My take: I was so excited to read this … the continuation of The Hummingbird’s Daughter. I was a bit disappointed … it doesn’t have the same bold teeth that Hummingbird had … the author keeps backtracking.

This is perhaps an inherent problem with sequels, but certainly some authors do it better than others. I find it highly annoying when I’ve read the earlier book to spend time reintroducing events from a previous work. It loses its flow. It feels clunky. It wastes time. Pretend I’ve read the book and go! write! tell!

To be fair, these books were published 5 years apart, and the first book took him many – maybe 20? – years to write. Queen was written in a much shorter time. And feels like written in a slightly different style.

I absolutely had to find out what happens to the controversial Saint Teresita . Queen tells of the burdens and blessings of being an instrument of God in the early 1900’s in America. Ultimately, I found the book to be more blessing than burden.

My source: sequel; bought it in hardcover

My verdict: Good. Worth a read if you’ve read The Hummingbird’s Daughter. and perhaps wait a while.