The Queen of Days by Greta Kelly – Review

Published: October 24, 2023

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 381 (Kindle)

My Rating: 4.25 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
From Greta Kelly, the author of the Warrior Witch duology, comes The Queen of Days, an epic adventure that weaves together a flawed-but-lovable family of thieves, a battle between fallen gods, and stakes high enough to cause vertigo—perfect for fans of The Lies of Locke Lamora and Six of Crows.

For Balthazar and his family of thieves, stealing a statue during the annual celebration of the god Karanis was just a good bit of fun…or a way to stick it to the governor who murdered his parents. And yeah, the small fortune in reward doesn’t hurt—even if his boss also hired the mysterious Queen of Days to join the crew as “the weapon of last resort…”

Whatever that means.

But Bal doesn’t know the ceremony isn’t simply empty words and dusty tradition; it’s true magic. The kind of magic that rips open a portal for the god himself. Only the idol that Karanis planned on using for a body now lies broken at the Queen of Days’ feet. And half of it is missing.

With the aid of a lovable brawler, a society lady turned bomb maker, a disgraced soldier, and a time-eating demon, Bal must hunt down the missing half of the statue if he has any hope of earning his money, keeping his crew alive…and perhaps even saving all of humanity. But as his journey sends him racing through the city—and across realities—he discovers that doing all this might just doom the city.

The city be damned. It’s time to kill a god.

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The Queen of Days is a standalone heist novel following a group of thieves about to go on their last heist. The payout is tremendous and they’re planning to retire to a normal, law-abiding life once they cash in with their patron. The pièce de résistance is an idol that’s to be used in a ceremony to the city’s patron deity, Karanis, god of the sea and their job is to steal it and bring it back to their patron for his collection. What our group of thieves, the Talion, doesn’t know is that the ceremony is to bring Karanis into their world to inhabit the idol.

I think the biggest appeal to this novel is our group of characters, who call themselves the Talion. They’re the remnants of the noble Vadalen family that was nearly wiped out in a coup and this particular heist is special for several reasons, the main one being that the person they’re stealing from is the man responsible for the death of their family. They bring in a mysterious woman known as the Queen of Days to assist in what they know will be a difficult job. It’s unknown how she’s managed to pull off the impossible, but the group quickly learns she’s something other than human. Tassiel, or Tass as she prefers, is the half human child of one of the gods and she can manipulate time. Tass once had a family of her own, but she finds she enjoys the company of the Vadalens and she also doesn’t want Karanis or any of the other gods entering the moral realm.

The plot is quite fast paced and I found myself absolutely eating through the pages of this story. It took a mere two sittings to read through this book! There’s not a lot of time wasted and our characters swiftly move from one important moment to the next with very little dithering. Surprisingly, the lore of the world is quite well fleshed out considering it’s a standalone and the rapid pace of the plot. The city itself and the larger world as a whole are somewhat bare bones, but the mythos is deep and this feels like it’s a mere snapshot in what could be an incredible world full of stories to be told. 

Overall, The Queen of Days was a strong story that would be perfect for fans of Six of Crows. The emphasis on family is something I enjoy, especially thanks to the contrast between the Vadalen family and Tassiel’s family. I would love to see more stories set in this world, as I think there are many opportunities to explore the lore and address the conflict amongst the gods.