Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bookswithmaddi 's review for:
Four Dead Queens
by Astrid Scholte
I picked up this book a little while after it came out because it was hyped so much. I often make this mistake as I find when I buy books because of hype I usually don't like them. But the concept of this book seemed super intriguing to me, a murder mystery set in a fantasy world. One of my favorite things a book can do is take a well-worn trope and insert it into something new and original. This is one thing I thought this book did well. I was surprised to see a lot of reviews saying they thought the world, and the history of the world was underdeveloped while I thought the complete opposite. When reading fantasy, I sometimes have trouble following the world if it has a lot of moving parts and complicated rulers and history. But, I had no trouble following the history and current politics of this story. There were a couple of things in the "Queenly Law" that felt like were molded to fit the story as opposed to them being made because they made sense in the world, for example, the law that stated queens couldn't leave the palace to venture made to their quadrants didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
This book did a lot of things and I think because of that I found that in some areas it was stretched too thin. It tried to incorporate fantasy, some dystopian elements, technology, a plethora of characters and perspectives, and romance. I thought that some things, such as the romance, could've been so much better had it been developed slightly more but it ended up feeling like it was random and just put it to draw in some romance readers.
One thing I thought this book did really well was that it created morally ambiguous characters. The main character, Keralie, is a criminal, she steals and takes advantage of people and the author never tries to cover it up, undermine it, or make her seem like the perfect character. I think this made this book more than just a plot-driven book, but created characters that made you think. I sometimes find that in books that have a lot of characters and not a lot of room to explore and explain those characters, they begin to blend together. In my opinion, that did not happen at all in this book. I found that each of the characters had a distinct voice and I could easily tell them apart. I also loved the queer representation in this book. I actually liked that it was so normalized in this society and that the author focused on it the same amount as any straight romance. I think that helped make it feel much how I think it should be in today's world, two people loving each other.
I haven't read a lot of mystery or thrillers at this point so I don't feel totally qualified to judge the ending. Personally, I didn't see it coming at all. I knew who would be behind it, but I don't think Scholte was trying to hide that. I think the readers were supposed to know who was behind it the whole time because the twist was not who was behind it but how that person carried it out. The twist at the end totally got me and I didn't see it coming at all.
Overall, this book was a really fun read. I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for hardcore mystery/thriller or an intense in-depth fantasy. However, I think it did most of what it set out to do. Although it had somewhat of a slow build I think it was gripping as the story went on and had a lot of really interesting characters and unique elements. This book covers so many areas (although some may be underdeveloped) that I think it could satisfy a wide range of readers from different genres.
This book did a lot of things and I think because of that I found that in some areas it was stretched too thin. It tried to incorporate fantasy, some dystopian elements, technology, a plethora of characters and perspectives, and romance. I thought that some things, such as the romance, could've been so much better had it been developed slightly more but it ended up feeling like it was random and just put it to draw in some romance readers.
One thing I thought this book did really well was that it created morally ambiguous characters. The main character, Keralie, is a criminal, she steals and takes advantage of people and the author never tries to cover it up, undermine it, or make her seem like the perfect character. I think this made this book more than just a plot-driven book, but created characters that made you think. I sometimes find that in books that have a lot of characters and not a lot of room to explore and explain those characters, they begin to blend together. In my opinion, that did not happen at all in this book. I found that each of the characters had a distinct voice and I could easily tell them apart. I also loved the queer representation in this book. I actually liked that it was so normalized in this society and that the author focused on it the same amount as any straight romance. I think that helped make it feel much how I think it should be in today's world, two people loving each other.
I haven't read a lot of mystery or thrillers at this point so I don't feel totally qualified to judge the ending. Personally, I didn't see it coming at all. I knew who would be behind it, but I don't think Scholte was trying to hide that. I think the readers were supposed to know who was behind it the whole time because the twist was not who was behind it but how that person carried it out. The twist at the end totally got me and I didn't see it coming at all.
Overall, this book was a really fun read. I wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for hardcore mystery/thriller or an intense in-depth fantasy. However, I think it did most of what it set out to do. Although it had somewhat of a slow build I think it was gripping as the story went on and had a lot of really interesting characters and unique elements. This book covers so many areas (although some may be underdeveloped) that I think it could satisfy a wide range of readers from different genres.