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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Summary:
Four Dead Queens follows Keralie, a young thief from the quadrant of Toria. This land is divided into four quadrants, each ruled by one queen. But the queens are being murdered, one by one, and Keralie is drawn into the assassination plot in unexpected ways.
Characters 3/5:
I thought the characters of the queens were all interesting, but perhaps didn't get enough screentype to be properly developed. I also enjoyed the love interest, Varin, but I felt like Keralie's development wasn't quite there for me, and her motivations didn't always seem to align with her past. I thought the queens were all a lot of more interesting, but needed a lot more time to really explore some of the themes their characters would have brought up.
Plot 4/5:
Probably my favorite component of this novel was the plot. I found the mystery engaging, and I was entertained by the twists and turns. It was fast paced and easy to fly through, and I felt like it did a good job overall.
Setting and atmosphere 2.5/5:
I think the world building was probably what suffered the most. I think perhaps this could have benefited from being a series rather than a standalone novel because I felt like a lot of the world building was infodumped early on, and even then, only developed on a surface level when it was necessary to the plot. Although I found the names of places cheesy and they caught on my tongue, I was intrigued by them, but I felt like the book didn't really deliver on that front.
Writing style 3/5:
I had things I liked and also didn't like about the writing. It was fast paced and easy to fly through, the pages literally seemed to just disappear. But I'm not the BIGGEST fan of 1st person narration, and I think sometimes it was a little limiting. I also felt like a lot of world building elements were repeated whenever they might be relevant to the plot, so what little world building we got was dumped in and then repeatedly thrown in your face, but not in a natural way, so I really didn't enjoy that.
I think this story had the potential to be really interesting and amazing, but didn't quite deliver on a few aspects. I think it maybe needed a little bit more work, or word count, to really expand and develop some of those key areas. I had a fun time reading it, but there were quite a few things that drew me out of the story, so they limited my enjoyment overall.
Four Dead Queens follows Keralie, a young thief from the quadrant of Toria. This land is divided into four quadrants, each ruled by one queen. But the queens are being murdered, one by one, and Keralie is drawn into the assassination plot in unexpected ways.
Characters 3/5:
I thought the characters of the queens were all interesting, but perhaps didn't get enough screentype to be properly developed. I also enjoyed the love interest, Varin, but I felt like Keralie's development wasn't quite there for me, and her motivations didn't always seem to align with her past. I thought the queens were all a lot of more interesting, but needed a lot more time to really explore some of the themes their characters would have brought up.
Plot 4/5:
Probably my favorite component of this novel was the plot. I found the mystery engaging, and I was entertained by the twists and turns. It was fast paced and easy to fly through, and I felt like it did a good job overall.
Setting and atmosphere 2.5/5:
I think the world building was probably what suffered the most. I think perhaps this could have benefited from being a series rather than a standalone novel because I felt like a lot of the world building was infodumped early on, and even then, only developed on a surface level when it was necessary to the plot. Although I found the names of places cheesy and they caught on my tongue, I was intrigued by them, but I felt like the book didn't really deliver on that front.
Writing style 3/5:
I had things I liked and also didn't like about the writing. It was fast paced and easy to fly through, the pages literally seemed to just disappear. But I'm not the BIGGEST fan of 1st person narration, and I think sometimes it was a little limiting. I also felt like a lot of world building elements were repeated whenever they might be relevant to the plot, so what little world building we got was dumped in and then repeatedly thrown in your face, but not in a natural way, so I really didn't enjoy that.
I think this story had the potential to be really interesting and amazing, but didn't quite deliver on a few aspects. I think it maybe needed a little bit more work, or word count, to really expand and develop some of those key areas. I had a fun time reading it, but there were quite a few things that drew me out of the story, so they limited my enjoyment overall.
I loved the combo of fantasy with a murder mystery! Quadara is an intriguing world with its unique quadrants and political system. This was fascinating and kept me guessing.
I greatly enjoyed the murder mystery part of this book but I had an issue with the world-building because it felt like a historical dystopian-type world, yet the scientific technology was more advanced than what we have in today’s society. With the technology so advanced, it’s hard for me to not think “futuristic” and rather choose “historical” instead. It just didn’t fit well.
There are definitely other issues too, but putting it all aside, it was fun to see how the events of everything unfolded.
There are definitely other issues too, but putting it all aside, it was fun to see how the events of everything unfolded.
Four Dead Queens was not what I was expecting. I didn’t realize that this would be a murder-mystery of sorts. I thought that the book might start with the deaths of the four queens, and deal with the aftermath of the events. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that the book would encompass the events leading up to and during the murders of the queens.
There are five different perspectives: the four queens, and Keralie, an outsider/thief who provided a unique outside perspective to the murders and were trying to solve them. The romance between Keralie and Varin was watered down, lacked chemistry, and all-together felt forced.
I liked the world; however, it felt like a skeleton of the world. There could’ve been more development and instances that took place in each of the different realms that would’ve fleshed it out for me. The queens were interesting, and I loved how each of them didn’t necessarily adhere to the strict laws that were set for each of them to maintain order.
The ending was disappointing for me. I was able to predict what was going to happen earlier on. The major issue that I had with the ending was that the reasoning for everything was all behind something that isn’t really explained or introduced until it is revealed who is killing the queens. I was annoyed and frustrated and the resolution really brought down my initial excitement for this book.
There are five different perspectives: the four queens, and Keralie, an outsider/thief who provided a unique outside perspective to the murders and were trying to solve them. The romance between Keralie and Varin was watered down, lacked chemistry, and all-together felt forced.
I liked the world; however, it felt like a skeleton of the world. There could’ve been more development and instances that took place in each of the different realms that would’ve fleshed it out for me. The queens were interesting, and I loved how each of them didn’t necessarily adhere to the strict laws that were set for each of them to maintain order.
The ending was disappointing for me. I was able to predict what was going to happen earlier on. The major issue that I had with the ending was that the reasoning for everything was all behind something that isn’t really explained or introduced until it is revealed who is killing the queens. I was annoyed and frustrated and the resolution really brought down my initial excitement for this book.
I'm terrible at reading my Owlcrate books even way past when I ended my Owlcrate subscription. This was my next oldest Owlcrate book and I kept putting it off. I meant to read it in 2021 and I believe, I have had it on a few monthly TBRs this year. Today I was hoping to start Soul of Stars in audiobook form at work but that didn't exist, so I was like well, I guess I'll do Four Dead Queens. I'm so glad that I did. I'm not sure why I put this off so long. It's a fantasy, but a murder mystery. It's like Three Dark Crowns meets Clue. I really enjoyed it and loved the different POVs. Character building and world building were fascinating! Definitely my new favorite read of the month knocking Shadow and Bone out of the top spot!
This was a very good book. A solid fantasy, murder, novel. The “who did it” question on your mind throughout the whole book. I love the way the book was told from multiple POVs. Seeing everything from all angles made the story that much better. My fav character was Queen Cora and I thoroughly enjoyed Keralie’s POV. I didn’t figure out who did it, until I was told in the book, which made it so much better. I love the writing style of this book. It was easy to get into and even quicker to read. Great standalone.
I didn't expect this book to have lesbians in it but it did and i am loving it. (Also it is a fun read, i mean not essential but it's good)
A nice quick read!
I enjoyed this book a lot. I thought there were some great characters and moments. However, I hate it when a book tells you that there is going to be a twist going into it because then I spend the entire book looking for the twist, and it takes away substantially from my enjoyment. I think I would have rated this a five if I had not known that there was going to be a twist going into it.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I thought there were some great characters and moments. However, I hate it when a book tells you that there is going to be a twist going into it because then I spend the entire book looking for the twist, and it takes away substantially from my enjoyment. I think I would have rated this a five if I had not known that there was going to be a twist going into it.