Thank you to BookishFirst and the publisher for providing me a copy to review. My opinion was in no way affected by this.
Since this is a murder mystery, I don’t want to spoil anything so I will split this review into two sections to prevent any spoilers.
First thing first, I am not sure what genre this book goes in. It is a murder mystery with science fiction and fantasy elements. I enjoyed this blend of genres and it was interesting to see both of those genres mixed.
Before I got to the first plot twist of the book, I will admit I was not enjoying it. I actually debated about stopping because I was not enjoying it, though I am glad that I did stick it out until the end. .Keralie was a pretty forgettable character. I actually forgot her name when I was reading, though I think that partly me being exhausted and also the book being not really intriguing me. I feel bad saying this but she felt standard. I did not see any qualities that made her stand out from other characters. My favorite characters was the villian and Varin, Keralie’s companion, was a close second. I absolutely loved the villain. Their reason for killing the queens was so they could change the way the government was run. They were also ruthless and knew what they wanted and how to get it. As for Varin, he was just sweet and dorky. I loved his character arc. As for the queens, whose chapters are interspersed into the story until they are killed, really did grow on me. I wish we got to see more of Iris because she was a fireball. When she was killed, she thought “I am the Archian queen! How dare someone cut my throat,” which I felt really summed up her personality. Corra was my favorite because she reminded me of myself; loving but an intellectual.
The government was flawed to say the least. The quadrants could not share freely with each other because it was believed that sharing ideas and goods would ruin the ideals of each quadrant. The best way I can describe is like the factions from Divergent, each quadrant had their own schtick, such as entertainment, technology, agriculture, etc. But unlike the factions, there was no sharing between them. All fruits and vegetables had to be imported making them weeks old before people outside of the quadrant received them. Any technological advances, such as electricity, or medicine were strictly controlled or not allowed at all. One thing that I thought was weird was that people could travel between each quadrant, which is strange because there is such a tight control on the interactions between the quadrants. Also, the queens had to devote their whole lives to their positions and could have very little in the way of personal connections. A queen could not marry or keep her own children and this caused a lot of tension in the book.
If you didn’t guess there are going spoilers, though I am going to give the barest of details so even if you do read it there are at least some surprises.
CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THOSE PLOT TWISTS!!!!
The first plot twist was that the queens were still alive when Keralie and Varin made their way to the castle to tell officials about the Queen’s deaths. This was shocking because while Keralie and Varin were making their way to the castle, Scholte had included chapters with the queens and how they died. This is when my rating went from 3 stars to 3.5 stars because I was so shook.
The second plot twist was that the instigator was Marguerite’s daughter, Arebella. Marguerite had hidden away her daughter so she would become subjected to the cloistered life of a queen. Little did she know that Arebella was malicious and desired power. Before I had read the book I assumed that Keralie was going to be claimed as a Queen’s child but alas she was not. Though I do like how Scholte included Arebella in the plot and made it so her mother’s work was for naught. And this is when it became a 4 star read because I loved, but also hated, Arebella.
And finally how they died. This was so clever on Schlote’s part. When Keralie used the comm disks, it not only showed her how the Queens were going to die but it made her the assassin. She was activated (I guess that is the best term) when she reached the castle and saw the Queens. Once she was done, she forgot what she had seen, so her and the reader were still in the dark about what was happening.
For the ending, I was satisfied with it. Arebella isn’t the queen, Keralie was still alive, the government made promises to change, and everything was okay. But because I hate myself, I wish that it had not gotten wrapped up so nicely. I was so mad, but it was also satisfying, to see Arebella winning and Keralie paying for the deed that she did but not something that she was willingly apart of.
Since this is a murder mystery, I don’t want to spoil anything so I will split this review into two sections to prevent any spoilers.
First thing first, I am not sure what genre this book goes in. It is a murder mystery with science fiction and fantasy elements. I enjoyed this blend of genres and it was interesting to see both of those genres mixed.
Before I got to the first plot twist of the book, I will admit I was not enjoying it. I actually debated about stopping because I was not enjoying it, though I am glad that I did stick it out until the end. .Keralie was a pretty forgettable character. I actually forgot her name when I was reading, though I think that partly me being exhausted and also the book being not really intriguing me. I feel bad saying this but she felt standard. I did not see any qualities that made her stand out from other characters. My favorite characters was the villian and Varin, Keralie’s companion, was a close second. I absolutely loved the villain. Their reason for killing the queens was so they could change the way the government was run. They were also ruthless and knew what they wanted and how to get it. As for Varin, he was just sweet and dorky. I loved his character arc. As for the queens, whose chapters are interspersed into the story until they are killed, really did grow on me. I wish we got to see more of Iris because she was a fireball. When she was killed, she thought “I am the Archian queen! How dare someone cut my throat,” which I felt really summed up her personality. Corra was my favorite because she reminded me of myself; loving but an intellectual.
The government was flawed to say the least. The quadrants could not share freely with each other because it was believed that sharing ideas and goods would ruin the ideals of each quadrant. The best way I can describe is like the factions from Divergent, each quadrant had their own schtick, such as entertainment, technology, agriculture, etc. But unlike the factions, there was no sharing between them. All fruits and vegetables had to be imported making them weeks old before people outside of the quadrant received them. Any technological advances, such as electricity, or medicine were strictly controlled or not allowed at all. One thing that I thought was weird was that people could travel between each quadrant, which is strange because there is such a tight control on the interactions between the quadrants. Also, the queens had to devote their whole lives to their positions and could have very little in the way of personal connections. A queen could not marry or keep her own children and this caused a lot of tension in the book.
If you didn’t guess there are going spoilers, though I am going to give the barest of details so even if you do read it there are at least some surprises.
CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THOSE PLOT TWISTS!!!!
The first plot twist was that the queens were still alive when Keralie and Varin made their way to the castle to tell officials about the Queen’s deaths. This was shocking because while Keralie and Varin were making their way to the castle, Scholte had included chapters with the queens and how they died. This is when my rating went from 3 stars to 3.5 stars because I was so shook.
The second plot twist was that the instigator was Marguerite’s daughter, Arebella. Marguerite had hidden away her daughter so she would become subjected to the cloistered life of a queen. Little did she know that Arebella was malicious and desired power. Before I had read the book I assumed that Keralie was going to be claimed as a Queen’s child but alas she was not. Though I do like how Scholte included Arebella in the plot and made it so her mother’s work was for naught. And this is when it became a 4 star read because I loved, but also hated, Arebella.
And finally how they died. This was so clever on Schlote’s part. When Keralie used the comm disks, it not only showed her how the Queens were going to die but it made her the assassin. She was activated (I guess that is the best term) when she reached the castle and saw the Queens. Once she was done, she forgot what she had seen, so her and the reader were still in the dark about what was happening.
For the ending, I was satisfied with it. Arebella isn’t the queen, Keralie was still alive, the government made promises to change, and everything was okay. But because I hate myself, I wish that it had not gotten wrapped up so nicely. I was so mad, but it was also satisfying, to see Arebella winning and Keralie paying for the deed that she did but not something that she was willingly apart of.