To Visit the Queen by Diane Duane

A Spoiler-Free Reread Review

I had a lot more fun with To Visit the Queen than I did with The Book of Night with Moon. I’m not sure exactly why this is, but *much shrugging.* I found To Visit the Queen to be delightful. A good mix of time travel and alternate universes, I think.

There is a lot of details concerning the gates and the time travel aspects of the plot. Like, a lot. I didn’t find it particularly mind-numbing, though I may have read it and immediately forgotten most of it. I like the detail, though, makes things more grounded, I think. Gives the reader something to look up later, if they wish, or just kind of go with.

To Visit the Queen also scratched a bit at my Anglophile brain. Very Doctor Who vibes, if I’m honest. (Probably also why I can hand-wave the techno-babble) Rhiow and the team spend just enough time running around London, or bits of it anyway, to amuse me. And, of course, things being centered around Queen Victoria was also a draw.

I also appreciated the fallout surrounding Rhiow’s human. It’s nice to have some follow-through as opposed to just “Rhiow’s human’s dead now and her partner doesn’t want the cat, so Rhiow’s a free agent now” kind of a thing. Duane’s good at the grief follow-through. It’s a big theme of the Young Wizards series more-so than this one, but I like that it’s there nonetheless.

I did remember about Arhu and Siffha’ah’s relationship from my reread, so I did spend a bunch of time wondering when that was going to come to a head as I didn’t remember the exact details. Same with Auhlae’s whole thing. I also remembered Artie, after he showed up. I won’t say more about that stuff, though, as it does spoil things.

Overall, To Visit the Queen was quite good. Definitely not prefect, but perfectly enjoyable.

Favorite Lines

"Telling it won't help," he said. "You've got to ask nicely. Most things in the Universe react positively to that. Sass them, and they get stubborn." - Urruah

     "You are little angels of God."

     "Please, madam," Arhu said, "don't get confused. We're cats." - Queen Victoria & Arhu