While the concept was fascinating, the delivery...

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We had such an interesting concept, with the various queens holding council to prevent any one district from becoming too powerful - when each queen has advisors and countrymen constantly vying for their voices and desires to be heard. With one queen dead and a new one suddenly thrust into the fold, things are kicked off at a running start.

The world was fascinating: the level of technology and the way each of these "separate but equal" kingdoms interact with the balance between different skills/exports/priorities. There was an interesting lack of trust between every single character, as we the readers had to decide who to believe (whether that aligned with our main character or not).

I found our MC to be a bit passive and the plot to unfold rather slowly, which made it hard to maintain my focus. The concept was cool, but I couldn't bring myself to care that this particular character was finding the solution. Though there was a pretty epic twist at the end that had me giving a nod of acknowledgement.