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A review by maddiementions
Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte
3.0
*3.5 out of 5 stars*
WELL THAT WAS A ROLLERCOASTER. What a plot twist!! This book is murder mystery meets fantasy as we follow Keralie on her quest to escape her manipulative, criminal employer and save the queens of Quadara from a secretive assassination attempt (extreme summary).
Okay, first things first. I was expecting (and hoping) that the love interest would be Mackiel, AKA Keralie's criminal employer. And that's because, in the first few chapters, his personality reminded me subtly of Kaz Brekker. It also seemed that Keralie low key had feelings for him. However, Mackiel ended up turning into an absolutely wicked human being whom I despised. I mean, Astrid Scholte did an incredible job of making this dude so dang hateable. He's so manipulative and so cunning that some parts will have you yelling at this book and wanting to punch this kid across all seven continents.
That being said, here comes Varin, the real love interest. I didn't like him at first. He's unemotional, kinda annoying (just my opinion), and I just couldn't really get into it. However, I will admit that towards the end, I began to soften up to him. But, I didn't love the romance. As usual with me. I just love slow burn and whatnot, and this book didn't really have it. I think it had a hint of enemies-to-lovers but not a lot.
This book switched between POV's quite often. One chapter would be about Keralie, and then another would be about one of the queens. Honestly, I didn't really care about the queens that much so I often would find myself skimming those chapters just to get back to Keralie.
OH, BUT THE PLOT TWIST. I won't say much for fear of spoilers but just WOW. The ending was phenomenal. I did not expect any of the twists and I even found myself yelling "WHAT?!" aloud in bed when they were uncovered. The ending had my emotions reeling and it was so good that I almost gave this book four stars.
Overall, this book was enjoyable and fun to read. I gave it three stars mainly because I didn't care for all the extra stuff about the queens and the romance was just okay. However, I definitely recommend this book if you are a fan of murder mysteries! (Or fantasy!)
WELL THAT WAS A ROLLERCOASTER. What a plot twist!! This book is murder mystery meets fantasy as we follow Keralie on her quest to escape her manipulative, criminal employer and save the queens of Quadara from a secretive assassination attempt (extreme summary).
Okay, first things first. I was expecting (and hoping) that the love interest would be Mackiel, AKA Keralie's criminal employer. And that's because, in the first few chapters, his personality reminded me subtly of Kaz Brekker. It also seemed that Keralie low key had feelings for him. However, Mackiel ended up turning into an absolutely wicked human being whom I despised. I mean, Astrid Scholte did an incredible job of making this dude so dang hateable. He's so manipulative and so cunning that some parts will have you yelling at this book and wanting to punch this kid across all seven continents.
That being said, here comes Varin, the real love interest. I didn't like him at first. He's unemotional, kinda annoying (just my opinion), and I just couldn't really get into it. However, I will admit that towards the end, I began to soften up to him. But, I didn't love the romance. As usual with me. I just love slow burn and whatnot, and this book didn't really have it. I think it had a hint of enemies-to-lovers but not a lot.
This book switched between POV's quite often. One chapter would be about Keralie, and then another would be about one of the queens. Honestly, I didn't really care about the queens that much so I often would find myself skimming those chapters just to get back to Keralie.
OH, BUT THE PLOT TWIST. I won't say much for fear of spoilers but just WOW. The ending was phenomenal. I did not expect any of the twists and I even found myself yelling "WHAT?!" aloud in bed when they were uncovered. The ending had my emotions reeling and it was so good that I almost gave this book four stars.
Overall, this book was enjoyable and fun to read. I gave it three stars mainly because I didn't care for all the extra stuff about the queens and the romance was just okay. However, I definitely recommend this book if you are a fan of murder mysteries! (Or fantasy!)