I have only read a preview of this book so I can't give a full review.

The book is about Keralie who is the best liar and thief. I was intrigued by her attitude and demeanor however I feel like I can't say much more then this. The excerpt I read was mostly world building which is important I just don't feel like I got enough of the story to say how I felt about it.

The writing is beautiful, poetic all though a bit wordy. I will probably pick up the book from the library and finish it off.

I received a preview of this book from netgalley for my honest review.

(As this is a sneak peek, I can't write a proper, full review, obviously.)

So far, after five chapters, I'm on the fence with this one. The world depicted here seems interesting, but there's been quite a few info-dumps about it, and some aspects of it don't make complete sense (for instance, it's not entirely clear whether we're talking about a country divided in four parts, or more like four kingdoms sharing a hub). The fantasy/"old country" side (Archia and its agricultural society) clash with the advanced technological side (Eonia and its use of genetics and chips), in that it's difficult to see what could've led to that within one country. It'd be like having London with extremely advanced tech, while the rest of England lives like in the 18th century (and no, I don't mean Brexit /end cheap shot). So I'm really torn about the world-building.

As for the mystery itself, there isn't much to it yet, of course, as it's the beginning. I am interested in discovering what's on that comm chip, and how it can be used within the investigation that's about to take place, and who's the next queen who's going to bite the dust. I am less interested in the romance which we can see coming from chapter one, but then, 95% of the romance subplots in novels end up not interesting me.

I'll probably still pick the novel to read further, but chances are this will be only if I find it at the library.

This sneak peak was amazing! I was smitten from the first sentence forward. I cannot wait to see what unfolds as I explore the story in the full novel! 4/5 stars!

It's hard to give a rating having read only a small portion, but from that little bit, I like it and I would definitely want to read the entire book.

I like the idea of four quadrants, all with their own values.

I'm not entirely sure what's to come, especially after Keralie takes all of the comm disks. I am interested to find out more.

This sneak peek definitely piqued my interest! I'll be looking for it when it comes out tomorrow. I like Iris and Keralie's characters and can't wait to see what happens. :)

Title: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Schotte
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Mystery, Dystopian
LQBTQ?: N/A only partial read
People of Color?: Yes
Bechdel Test: Yes
Trigger Warning:s: None in the first 7 chapters or so.

Disclaimer: I received a sneak peek of Four Dead queens in exchange for an honest review.

The first several chapters vacillate between Keralie and the Queens of Quadara. These chapters are heavy on world-building of Quadara and its history to catch the reader up to speed. It is a lot to take in but I feel like the stage is set and the narrative can begin to move with much more fluidity. Schotte gives us a view from above and a view from below. Karalie is one of the best "dippers" (pick-pocket) on the streets. When we initially meet her she is stealing a package from a royal messenger and Mackiel, her friend/boss, congratulates her on the achievement. That night at the black market auction, things go very wrong when the messenger shows up to retrieve his stolen package and Mackiel turns on them both. Meanwhile, in the palace that the four queens reside together in, the unthinkable happens - a queen is murdered. The remaining three are left to decide what to do her the throne without an heir apparent. The sneak peek ends here, but I suspect we'll end up with three more dead queens. Quadara's society is highly rigid and structured and with each empty throne, the world seems on the brink of chaos and a possible war.

Four Dead Queens reminds me of Divergent and Six of Crows so far. I would recommend it for fantasy, YA, and dystopian fans. So far it is suitable for teens and up.

I cannot wait to read the rest of Four Dead Queens! I've already preordered the book and look forward to staying up way too late reading it!

This sampler is so good. I love the characters and I can't wait to dive in and get to know them more. I am anxiously waiting for my copy to arrive so I can finish the rest of the story. This book so far is quite amazing.

This book sounded really intriguing at first, especially the little bit I read about the throne scene. However, it felt like too much was being thrown at me with no explanation. There were too many races and histories I felt like I was expected to know/understand to get the book better but I was left with and infodump :/. But hey, that's what samples are for, to help us decide whether or not we will like a book. This one helped me decide that this one just wasn't for me.

WOW!!!! What a start to the book. I usually like to hold off on starting free previews of books until close to the book actually releases. I swear they purposely always leave you on a terrible cliffhanger. I mean, that's what I would do too. Murder mysteries are one of my favorite genres, so blending that with YA fantasy my other favorite? I just know it's going to be EPIC! I can't wait to devour the rest of this book on Tuesday.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my review in any way and the thoughts expressed are my own.

A new dystopian that promises a murder mystery in a world divided into four sections. When the four queens are murdered, unthinkable to the society, the people are shocked and clueless. Now desperate for answers the people of Quadara must figure out who the culprit is while deciding on new queens. The four sections are strictly separated; Archia, the hard-working, Luddite farmers; Eonia, inventors of advanced technology and medicine; Toria, the traders who transport goods between quadrants; Ludia, the heart of fashion and art.

There were two points of view from two queens; Iris from Archian and Corra, queen of Eonia. It was intriguing to see the difference in beliefs and approaches from the unique sections. I was fascinated to find out what happened in their day to day lives and what lead up to their murders. While being Queen may sound like a luxurious dream to many of us, in this world it was more of a prison, they weren’t even able to leave the palace! In fact, being in prison would have given them more freedom.

Keralie, who appears to be the story’s main character, is a Torian who makes a living by stealing valuables from other quadrants. From what we learn from her flashbacks, Keralie started just like any other Torian trader; sailing from one section to another, transporting goods with her parents. Something horrible must have happened to land her in the underbelly of Torian society. Now working for Mackiel, a young man not much older than her, she’s one of his best thieves (though everyone else just thinks she warms his bed). Mackiel sells the goods at his auction house, and Keralie can hardly wait to see what her greatest theft will get, but when the auction to goes to hell so does her life.

The relationship between Mackiel and Keralie is friendly and flirty. It’s clear there’s something between them but over the past few years Mackiel has been troubled, and his interest in her has waned. He’d saved her from the gutter, and it’s clear she feels indebted to him and even has feelings of her own for him. I enjoyed their banter, they reminded me of many good YA couples like Alina and Mal (Shadow & Bone) or Clary and Jace (The Mortal Instruments but with less angst). I hope they get together but whatever is troubling Mackiel is obviously going to be a problem, even disregarding the events of the auction.

The segregation of belief/ interests reminded me of Divergent, and I was even more intrigued when I read the rest of the blurb. I loved this sneak peek and have definitely put this book to the top of my TBR! I give this sneak peek 4/5 and have high hopes for the rest of the book.

In this fantasy world is ruled by four queens. They spend part of their day meeting their people about the problems their land is facing. The lands are all set to producing something but they do not share. When one of the queens Iris is murdered the other queens are determined to find out who did it. Keralie steals for a living. Her boss and best friend runs a bidding place where people can bid on things stolen from other lands. After Kera steals a comm case and it is not put up for auction the person who she stole it from shows up at the auction to get the case back.

This was only a sneak peek, so I don’t think what I have to say here applies to the whole book. Overall, I enjoyed it very much! This is a book that I’ve seen a lot about, and I’m very excited to be able to read the full version. The only complaint that I have is that in a few places it seemed unprofessional, as if it hadn’t been fully edited. There were a few places where the writing seemed jilted and unnatural. Also, towards the end of the sneak peek, there was a lot of language. I will be coming back and doing a full review when I read the completed addition.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Pub Date: February 26, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Putnam
Product #: 9781984814128
Pages: Hardcover, 432

This story was very interesting, to say the least, but it was hard to get through.

Now, before you jump into conclusions, I want to say that this 3 starred review is not a bad review, nor because I said that this book didn’t do it for me doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I just felt like the overall story wasn’t interesting to me. The storyline was great, the actual characters we very well developed, and yet, the story fell flat to me.

In this story, we follow the young character Keralie, who ran away from her parents to become a thief under the command of one of her good friends. In this world, there’s a nation divided into four quadrants, each of which has its own queen. The queens live in one palace all together, and from there they rule their respective quadrants. There’s an assassin in this story trying to kill the queens and Keralie has taken upon herself to stop the killings from happening and warn the queens before its too late. With the help of her friend Varin, they set into an impossible task of sneaking away from dangers and trying to save their lives at the same time.

“Loving someone means risking your heart being broken,” … “But those moments you are together triumphs over any darkness.”

As for the logistics of the book, there was a lot going on and too much information to process in the first 5 chapters. I was so overwhelmed by the time I reached chapter five, I had to stop reading the book for a couple of hours and rest my brain for a little bit because of information overload. The writing of the author was odd too. She would use weird words to describe her characters’ physical appearance, which at often times it made her writing seem a little careless. On the other hand, there were times where her writing excelled. She wrote some very powerful and emotional scenes where she could really make us feel what was going on.

The characters were well written, but I still feel like there was much going on. You see, besides Keralie’s POV, there were other POVs throughout this story. The most important ones were the POVs of the queens. Each had their own dedicated chapters to them, but those chapters were so full of information that it was hard to process everything at once. Something that I appreciated about Keralie was how funny she was. She managed to stay upbeat and always looking forward, despite all of her problems. Her connection with Varin was very cute and I absolutely loved their chemistry.

Scholte spends a lot of time in world-building, which I think its a great thing because of the way her world is structured. Her story wasn’t too long but there were times when the story seemed to drag on forever. And I don’t know why, but the ending seemed a little bit rushed to me. I feel like authors struggle with this a lot, they focus so much in giving us a great beginning that they forget about the ending. Although the ending in this book was okay, it still felt rushed but there wasn’t a major cliffhanger that left you feeling incomplete.

Yes, there were some things that fell flat for me in this story but other ones that didn’t. There are many things to look forward to in this book, so please give it a try!

If you like Three Dark Crown, Red Queen, Blood Rose Rebellion, Six of Crows, The Gilded Wolves, etc., then you’ll most certainly enjoy this book. If you are 12 years old and older you can read this book. And as always I want to thank you for taking the time for reading my post, I truly appreciate it.

So amazing. I look forward to reading the rest. Great snack peak. everything in this preview has me hooked!

The fact that this starts with one very plucky young lady leading a heist is enough for me to so need to read the rest of this book. Heist stories will forever and always hold my heart, *especially* when they're lead by cocky teenage girls. I can't wait to read the full story!

A divided nation. Four Queens. A ruthless pickpocket. A noble messenger. And the murders that unite them.
​
Get in quick, get out quicker.

These are the words Keralie Corrington lives by as the preeminent dipper in the Concord, the central area uniting the four quadrants 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 quarter. For in the nation of Quadara, each quarter is strictly divided from the other. Four queens rule together, one from each region:

Toria: the intellectual quarter that values education and ambition
Ludia: the pleasure quarter that values celebration, passion, and entertainment
Archia: the agricultural quarter that values simplicity and nature
Eonia: the futurist quarter that values technology, stoicism and harmonious community

When Keralie intercepts a comm disk coming from the House of Concord, what seems like a standard job goes horribly wrong. Upon watching the comm disks, Keralie sees all four queens murdered in four brutal ways. Hoping that discovering the intended recipient will reveal the culprit – information that is bound to be valuable bartering material with the palace – Keralie teams up with Varin Bollt, the Eonist messenger she stole from, to complete Varin’s original job and see where it takes them.

This little peek has me so excited that I'm not sure how I'll make it to the release date. I'm hoping the leaks were correct and I can add this on to my March BOTM. 🤞🤞🤞 The characters have me intrigued, and I can't wait to read more about this Queendom. Definitely in my March TBR!
I will update my review once I finish the book.

Thank You Netgalley for a glimpse into this intriguing read

Interesting opening. The history of the kingdom seems a little simplistic, but the current situation from the first five chapters is intriguing and well-paced with engaging characters and a nice build-up. I’ll definitely check out the full book.

This is a promising start and I want to read more. Some wordbuilding seems tired and familiar (quadrants, for example) but it is not so much of a problem if the rest of the book delivers. This excerpt offers the first five chapters. Based on this, I want to continue reading. Three and a half stars for now.

I loved this excerpt!! The idea of the four queendoms is so fun and unique & I liked getting a glimpse of each of them. Keralie is my fave MC - I love how smart and resourceful she is, and how brave. I'm curious to find out what happens to her (and the other characters) when the book finally gets published!

I was surprised when I read that this was categorized as YA. Maybe because of the main character's age? World building was good, and I liked Keralie. Can't wait for the book to release so I can read the resf!

ARC via netgalley.