This was a fantastic idea, and the world building was second to none, but for me personally it went on too long with too many characters. I know people who adore doorstoppers and will no doubt dive into this one, but it just wasn't right for me, sadly.

4 ⭐
For the fans of Game of thrones and Hunger games

This book contains rich and creative fantasy world ruled by fierce women, smart women, women to make you stand up! Along with court politics, magic, deadly mind games, amazing swordplay and a wonderful combination of Wonder woman!

I can't wait to read the upcoming books in this series!!

I was so excited about this! People were raving about it on socials. I was so happy when I was approved for it. And I can see why people are raving about it. It's sweeping, it's epic, it's all those things everyone is saying.

It's just not for me.

The back story is huge and given in drips and drabs. There are a lot of characters to follow. Although I enjoyed some of the individual stories, I found the overall arc moved too slowly and with too many digressions.

Other readers are going to love this, and I'm very pleased for them. I hope it does really well, and that it runs and runs - I assume it's planned to be five books, one for each Queendom, but who knows.

Three stars because I do think it's well written. It didn't suit me, and maybe that's a fault in me rather than in it.

A society ruled by women where all of a sudden, they realise that girls are no longer being born. This sounds like a great premise for a fantasy novel. I love novels with strong women characters and the five different realms appealed to me so I was really expecting to enjoy this. Sadly though, the book didn’t live up to its expectations.

The world building is well thought out and the magic system was original but for me, fantasy novels stand or fall on their characters and this one fell down. None of the characters inspired any sort of feeling in me. This might have been partly because there is very little dialogue and what there is, feels a bit stilted.
There were enjoyable bits but in the end, I just wasn’t bothered by what was happening.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Title - Scorpica - The Five Queendoms
Author - Greer Macallister
Release Date - 22nd February 2022
Page Count - 464
Read Time - 12hrs

You will hear lots of reviews likening this to Game of Thrones and in many aspects it is true; we have rich storytelling weaving together many characters and locations across many years. Politics, magic, wars, and violence. But this is where the game of thrones reference ends, although the story is amazing, and I really did enjoy it, the book can’t make its mind up who its audience is; is it adult or YA fantasy. The action and sex scenes often fall short of the really gruesome, vivid and graphic nature we would came to expect of the GOT books - it is often very PG12.

The premise is that the country of the five queendoms is cursed; one day girls stop being birthed across the entire nation. We follow the aftermath of this curse, how the queendoms strive to understand and survive knowing that the time of woman maybe at an end.

Although the story centres around some of the last girls born it really focusses on one in particular; this narrows the story arc leaving the reader both frustrated and eager for more. However, this is very much intentional to bring the reader back to the next in the trilogy.

I very much enjoyed the character and world building, particularly the Scorpicans and the Rovers and in particular a character called The Shade. The story then picks up significant pace in the last 70-80 pages making it feel rushed leaving the ending to rather fizzle out…I expected the final showdown to be more grand.

Overall a fun read that has whet my appetite for the next in the series. I am looking forward to how the characters develop and what new characters are brought into the fray.

I love fantasy but I do get a little tired of male-dominated societies but thankfully this is changing. Scorpica by G R Macallister is one of those books that is gloriously completely about women.
Across the five Queendoms, a matrilineal system prevails- daughters inherit their mothers’ crown, power and magic. The focus of the book is on two queendoms- Scorpica and Arca. Scorpica is an Amazonian like society with women born to fight with disputes over who rules decided by the sword. In Arca, the women have magical gifts and anyone who possesses all magic can lay claim to the throne but Queen Mirriam holds on to her power using every trick she can. In the midst of this, Sessadon, an old sorcerer plots in the background to rule over all five Queendoms.
So in a land where girls are essential, the five Queendoms are plunged into chaos when girls stop being born.
The book has several point of view characters which can be frustrating as I found myself more invested in a particular plot thread. The pace is slow to start with but as the author’s prose was so descriptive and rich, I didn’t really mind. The action picks up towards the middle and doesn’t stop.
The book does raise interesting questions- would a female-dominated society be fairer and treat men better or would it be the same as any patriarchal society? In Scorpica, males hold no value except to be bartered for food and in Arca high society men are subservient ( and seek to overthrow the Matriarchy) and the Queen certainly chooses her men for their looks. I would have liked to find out more about the other Queendoms where men and women seem a little more equal. I have to admit to being more than a little curious as to how the women in Scorpica managed to get pregnant.
How would society react if one sex stopped being born? Would they be targets to kidnap or hoard? Would they be locked away to protect? Would there be a revolution? This book explores these themes effectively among the battles, magic, intrigue and passion.
Content warning-descriptions of young teens sacrifice, reference to children dying.
The book resolves all the major plot threads but effectively lays the ground for book 2 which is definitely on my list to read.
will post on waterstones,goodread,my blog and amazon uk