Review of The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows

Title/Author: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1) by Jodi Meadows
Publisher/Date published: Katherine Tegen Books, March 10th 2015
How I got this book: bought the beautiful hardcover!

Goodreads summary: Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others.

OBVIOUSLY I needed this! I mean, I loved Incarnate (still need to finish that series...) and Jodi Meadow's writing style and just LOOK AT THAT COVER!! I mean, YES! So I went in and was very much not disappointed!

I LOVED Wilhelmina. She's strong and fierce and so loyal to those she loves, but not so much that she doesn't call them on the things she thinks aren't right. And she can also take someone not agreeing with her and still be their friend, that is a sign of maturity right there. I loved how skilled she is with forgery and can basically copy anyone's handwriting. And I really liked that she doesn't lose herself in a romance, obviously she would like for things to work out, but she's also realistic as to the chances of that happening and that there are more important things going on.

I'm very much intrigued by the world that Jodi Meadows has created for this series, I'm not really sure I really get the magic system just yet, but the wraith is both VERY creepy and VERY interesting and I'm very curious to see if things will be a little further explained in the second book.
What I also loved is that Wil and Melanie are truly friends, they may not always agree with each other, but they have each other's backs and I think they also passed the Bechdel test (which I only reference because it was featured on Jane the Virgin's last episode and it made me laugh), so that's a solid yay for friendship!

But now let's talk about the boy. Because the BOY. I had very swoony feelings about the boy and I applaud Wilhelmina for keeping her head straight, cause I'm not sure I could have. I could feel the struggle and them both trying to be sensible about all this and I KNOW that there are so many obstacles, but seriously, my ship better sail in the second book!
I figured out the identity of Black Knife pretty early on for obvious reasons, but it was totally fine, the only things I wasn't sure about is WHY Wilhelmina didn't figure it out before he flat out told her. I mean, super spy anyone?

But OMG YOU GUYS THAT ENDING!!! I cannot. I just cannot. That is seriously no way to end a novel and now I'm REALLY glad that I waited so long to start this, because the second book is almost out and YAY I WILL READ THIS SOON! I think waiting a year would have surely killed me. Go hurry and read this if you haven't already!

My rating: 5 stars