Entertaining read, could use some improvement.
352458
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as well as its predecessor. I found myself glued to the book and read it in a day. I definitely would like to see a sequel, hopefully focusing on some global geopolitics (American allies?). That being said, my least favorite part of the book was during the Behemoths charge back to LA; I felt that this scene was over the top and borderline corny. Finally, while I am not a grammar Nazi, I did find myself distracted by numerous grammatical errors throughout the book ranging from misspelled words (Nay, instead of Navy for example) to sometimes omitting certain words. The plot was solid, but these errors were distracting and could be easily fixed to make this book stronger. I loved the new technology introduced in this book, and I cannot wait for more.
1119526
I downloaded this book as a free Kindle offer before vacation as I needed some light reading on a flight. It was a quick read, and enjoyable enough to help pass the time on my flight. I am a mystery buff though, and usually have the villain figured out well before the reveal - and especially so with well developed whodunnits that provide clues (as well as red herrings!) along the way.  In this case, there simply weren't enough clues provided through character and plot development to actually make an educated guess about the villain. I had a lot of unresolved plot questions at the end of the book; most significantly, questions related to the murder foretold in the book title. And I can't be specific without adding spoilers to this review, but some pieces of the plot didn't quite make sense to me logically.

I do note that in other reviews there are complaints about spelling and grammatical errors, and usually those things jump out at me too. Since I wasn't distracted by glaring errors, I think the version I read may already have been edited to make corrections - which is a plus.

In spite of the criticisms I offered, I think the author has promise as a cozy mystery writer.  The story was entertaining enough to keep me reading to the end, I "liked" the protagonist enough to want further information, and the premise/setting is interesting enough to me that I plan to give the series a thorough chance by reading the second book in the series.
1294897
I enjoyed this book. Having said that, the author seemed to have lowered his sights on the age of his audience. The book moved well and logically. Pages turned themselves and it became easy to develop empathy with the main protagonist. Liked the book okay. The author needs polish, or a better editor.
203378
I love a good action novel, and this was a decent one.  With some editing and care, this could have been a much better read.  There is too much dialogue; the conversations become repetitive.  Also, the behavior of some characters seems either out of line with their development or completely without basis (FBI agents' resentment, anyone?).

I finished it over the course of three weeks, when I typically finish a novel of similar length in a day or two.  It was painful to read in places, but at other times it read well and was entertaining.
4521836
Overall I found this book entertaining.  My absolutely favorite parts were the hilarious, yet subtle, one-liners from Madam President (Dev).
However, I feel the authors had trouble keeping the book in the year 2020 and only remembered every now and then to remind the reader of this fact.  There was no reference made to the future for many, many pages, and then suddenly there would appear three or four comments in a row about some weird technology, or how President Clinton did this or that oh-so-long ago.  Not very consistent or convincing.  The other issue I found to be "not my favorite" was the constant reference to these characters as "the blonde", "the shorter woman", "the blue eyed woman" ...and so on.  It would have flowed much better if the authors had simply used their names. But, at the end, you definitly know who is short, tall, with blue eyes or gray eyes, the president or the biographer (or sometimes "writer"), and the blonde or the darker haired.
Other than those two major complaints, the book was interesting and enjoying.  I wouldn't read it again, but I'm glad it fed my addiction to cheesey lesbian romance novels for at least a week.  Thanks!
893304
Firstly, I feel this book is more deserving of three-and-a-half stars than a full four, even though I enjoyed the concept and the story overall, because of technical nitpicks and a few other problems that I feel hold the book back from being a fully realized, well-done piece. I was immediately hooked by the premise-a female king, typical high fantasy fun, oh, and also LGBT+-and looked forward to what I had been promised was a pleasant read.

Maybe I've grown more tolerant when it comes to what I read, but I honestly wouldn't say the writing was Grade A for Awful. Occasionally stiff and simple/repetitive? Yes, but not to the point where I couldn't gloss over it and continue with the story. The major nitpick I have with the writing is that several events are glossed over in just a few sentences, as if it were just a side note instead of part of the actual journey. While the world was not particularly fleshed out, you're shown enough to fill in the blanks with your average high fantasy world: monarchies, prophesied kings, political intrigue, healers, small rural towns, etc. There are some instances of worldbuilding that I'd have liked to know more about, such as the different roles for nonbinary people and more information on the witches/healers that every town apparently has one of, but that's more of an idle curiosity than confusion about the plot, which is pretty simple and straightforward. I enjoyed the characters as well, even though they weren't particularly complex and could easily be summed up with broad character types like "boisterous good-natured warrior" and "quiet withdrawn hermit."

Overall, I'd say My Lady King is a good for passing the time, or if you're looking for LGBT+ fantasy with an actual plot, and I don't really regret giving a few dollars to an author who clearly cares about representation and writing.
2717925
This book was a quick read. The story pulls you in quickly and moves along at a good pace and the characters are well developed.

These books could really benefit from a good editor. In addition to the grammar and punctuation errors, some of which threatened the readability of a good story, there are areas of the books that are repetitious and could use some "tightening up." If these issues were not present, I would give it an additional star.
617121
An entertaining read, but could have made the same impact without all of the strong language.
252037
The writing is good, not great. The plot takes a turn away from the tried and true with some originality and good pace. The characters are ok, some fleshing out. A few too much character telling events took me out of the story and lessened the enjoyment. Overall it's an interesting read that could use some work. An evaluation copy was provided in exchange for an honest unbiased review.
1498
It was entertaining and kept my attention but had  flaws to be overlooked.
4193059
This was an entertaining read for me, but it had a number of issues that distracted and detracted from it being a 4 or 5 star rating.  I enjoyed the setup and the universe that was created -- the lore, and the way it was revealed, worked well in the context of the story, exposing you to the information as the character discovers it and changing their world views in the process.  The characters are generally well developed and interesting, and some of the interactions and the situations make for a great story.  But as those details of the story emerge, that's when I started to see problems.

First - Arun is different than his fellow marines - because he still cares and has empathy.  This is called out repeatedly, and is illustrated in his way of helping the Aux with the 'party'.  However, after the party gets busted, he doesn't really seem impacted by the possibility that all of the Aux involved may be summarily executed - in fact, he doesn't seem to ever check on them or mention them in passing with the exception of the one ex-cadet who was hidden away by the aliens.  Its all treated as a high-school prank, albeit one where the cost of getting caught could be death of all involved.

Next - the conspiracies.  There seem to be a lot of them floating around, ranging from drugging of the cadets and sabotage, to rebellion and resistance movements. And all of the 'leaders' from the various races seem in on the deal.  This despite the repeated highlighting of how difficult it is to find a quiet place to chat without observation.  None seemed well explained, but they are used repeatedly as the causation for any number of events. There's even the random twin brother who shows up (having already been a marine for several years) even though there is no mention of Arun being frozen after birth to delay his aging.

Finally, the length.  There is a bunch in here that could have been culled to tighten this up.  Hearing how Arun is hated by his company over and over, mainly due to his infatuation with another cadet from a different unit, is just tiring.  I can see how his unit was sick of it, because the readers were certainly getting tired of it as well.

Overall this book ended up giving me the feeling of a cross between Harry Potter / Hogwarts and Sara King's The Legend of Zero series.  Inspired by parts from each, but not necessarily as good as either.  Still an entertaining read, just not the top of my list.
4096513
This book was a captivating read, with a plot full of well-formed and detailed characters. It was easy to get lost in and the idea of the book is very creative. However, I have some problems with it.
1. Word errors. There/their/they're and the like were misused sometimes.
2. Even though they are defended, this presents being gay as being a fool.
3. Swearing, if sporadic.
2736463
This was a pretty good read. There were parts that felt a bit rushed and certain parts in this story needed further information and development, but overall it was an entertaining reading experience.
2467334
I read this book in one day and would have enjoyed it even more if the editing had been better. The poor conventions and mechanics were distracting at times. However, for a dollar,  this was a good, quick read with a decent plot.
2826412
Good entertaining read.  Could do with a bit more proof-reading but this is par for the course when it comes to self-published books.
3590954
It was entertaining, and I enjoyed it, but wish I could give it 3.5 stars.  It was a good, entertaining read, but some parts were pretty unbelievable.  In my opinion, the antagonist would not just kill himself, because the author made him very arrogant.  I cannot believe someone who thought so much of themselves would give up so easily--especially with his many survival skills, so I felt it was a cheap way to wrap up the story.  Oh well.  It was fun reading.
2720010
Overall this was an entertaining book.

So why only 3 stars? Quite a few things seem to have been overlooked in the editing and revision process. There were grammatical issues, repetitive word usage, missing words, and many plot threads were left unexplained by the end of the novel. While this is the first Brad Thor novel I've read, from the reviews of other novels, I expected more.

Many readers will enjoy this book with its Dan Brown-esque take on Boston. However, just overlook the basic issues to enjoy it.