With no other choices and on the run from Keralie's former employer, the two decide to join forces, endeavoring to discover who has killed the queens and save their own lives in the process. When their reluctant partnership blooms into a tenuous romance, they must overcome their own dark secrets in hopes of a future together that seemed impossible just days before. But first they have to stay alive and untangle the secrets behind the nation's four dead queens."
Review:
I cannot even begin to express how frustrated and disappointed I am in this book. Wow, where do I even begin? I had such high hopes for a good standalone novel about four murdered queens and a girl with a mission to solve them, and I didn't get any of that. There are so many points within this story that could have made it amazing. Not only do we get to experience the point of view of each queen just before their deaths, but we learn more about them as individuals and the secrets they keep themselves. Alongside that, we are in the point of view of Keralie, the thief caught in a dangerous web when she inadvertently witnesses the murders of the queens. She's resourceful, agile and quickwitted. To be honest, I enjoyed her for half the book, and thought she had the potential for badass-ery I love to see in my female protagonists.
And then the book took a turn into the biggest disaster ever.
Firstly, this book does the LGBTQ+ community no favors, don't let them fool you. We get to see a forbidden romance between two of the queens in this story before both their untimely deaths, and honestly, it was queer-bait and nothing more. There was another lesbian advisor who had a spouse, but she had absolutely no substantial role in the story that I can't even remember her name. It was very much "hey look, gay people....okay moving on." I don't understand.
As a matter of fact, why get us invested in the personal lives of these queens if nothing is going to come from it? We spend so much time after the first murdered queen unraveling all the secrets of the palace only for those very secrets to have no impact whatsoever on the story other than to say their laws are outdated and stupid. We already knew that without having to spend all this time with the queens!!!!!! It made absolutely no sense to me. We get this whole thing with Queen Stella (Stessa? I already don't remember her name) and her lover Lyker, and after she's dead, we see him one more time in a minuscule role that had absolutely no impact and then we never see him again. It was so infuriating.
Then the most frustrating part of all: Keralie. I told you before that I had high hopes up until halfway through the story - once Kera and Varin get to the castle, the story implodes. Not only are our heroes the most irresponsible dumb motherfuckers I've ever read, but they also have ZERO regard for the urgency of their situation. Oh there's a murderer on the loose within the palace? First let's NOT warn ANYONE. Seems like a good first step. Then, instead of protecting the people who are in harm's way, let's go looking for the person we know NOTHING about; seems legit. While we're at it, let's take MULTIPLE naps. Catching z's is way more important than catching a killer for sure.
AND THEN THE END!!!!! I haven't seen a sloppier ending in my entire life. The villain and "mastermind" of this entire plot is not even introduced until were almost done with the book. It was out of complete left field, it was so dumb! And then this person, who came up with this very intricate and complex plan to rule the world basically, with everything falling into place as they plan, only to be refuted by the word of a criminal and a lady who heard a hazy confession while they were in a coma.... because who needs actual evidence, amiright?
To top it all off, everything the villain wanted to accomplish ended up happening anyway! The protags tried to be like “omg ____’s crazy for trying to change the status quo how dare they” and then they proceeded to change the status quo. In fact, the whole book was bashing the government and its system and then we’re supposed to think the antagonist is crazy????
Absolute garbage. I'm still reeling honestly. And don't even get me started on the eugenics. This book really said fuck disabled people. There is so much I cannot even begin to unpack in this book, but I think you get the point, this book was terrible.
Final thoughts, don't read it. Simple.
As always, let me know your own thoughts and feels down below in the comments.
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