Queen of the Night

Mysterious and different yet absolutely wonderful!

ARC kindly provided by Text Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review
‘Queen of the Night’ was a novel I had high hopes for. After reading the first novel, 'This is Shyness', and rating it a measly three star on my behalf, I really hoped for this novel would change my opnion of this series. There is something indescribable about it that captures the reader’s attention. It's so...mysterious and different yet completely wonderful at the same time. Yet for some reason I could not attach to ‘This is Shyness’.
The characters were REALLY engaging. They're all quirky in a way, but they’re also creatures of habit, and to return to them was awesome. Wolfboy is still my favourite by far of him and Wildgirl. Wolfboy's world is so much more vivid and strange yet also fragile. Wildgirl is the typical teenage girl who has problems with school and home so her world is not nearly as much fun to read.
There was great character development and dynamics. I got to discover more about Paul, Wolfboy's best buddy! I REALLY liked that the author had a variety of ethnic backgrounds for her characters: E.g. Paul who’s half Korean and half Anglo. I really enjoyed reading about Diana, Wolfboy's neice. She was such a spirited creature and reminded me of my own cousin SO much! I instantly felt attached to her! (I have a weakness for little kids in novels. They are always so damn adorable!) My only regret was that she didn't appear often enough for my liking.
'Queen of the Night' is also different from 'This is Shyness' because Wolfboy's world and Wildgirl's world is no longer separate. After Wildgirl leaves at the end of 'This is Shyness' things change in the strange little town. People are starting to leave it, the older Kidds are nowhere to be found and Paul, Wolfboy's trusty friend, seems to have become lost. During multiple occasions do Wolfboy and Wildgirl venture out of their own worlds and into each other's. I found this great to see as I often wondered what would happen to the pair if the two existed outside their own worlds.
For some reason this novel gave me a case of melancholia. I was so sad and doom and gloom after it! Lol, even my family noticed! This novel seems to really concentrate on the peacefulness and quietness of grief, sadness and trouble. In a way it created a sense of isolation and exclusion from those around you even when you are not alone. For example take Paul. Paul is heartbroken and wants to forget, so as a result he ends up caught in bad stuff. He becomes part of this blue group (they wear blue uniforms) and even though there are many of them, I get the sense that he is still alone and lonely. This novel really tugged at my heart strings.
I believe this novel should make its way into the list of diverse books that have taken the Young-Adult community by storm. It seems to feature a key aspect of many of those types of novels: mental conditions. Mental illnesses seem to be a recurring feature in the series. So many townspeople of Shyness are affected by a different form! For example, the Kidds are sugar crazed/addicted children who have run away from their parents and commit acts of stealing and other horrible stuff in order to get their next fix and sugar-rush. The blue people all wear uniforms and seem to want to lose themselves in the past. The Dreamers are people who want to dream and sleep rather than live and stay awake. They resort to taking massive amounts of sleeping pills in order to sleep and dream their days away in the darkness. There is also the villainous and corrupt Doctor Gregory who is probably at the centre of all these problems and likely the cause of them. I'm not sure how this all escaped me in the first novel but it I am now grateful that I have had the chance to read this sequel.
One thing I noticed were the many formatting problems with my ARC version of 'Queen of the Night'. It was confusing to read and the capital letters in pronouns were missing, so sometimes it was hard to tell what characters were talking about. New chapter also didn’t start on a new page.
The ending was once again beautiful. Leanne Hall has this way of ending a story but somehow also leaving it open for possibilities. I was filled with a rush of satisfaction once I finished reading and I really don't regret picking up this series.
Congratulations to Leanne Hall on publishing a lovely sequel to her debut! Can't wait for your future works!

Rating Plan
1 star : Strongly did not like the book, writing and plot was bad. Idea of the book was against my liking.
2 star : Didn't like it, didn't find it interesting or gripping. Seemed to drag on to me.
3 star : An average book. Wasn't bad or good. Everything else was well done. Original idea.
4 star : Like a 3 star but has potential to it as a series or the book grew on me as it progressed and certain scenes captured me. I Enjoyed it and read it in one sitting.
5 star : I LOVED IT! I stayed up late until 3 am. Author is a genius, characters, plot, idea, development, EVERYTHING was EXCELLENT. Nothing else can possibly be said except that its 5 STAR!