REVIEW: Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books
for Young Readers

ISBN: 0525513922

Format: Hardback, E-book, Audio-Book

Release Date: 26th February 2019


Links: Goodreads, Amazon.com, Indigo,
B&N, Book Depository


Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Keralie Corrington may seem harmless, but she's, in fact, 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. He 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 both 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.

Review:



**Thanks to PenguinTeen Canada for sending me an ARC in
return for my honest review**

Four Dead Queens is one of my most anticipated books of 2019, so when Penguin Teen sent me a copy I was very excited to start it.

The story follows four queens who rule together in different regions. After the four queens wind up dead, Varin and Keralie find themselves stuck in the middle of the conspiracy. The two decide to join forces hoping to discover how the queens died and save their own lives in the process.

When first jumping into the book, I was expecting the queens to be dead from the start of the book. However, they play an important part to the plot and I loved getting to learn about the country through their eyes.

Keralie is just one of the many characters that we follow. She is a thief that steals for her employer and earns money through auctions. She steals comms from Varin and the two join together. Keralie is a selfish and outspoken character, and yet I couldn't help but love her.

The world building in this book was fantastic. This book is planned to be a standalone, and yet the amount of detail into the world and environment was beautiful. Astrid Scholte used different points of view to build up the setting without it feeling as if the book was dragging. Each of the regions was unique and the author did a wonderful job at making me feel as if I was there.

I felt more and more engrossed in the story as the book went on. Astrif Scholte has created a wonderfully crafted and engrossing debut and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.