Book Title: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Scholte
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Description from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but in fact, she's one of Quadara's most skilled thieves and a liar. Varin, on the other hand, is an honest, upstanding citizen of Quadara's most enlightened region, Eonia. Varin runs afoul of Keralie when she steals a package from him, putting his life in danger. When Varin attempts to retrieve the package, he and Keralie find themselves entangled in a conspiracy that leaves all four of Quadara's queens dead.

With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars 

Four Dead Queens is a fast-paced murder mystery with an unfortunately overcomplicated plot boasting an unrealistic societal structure—reminiscent of the Divergent series—and a rushed romance. I wanted to like this book. I found myself rooting for the characters and eager to unravel the mystery. But I was consistently ejected from the story when learning about the setup of the “quadrants” or factions of Quadara (lol) and the character traits assigned to each quadrants’ people simply because they were born in that quadrant. Oh, and the draconian “Queenly Law.” Give me a break.

But first, I will say, Four Dead Queens was really well paced with believably high stakes. I enjoyed many of the plot twists, including the setup of the chapters with alternating POVs. The solution to the murder mystery felt rewarding and I appreciated the risks Scholte took in creating this odd world.

I found the characterization to be a strong point. I especially liked how the queens and the protagonist, Keralie, were written. On the flip side, the romantic lead, Varin, didn’t make much of an impression. And Mackiel, the villain, didn’t feel fully convincing to me, though I liked where his character was going based on his backstory.

I wished Keralie and Varin were intended just as friends; the romance between them was rushed and weird, and ultimately detracted from a satisfying ending. Minor spoilers: The whole story spanned a few days’ time, and yet by the end, Varin decided to live out the rest of his days with Keralie and her family… a family she hadn’t spoken to in months before the events of the book. Too unrealistic for me.

Speaking of unrealistic: I couldn’t buy into the world setup at all. A single, small region split into four quadrants, ruled by four queens who live and work together—so closely, they refer to each other as sisters—and yet don’t allow travel, trade, or any sort of integration with one another? What? Queenly Law—which is, I guess, their version of a constitution?—is absurdly rigid and archaic. These laws just wouldn’t make sense in a culture as modern as Eonia’s. I want to say the same is true for all the quadrants except Archia, but I don’t think I ended up with a clear enough picture of them to be certain.

And to top it all off: a lackluster, disappointing ending. As I read, I wasn’t sure if the book was intended to be a standalone or the start to a series. When the plot began resolving itself perfectly, I realized it was likely a standalone and unfortunately, the end was wrapped in too tidy of a bow in too short of a time span to satisfy. It made the higher stakes established earlier on feel false. Overall, while Four Dead Queens was a quick read with some enjoyable parts, it wasn’t for me and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it unless you are a huge fan of Divergent and The Maze Runner.