Audiobook Review – Long Live the Queen (The Immortal Empire, Book 3) by Kate Locke (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 10 hours and 19 minutes
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Release Date: November 12, 2013
ASIN: B00GK4LYU0
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Immortal Empire series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third book in The Immortal Empire series. It was an absolutely stellar conclusion to this series. These book are just so much fun to read and I absolutely love them.

I listened to this book on audiobook and it was very well done. The narrator sounds exactly like I think Xandra would sound like and does an excellent job conveying emotion and giving all of the characters distinct voices.

Xandra thought things would settle down when she finally accepted the crown and became the Goblin Queen, well she was wrong. There’s a sixteen year old girl killer that’s on the loose, and the catch is she looks exactly like Xandra. Now Xandra has to figure out how to stop this killing machine before things in London fall apart complete and end up in all out war. The Human League has been increasingly violent towards vamps, weres, halfies, and goblins and Queen Victoria is on edge as well. Luckily Xandra has her beloved alpha werewolf Vexx and the co-ruler of Goblins Prince William, to help her out.

This was a wonderful conclusion to this trilogy. These books are just so much fun to read, I absolutely love them. This is an excellent urban fantasy set in an alternate London with goblins, and werewolves, and vampires. It’s a fun world because the story is set in modern times but much of London has a Victorian feel to it since the Aristocracy is a bit stuck in the past, being vampires and all.

The heroine, Xandra, has so much pluck and attitude that she is hilarious and tons of fun to read about. She’s grown a lot both emotionally and in power since the first book. She’s learned to accept who she is, to accept help from friends, and to accept responsibility. She still struggles some with being the center of attention and having to be reasonable with idiots…but she’s becoming quite the power to be reckoned with both politically and socially.

Queen Victoria and Prince William were both in this story a lot more. It was actually nice to have some depth added to the character of Queen Victoria, she’s a very interesting character and tough in her own right. Prince William is also very interesting and it was fun to learn more about the Goblins and their history too.

Of course Vexx is in the story a lot, as are Xandra’s sisters. I love them all as characters, they are all interesting and engaging and just super fun.

The plot was very well done as well. The main mystery to be solved is the identity of the vicious killer Xandra and crew are trying to track down and then of course how to stop her. This ends up tying into the genetic experiments that have been referenced throughout the series. It also ties back into Xandra’s goblin nature and how she ended up how she is. The whole thing was woven together very nicely and everything was tied up wonderfully.

Overall just a fantastically fun read. I love the interesting world with Victorian and Steampunk overtones, the well done plot, and the wonderfully entertaining characters. I am really sad that this series is over and hope that we see another series set in this world in the future. It is just such an interesting world and there are so many awesome characters I want to know more about. This whole series is highly recommended to those who love urban fantasy, especially urban fantasy with a steampunk flair to it.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– Get Steampunk’d Reading Challenge