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 read Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte because I thought it sounded like a really good read. It was picked for the July 2020 young adult read for COYER book club.
I struggled way more with this book than I had anticipated. I think part of the issue was the start and stop pacing. There would be a huge rush of events and then big dry spells. I can handle big world building but it seemed like there was 25% plot and the other 75% is spent on every character being fully developed. While I appreciated the ending, it really just took too much effort to get there.
Honestly the characters were great. Again this goes back to pacing. There are quite a few characters. I can distinctly remember eight characters. That doesn't sound like a lot but Four Dead Queens is only 413 pages. I would guess that a quarter of that is spent on the entire back story for the eight characters. The main character, Keralie, was not easy to connect with. I didn't really care for her.
Between a slow moving plot and too many characters Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte dragged for me. A strong ending wasn't enough to save it.
