Queen of the Underworld is the prequel to Felicity Heaton’s Guardians of Hades series. Having read Ares and Valen the first two books in the series, I was curious to see where it all began, hence my decision to read Queen of the Underworld.
Hades, the wickedly dark god-king of the Underworld, needs a queen. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.
Title: Queen of the Underworld
Author(s): Felicity Heaton
Series: Guardian of Hades #0.5
Published by Self Published on January 31, 2023
Pages: 418
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
Source: Author
Format: eArc 
Purchase: Amazon
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And he’s chosen Persephone.
All Persephone has ever desired is control of her own life, and someone noticing her once in a while. Kept in her mother’s shadow, and overlooked by the entirety of Olympus, her dream seems impossible… and now she’s doomed to wed a dull god of her mother’s choosing…
Until she crosses paths with a handsome, dark warrior who rouses wildfire heat in her veins—a male whose immense power is unmistakable, and who matches the fearful tales whispered in Olympus—stories of a cruel, heartless king who rules his realm of death with an iron fist.
When Hades abducts her and imprisons her in the depths of the Underworld, a dormant part of her awakens. And as she slowly discovers the truth about him, Persephone isn’t sure whether the snarling, dark beast of a king is her doom… or her saviour… but she knows one thing…
She will embrace the fire he awakens in her with every heated glance, and every vicious growl.
And use it to tame him and forge her dreams into reality.
Because, Persephone, the quiet, gentle goddess of nature, desires a king.
And nothing will stop her from claiming his black heart.
Queen of the Underworld is a forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance novel retelling the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, and a prequel in my Guardians of Hades series. In the vein of an adult beauty and the beast, it features a grumpy-sunshine pairing that will steal your heart, with a secretly cinnamon roll hero and a secretly fiery heroine, and a powerful forever kind of love. All Guardians of Hades books have no cliffhangers, a guaranteed happily ever after, and some strong language. Enjoy!
It pains me to have to write this review, especially since the author is a favourite of mine – and I’ve enjoyed all her books that I’ve read so far. Unfortunately, Queen of the Underworld did not fall into my favourite category. I had high hopes for Hades and Persephone’s story, but it failed to deliver as per my expectations.
The story started out with Hades dreaming of finding love like his brothers Zeus and Poseidon. He teleported to Olympus where he landed in a special garden. In this garden he saw the beautiful Persephone and he knew he wanted her for his queen. He approaches Zeus seeking permission to take her as his queen. When Zeus granted him his wish he kidnaps her and takes her back to his kingdom, the Underworld. The events which unfolded from this action led to many angsty moments between the Hades and Persephone.
Queen of the Underworld did not come close to what I’ve come to expect from this author. This was longest and painfully boring story I’ve read in the longest time. It took me eight excruciating days to get through this one. It would seem I’m a sucker for punishment.
For the majority of the story readers are subjected to Hades and Persephone’s insecurities, uncertainties, indecisiveness and constant woe is me internal monologue. One minute Persephone is thinking of ravishing Hades then the next she wants nothing to do with him. Hades also runs hot and cold for most of the story. At one point he is calm and then the darkness takes over and he becomes a raging monster. Now I have no problem with their insecurities, especially after learning the reasons behind them – but when the majority of the story focuses on it with nothing much else happening besides the characters’ never ending internal monologue, then that’s where I would have issues.
An event with one of Hades warriors had the potential to change the trajectory of the story and bring some colour into what was becoming a lack luster story. Alas, not much happened and that aspect of the story was short-lived. It wasn’t until the last couple of chapters that the story took a turn, culminating in a magical ending that would have been worthy of a great love story.
I loved the world the author created in this series and I enjoyed seeing how it all started. It was interesting seeing the Underworld and Olympus through the author’s eyes.
Despite my disappointment with this installment, Heaton remains on my favourite author’s list.
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About Felicity Heaton
Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you’re a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too. If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
