This was such an awesome idea for a book! A murder mystery in a fantasy/sci fi setting, combining two of my favorite genres. As soon as I heard the premise I knew I had to read it and I definitely enjoyed it!
Going in I was actually expecting it to lean a little more towards murder mystery than fantasy, focusing on the murders of the queens and uncovering who was behind them. But I felt like it really held it's own in the fantasy genre, creating this super creative and well thought out world that felt like a real place. So many details about the world and the culture and the laws and the people, it was SO well done.
I also didn't expect to CARE so much about the victims, the queens Iris, Stessa, Corra, and Marguerite. In most murder mysteries the victim is just a body and a problem to be solved, but there was so much characterization and backstory that you kept hoping the title was a lie and somehow they would be saved.
The storytelling was really great too. Although there were a couple plot holes and the big reveal wasn't totally unpredictable, I still was surprised by the way everything played out overall and really enjoyed the ride. I think the world and the characters make up for these small small complaints so much that it was not even an issue for me. I loved the whole thing.
I really enjoyed this debut and hope that Astrid Scholte writes more books! She's an awesome storyteller and so creative! This one was really well done and I'll be looking forward to her next one.
Going in I was actually expecting it to lean a little more towards murder mystery than fantasy, focusing on the murders of the queens and uncovering who was behind them. But I felt like it really held it's own in the fantasy genre, creating this super creative and well thought out world that felt like a real place. So many details about the world and the culture and the laws and the people, it was SO well done.
I also didn't expect to CARE so much about the victims, the queens Iris, Stessa, Corra, and Marguerite. In most murder mysteries the victim is just a body and a problem to be solved, but there was so much characterization and backstory that you kept hoping the title was a lie and somehow they would be saved.
The storytelling was really great too. Although there were a couple plot holes and the big reveal wasn't totally unpredictable, I still was surprised by the way everything played out overall and really enjoyed the ride. I think the world and the characters make up for these small small complaints so much that it was not even an issue for me. I loved the whole thing.
I really enjoyed this debut and hope that Astrid Scholte writes more books! She's an awesome storyteller and so creative! This one was really well done and I'll be looking forward to her next one.