t the central focus. It’s the characters and what’s happening to them that drive the plot forward, not fireballs and magic wands. The characters travel to a magical world, sure, but it’s a magic in passing. The fantasy comes into play when it’s important to the story instead of being thrown about just to show that there is, indeed, fantastical elements present. Yet another reason why I love Sarah’s writing. I’m not being smothered with fireballs and fairies.
If you were a fan of Alisiyad, no doubt you’ll be a fan of Queen of Seven. If you haven’t read Alisiyad yet, then why are you still reading this? Go read that story and then come read this one. I know I’m jonsing to know what happens and not too many writers can make me do that.
Yup, this one’s definitely a "don’t miss" work. You’d be forfeiting some good writing here and you don’t want to do that. This story’s too good to just pass up, and I’ve only read the first five chapters. Now that’s saying something!
Help us improve! Register or log in to rate this review.
Is this review inaccurate or abusive? Report it!
Most Helpful Member Reviews
Damn…
All I can say is damn.
Damn . . . this is so good. It blows my mind how good this is.
When I think of sequels, I think of it in terms of movies. There are sequels, like most of the Disney ones, that are direct to DVD. Those are the ones that suck and shouldn’t be made into movies anyway. This isn’t that type of story.
There are sequels like the Spiderman movies, that have a sequel that is better than the first, but the third one ruins the first one. This isn’t that type of story.
This story is more like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Batman Begins is alright, not my favorite, but better than most. Then there’s Dark Knight which is infinitely better than the first one.
Queen of Seven is that type of story, where the first one was pretty good, but the sequel is so much better. Many stories that have sequels often that negate the impact of the first story. This story enhances the first story, but doesn’t completely overshadow the original. They play side by side, building off the secrets that were never told into the first story. The children are suffering from the secrets their parents kept in the first story. It’s wonderful.
I love this story.
Help us improve! Register or log in to rate this review.
Is this review inaccurate or abusive? Report it!
Lovely
It takes a lot to get me involved in a web story.
I’m a sucker for good writing, and more to the point, I require it. I’ve spent too much time as an editor to avoid mentally correcting mistakes, poor flow, bad grammar, etc., when I’m trying to read for pleasure. And while I love that the web lowers the barrier to entry, allowing writers of all kinds to publish their worlds and their thoughts, it can often make it difficult to separate the chaff from the wheat.
Queen of Seven isn’t a story I normally would have picked up. I hadn’t read the original novel, and the summary didn’t immediately grab my attention. I started reading cautiously one evening.
And the next.
And the next.
And when I went to pick up my son from school today, I, finding myself 15 minutes early, took out my iPhone, searched for Queen of Seven, and continued my reading.
I don’t do that. Ever.
I am moved by stories that are primarily character driven. A good plot is a nice-to-have, but characters I care about is a requirement. And while Liseli often makes me want to bash her over the head with a phone book, at least I care. At least I find her real enough to get my blood boiling. At least I am interested enough to read web fiction on my iPhone.
Sarah’s writing is fluid and engaging, and the user experience of her website is very positive (important to me as a web designer.) Sometimes I feel that the dialogue between Liseli and Russ goes on for too long, but that’s a small complaint. Overall, I can happily recommend Queen of Seven to anyone looking for strong writing, interesting characters, and an engrossing world.
Help us improve! Register or log in to rate this review.
Is this review inaccurate or abusive? Report it!