#71 Four Dead Queens

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte 

Four Dead Queens is a debut fantasy/mystery stand alone. This book has been on my radar for a while and i was delighted when it was picked as the group read for September for the online book club that im part of!

The story opens with seventeen year old thief Keralie who lives in the nation of Quadara. Quadara is made up of four quadrants which are each ruled by a separate queen. The four queens all live within the same palace and are not allowed to leave as they would need to forfeit their crown. Each queen is required to produce a female heir in order to pass the crown on through death or if they choose to abdicate. Each queen is required to be raised in the quadrant that they will rule in order to grow up in the society and follow the traditions and rules of that quadrant. The story is told in a split perspective of inside the palace following the queens and also outside the palace following Keralie. At the beginning of the story Keralie steals something from a messenger that sets off a series of events which will result in the the queens deaths so she tries to go to the palace with the messenger to stop the murders taking place. I cant say much more than that as it will ruin the story.

The main things i liked were the murder mystery and light sci-fi/tech references, i have never read a YA fantasy that has mystery elements before so it felt very refreshing. This is really well structured and thought out which is very surprising for a debut novel. I liked the quadrants and that they were very different and stood for different things. I loved the LGBT relationship in this but wish it had been explored a bit more. A novella for each of the queens back stories would be perfect. Parts of this were very female empowering in the fact that Quadara is ran completely by women and there are no chance for a male to become king.

A few things i felt it lacked which made it a 4 star instead of a 5 star read was the sheer lack of world building, the quadrants sounded really interesting but its not as explained as well as it could have been. I would have liked a lot more back story from each of the queens, its explored a little but not enough for you to really invest in each character. I get that this is a stand alone novel so the above things took a back seat to the actual story but personally i would have liked to have seen a lot more exploration and world building. Keralie is a little annoying in parts but i did enjoy the romance elements as it didnt feel like insta love.

Astrid Scholte is very engaging with her readers on social media and i personally think thats really important. I cant wait to see what she comes out with next and i will definitely be reading it.

#70 The Kingdom

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

'Welcome to the Kingdom, where 'Happily Ever After' isnt just a promise, but a rule' 



Before i begin i genuinely think this book has my favourite cover of 2019, both the US & UK editions are stunning but the US version is just gorgeous, i dont think ive ever seen a book where i have loved both covers so much even though they are very different.

This book is very light sci-fi but has mystery/thriller aspects which i found very unique.

Lets begin, so the Kingdom is a Disney inspired futuristic theme park, its basically like a very high tech Disneyland but instead of human Disney princesses you have cyborg 'fantasists'. We follow our main character Ana who is one of seven fantasists, she is an artificial intelligence programmed to entertain, guide and look after the theme park guests. There is a dual timeline in this story so you get both past and present events. From the beginning of the story we learn that Ana is on trial for murder so the past events tell us what happened leading up to the murder and the present events are leading up to and during the trial. There are quite a lot of mixed media included in this book which in my opinion really adds to the story, i loved the interview transcripts as it made the story flow really well. The story is basically about whether Ana committed the murder and if she did can she be held accountable for it as the creators state that she is not programmed to be capable of violence.

I loved the themes of this book mainly the 'what is it to be human' theme and the exploration of AI evolving by experiencing feelings, dreaming and making choices. It also lightly explores rape culture and how women are treated within society as well as masculinity issues. The fantasists are regularly sexually harassed in this story so you may want to be aware of that as it could be quite triggering for some people. There are also a lot of mentions about the environment and how many animals have become extinct so the creators have had to develop hybrids of some animals which i loved as it really modernised the futuristic element to the story. There are a few scenes regarding animal cruelty that can make for difficult reading so please be mindful of that if you are sensitive to that kind of thing.

I couldnt put this down, it reminded me so much of Irobot, it was really intricate and well written. I would love to see some novellas in this world maybe following Owen and his sister on their original visits to the Kingdom or the back story of the fantasists and how they were created, i think that would be really interesting. I loved that this was a stand alone as it was rounded off very well and left me satisfied and i felt complete at the ending, having said that i would love to read a sequel to this.