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nvjtgll13's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
4 ⭐ CW: Death, violence
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte is a YA fantasy standalone and a murder mystery. I really enjoyed this one. It was nice to have an easy read after the last book I read. This was a nice blend of scifi and period fantasy.
We follow Keralie Corrington, a thief in Toria part of Quardara. Her job is to pickpocket valuable items for her boss Mackiel to auction off. Then one day he directs her to steal from an Eonian messenger in possession of memory chips. When the messenger comes to the auction house to retrieve what had been stolen, Keralie ingests the chips and sets off a chain of events that changes, not only her life, but changes all of Quardara. The four queens are dead.
We alternate between Keralie's pov and the povs of all the queens up to their deaths. Kera and the Eonian boy, Varin try to tell the palace about who might have done the murders. I really liked that Kera was a flawed character. She was allowed to be messy. I thought the world building was interesting. Quardara is split into four quadrants: Eonia, the land of stoics bent on technological advancement and abhor emotion; Archia, the fertile land that values simplicity and hard work; Toria, a land of trade and seafaring and values curiosity and knowledge; Ludia, the land of frivolity, pleasure, and art.
I love when a mystery can keep me guessing! I had no idea who was behind the murders until it was revealed, and the red herring had me. There was a little bit of romance between Kera and Varin, but it was very minor compared to the rest of the story. It also seemed to be a queer normative world, at least as far as same gender romance.
This was a fun read!
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte is a YA fantasy standalone and a murder mystery. I really enjoyed this one. It was nice to have an easy read after the last book I read. This was a nice blend of scifi and period fantasy.
We follow Keralie Corrington, a thief in Toria part of Quardara. Her job is to pickpocket valuable items for her boss Mackiel to auction off. Then one day he directs her to steal from an Eonian messenger in possession of memory chips. When the messenger comes to the auction house to retrieve what had been stolen, Keralie ingests the chips and sets off a chain of events that changes, not only her life, but changes all of Quardara. The four queens are dead.
We alternate between Keralie's pov and the povs of all the queens up to their deaths. Kera and the Eonian boy, Varin try to tell the palace about who might have done the murders. I really liked that Kera was a flawed character. She was allowed to be messy. I thought the world building was interesting. Quardara is split into four quadrants: Eonia, the land of stoics bent on technological advancement and abhor emotion; Archia, the fertile land that values simplicity and hard work; Toria, a land of trade and seafaring and values curiosity and knowledge; Ludia, the land of frivolity, pleasure, and art.
I love when a mystery can keep me guessing! I had no idea who was behind the murders until it was revealed, and the red herring had me. There was a little bit of romance between Kera and Varin, but it was very minor compared to the rest of the story. It also seemed to be a queer normative world, at least as far as same gender romance.
This was a fun read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence
sheyri's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy
rafacolog's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Murder
jennagregory's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
isacarvalho91's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
zoec24's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Not amazing-definitely a YA ending-but still good. The main thing I found weird was the worldbuilding:
No one has ever tried to assassinate the queens before? Really?
Queenly Law is also so weird it seems to have been included for the sole purpose of highlighting the problems with the monarchy.
Also, I don't get the quadrants. I get how Archia, for instance, happens-it's an island, so there are it's borders, it's great agriculturally(main export) and that plus isolation leads to it's culture. Eonia and Toria I can kind of get- the cultures and main exports are there for logical reasons, although the borders are arbitrary, but how did you get to the point where Ludia cant produce food but has this huge culture of entertainment-how did that happen?
My main problem is that I had so many problems with Queenly Law and the divided quadrants that I could have read this book from the villian's perspective with minor changes to the motives and the villian being a morally grey protagonist.
No one has ever tried to assassinate the queens before? Really?
Queenly Law is also so weird it seems to have been included for the sole purpose of highlighting the problems with the monarchy.
Also, I don't get the quadrants. I get how Archia, for instance, happens-it's an island, so there are it's borders, it's great agriculturally(main export) and that plus isolation leads to it's culture. Eonia and Toria I can kind of get- the cultures and main exports are there for logical reasons, although the borders are arbitrary, but how did you get to the point where Ludia cant produce food but has this huge culture of entertainment-how did that happen?
My main problem is that I had so many problems with Queenly Law and the divided quadrants that I could have read this book from the villian's perspective with minor changes to the motives and the villian being a morally grey protagonist.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Blood
jaqylantern's review against another edition
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
piperclover's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I didn't realize this was going to be a deep intense fantasy plot line so I was unsure for a while if I would like it bc I usually go for more light hearted whimsical fantasy but I enjoyed this so much. The only reasons I can't give this 5 stars is that at 75% of the book we were at the peak tension building up to the climax and then we hit the obligatory makeout scene that killed so much tension and was absolutely not the right time for it. I hate that so so much.
The other reason is that there are up to 5 povs simultaneously until the very end and on top of that there's multiple timelines and eventually they do merge and everything makes sense but I don't appreciate that personally bc it makes it hard for me to keep track of. The narrators are really good at distinguishing the voices so it wasn't necessarily that I had trouble keeping track of who was who, it was just that everyone had so much information and there were so many different moving parts. I really loved though that all of the POVs except Keralie's were in third person. But because we got so many POVs from so many different people it really stood out that we didn't get a single POV from the love interest. We were in on everything except him which makes no sense and really bothered me.
The main character and the love interest are both really interesting and I love the character growth that they both went through and I really enjoyed the ending. I really enjoyed the story itself.
The other reason is that there are up to 5 povs simultaneously until the very end and on top of that there's multiple timelines and eventually they do merge and everything makes sense but I don't appreciate that personally bc it makes it hard for me to keep track of. The narrators are really good at distinguishing the voices so it wasn't necessarily that I had trouble keeping track of who was who, it was just that everyone had so much information and there were so many different moving parts. I really loved though that all of the POVs except Keralie's were in third person. But because we got so many POVs from so many different people it really stood out that we didn't get a single POV from the love interest. We were in on everything except him which makes no sense and really bothered me.
The main character and the love interest are both really interesting and I love the character growth that they both went through and I really enjoyed the ending. I really enjoyed the story itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
themoodreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Death and Murder
Minor: Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail