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.
Four queens, each ruling a different quadrant of the land. Four queens that must follow Queenly Rules with regards to their lives, their loves, and their quadrants. Four queens that...are dead. And Keralie becomes tangled up in the murders after stealing a package for her boss.
I enjoyed this book, and I confess that the twist I expected was NOT the twist I got. There are actually a couple of twists within the story - one that I didn't expect, and one that I sort of thought *might* be coming? But I won't say much else, because I don't do spoilers ;)
Keralie as a character was a tough like for me. Or maybe it wasn't really her, but it did annoy me how much dwelling she did on her father. It was an integral part of the story, but it almost felt overdone? Again, no spoilers, so I won't go too much into detail. I will say that I enjoyed the latter half of the book much better than I did the first half.
The queens don't spend a significant portion of the book as real, live characters, but I honestly felt that their characterization was very well done - maybe *because* they had so little time?
I did enjoy the story, though mostly the second half. The first half didn't quite draw me in as much as it might have, but it kept me reading out of curiosity. So, job accomplished overall. I think most people will like this, and I look forward to reading more titles by this author. For a debut, it's getting a ton of buzz, so I'm going to guess we'll be hearing more from her!
