A review by ravensandlace
The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

3.5

Title: The Black Queen

Author: Jumata Emill

Genre: YA Mystery

Format: hardback library book

Series: NA

Star Rating: 3.5 stars

tw: natural disasters, racism, bullying, infidelity, abortion, assault, use of N-word, death, cancer, blood, underage drinking, rape, drugging, murder

So I read this for my YA Not club for February for Black History Month. This book had been on my radar for a while, especially because of the cover. It reminded me of Carrie, which is one of my favorite horror movies and favorite horror books. I’ve seen every single one and read the book. But unfortunately, this one was a bit of a miss for me. 

One of my problems was I figured out who killed Nova right away. They made it pretty obvious. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with that but it kind of bothered me that I was able to figure it out so quickly. It didn’t help that Tinsley, one of the main characters, and her parents felt like cartoon villains with how obvious they were with their cruelty. So it was made pretty clear to me who did it. Normally, it wouldn’t bother me to figure it out so quickly, but with this particular book, it did. 

I think one of my biggest problems was with Duchess, the other main character. Now I have no idea what it is like to be Black and I’ll admit that. But whenever I read Duchess’ POV, it just felt like a constant lecture. I felt like no matter what anybody, Black or White, did it was never enough and they were just expected to do more and more. She was also just judgey and I couldn’t vibe with that. I empathized with her struggles, truly I did. But no one likes being lectured constantly. I had a feeling that even Nova got kind of sick of it after a while. 

One of my favorite things about this book was the character growth. Duchess, who had bothered me, grew on me in the end as the book progressed. I still wasn’t totally in love with her but I can appreciate good character growth. She grew up. Tinsley learned that the way she was raised was horrible and she worked hard to unlearn it. Character growth is some of my favorite things in a book and this one had lots of it. 

Overall, while I wasn’t in love with the book, I did enjoy it. I knew this book would be loved by a lot of people. Especially those who enjoy a murder mystery or someone who enjoys a good character growth book. I just wasn’t a fan of some parts of the book.