Book: Queen of the Clueless

“If you’ve been feeling neglected by the Goddess of Love lately, don’t worry — Hannah Maquiling, college sophomore, is in training to take over. The Original Goddess is missing, but Hannah is Interim Goddess now, and she should figure out how to solve humanity’s love problems soon. Quin (God of the Sun) is still her mentor, still really hot, but apparently isn’t as honest about his other earthly relationships as she thought. It’s frustrating, and enough to make her check out possibilities with Diego (God of the Sea) and Robbie (Cute Human).

In the meantime, she’s decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn’t exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it’s not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it’s not what people want.)”

A few things:

Number one, the synopsis makes Hannah seem like a slut. Excuse the language. But honestly, when you read the book, she really isn’t. She’s just confused about her feelings.

And I can’t believe I’m defending the character. That I actually like the book enough to defend the main character.

Although, to be fair, Queen of the Clueless is a lot better than the book that preceded it: Interim Goddes of Love. I really, really didn’t like that book. But I decided to give the sequel a try. Good thing I did.

Two, the writing’s way better and the characters are more defined; and although I still find our protagonist annoying and unlikable, she’s more tolerable now.

The best part about the Queen of the Clueless is the fact that Quin, Diego, and Vida (Goddess of the Moon) no longer feel like poor copies of Greek gods. They’re their own persons now. Which is good.

Pacing is better too. Although, I did find it disconcerting in one of the latter chapters when Hannah started talking to an unnamed character at length. It took a whole page for me to realize she was talking to Robbie. And I just want to say this, while the characters really are more defined now, they still have a tendency to talk the same way. Especially Sol, her kleptomaniac boyfriend Neil, and Robbie.

And I lost count of my points. So, anyway…

Another thing I liked about this book is the inclusion of Sol’s family (however late), and Hannah’s phone conversation with her mother. This was the part where I finally saw the identity of the book. This was the part where I finally saw the book’s universe anchor itself in the Philippines. Because it’s one thing to say it’s based in the Philippines, and it’s a whole other thing for it to feel Filipino.

That was actually one of my qualms in the first book. It’s set in the Philippines, but the locales and the exchanges felt ripped out of a dozen imported high school dramas. It didn’t help that the characters talked in English. But as we can see with Queen of the Clueless, the language didn’t matter. This book had the Filipino identity without it being an overpowering factor. And because the locale had an identity now, it didn’t feel like a floating piece of land that was cobbled together from ideas taken from various American television programs.

Now I’m actually looking forward to reading the book that follows this.

If you’re still on the fence about getting this book, why don’t you check out what other people have said about Queen of the Clueless:
I Like it Dog-Eared
Chachic’s Book Nook
Thoughts and Pens
My Book Musings