Item: Four Dead Queens
Rating: 4.00
Author: quirkycat

by Astrid Scholte

Keralie Corrington is a talented pickpocket in the kingdom of Quadara. She steals under the guidance of her mentor Mackiel, who runs a black market selling their bounty to buyers desperate for what they can’t get in their own quadrant. For Quadara is a nation divided into four regions, each strictly separated from the other. Toria, the intellectual quadrant values education and ambition. Ludia, the pleasure quadrant values celebration and passion. Archia, the agricultural quadrant, values simplicity and nature. Eonia, the futurist quadrant values technology, stoicism and harmonious community. Four queens, one from each quadrant, rule as one.
When on Mackiel’s orders Keralie steals a particularly valuable item from a messenger, what seems like a routine theft goes horribly wrong. Keralie discovers she’s intercepted instructions to murder the queens. Hoping that discovering the intended recipient will reveal the culprit—valuable information that she can barter with—Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the messenger she stole from, to complete his delivery and uncover the would-be murderer. But with Keralie and Varin each keeping secrets—and the lives of the queens hanging in the balance—everything is at stake, and no one can be trusted.

I received a copy of Four Dead Queens through BookishFirst in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Four Dead Queens is Astrid Scholte’s debut novel; though she’s not new to the world of writing. Before she decided to dive headfirst into books (which I can already tell you was a brilliant decision) she was a writer for film and television.
What first caught my attention to Four Dead Queens had to be the cover. I love the bright turquoise over the dark background, with the silver font. Having all the crowns be in different styles was a nice touch as well. Though I’ll confess that for the briefest moment I thought this was another book by Kendra Blake thanks to all of the crowns on the cover. That misunderstanding didn’t last long though, I can promise you that.
The novel is based on a nation divided into four. Thus the need for four queens. Each queen rules her district, and there’s very little crossing that happens between each one. The districts are; Toria (the intellectual quarter), Ludia (the emotional quarter), Archia (the agricultural quarter), and finally Eonia (the futurist quarter – not to be mistaken for Toria). Naturally the nation is named Quadara – nothing else really would have made sense, now would it? The queens all rule from the same throne rule, also split into four, but they don’t make joint decisions. At least not about the individual districts.

I'll post the rest of my review closer to the release date!

Four Dead Queens

by Astrid Scholte

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on Jun 26, 2018

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