I was originally drawn to this book because of the cover art. I found that to be beautiful and eye catching. After reading it was for fans of The Red Queen, (a series I absolutely loved) I just had to read it. I think the book wasn’t perfect by any means, but the characters were well written. I did enjoy the story.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Not exactly your typical YA Fantasy, and I have to say I appreciated that about it.

Nameless Queen is the story of a Nameless girl, Coin, in the city of Seriden who becomes its heir overnight. With magic, mischief, cons, and true friendship, this story is truly a sight to behold.

Although there were spots where I believe things happened rather quickly or didn't completely make sense, as far as a debut fantasy goes, this one definitely hits the mark.

I enjoyed the characters and how they were each uniquely them. I loved the wittiness of Coin, the stubbornness of Esther, the friendship of Coin, and the solidness of Glenbeard. The cast of characters is what made this book stand out to me, and slightly reminded me of the ensemble cast of Throne of Glass.

I truly can't wait for what McLaughlin creates next, especially if it's a continuation of this world!

Having gotten sidetracked by an illness and multiple hospital stays, you’d think I’d have had ample time to solidify an opinion on this book, but I’m still just not quite sure about it.

I’ll start by saying that while what I’m about to say may sound negative, I don’t think this was a bad read at all. In fact, I have a hunch it will be very well received by the public.
I think in my case, this was just a matter of not connecting with the main character.
For me personally, this can make or break a book.

Our main character, Coin, is a “Nameless”, part of the lowest in society.
The Nameless are homeless, shunned upon, and live each day purely in survival mode.

Coin is an independent, rough-around-the-edges girl who is perfectly happy to make do with her lot in life. She prides herself on her thievery skills, and she makes it clear that she doesn’t need ANYBODY. (With the exception of a tag-a-long little orphan girl named Hat. She’s got a soft spot for that one!)

In the kingdom, it’s the custom that when the King dies, he will speak the name of his successor. The proof will show up in the form of a tattoo on the chosen’s arm.

So, imagine the shock Coin gets when she wakes up to find that she has the tattoo. It’s quite a mystery, because how can he speak her name if she has never had one?

So, here’s where she starts to rub me the wrong way:
She doesn’t want anyone to know she’s been chosen, it seems like a major inconvenience to her, which seems strange. I feel like if I were homeless and struggling and were handed the equivalent of a Golden Ticket, I’d be skipping myself right up there.
She only reveals herself in order to save Hat from a dangerous situation.

When she’s taken to the kingdom, she just confuses me with her behavior. She wasn’t acting at all like I would imagine someone in her situation would. Times where she should have been worried were spent being a smartass and playing games.
She gains magical abilities with her new title, and she doesn’t seem impressed by it at all ( who wouldn’t be excited about that? C’mon! ) plus, she becomes pro level in a day. (Highly sketchy).

Her attitude about the whole thing was super frustrating to me. In my mind, she was just handed an amazing opportunity, and instead of embracing it, she’s combative and bratty. She was cocky and ungrateful.

I feel like the attempt to solidify her as a strong character crossed over to the annoying side instead for me.

Now, there were parts that I really enjoyed, especially her relationship with Glenquartz. Those scenes were reminiscent of all the beloved rags to riches stories we love so much.

And Hat. BLESS her little heart!

See, the more I write, the more I’m proving to myself that it’s clear my brain just cannot form a clear opinion about this one. 😆
It really did have a decent storyline, and I absolutely WOULD recommend it to others.
I’m probably in the minority of readers that just couldn’t connect with Coin. But, it’s all good. I’m not feeling like I wasted my time reading it, which is always good! 😂

Also, we should probably keep in mind that I was super sick and on pain meds for much of the time. Maybe it’s a victory that I even finished the book.
I think maybe I’ll go back and revisit it in a few months, see if it changes anything...

Special thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy for review.
I appreciate you still hanging in with me!

I will be featuring this on my blog and Instagram when it gets closer to release. Will come back and link at that time.

Nameless Queen kept me rather intrigued throughout the entire book. While the idea of a caste system is not new, nor is a low caste character suddenly coming into power, I felt it was decently done. The story line moved at a really good pace and kept my attention the entire time. There was quite a bit of action and some great twists and turns.

Plus, as a main character Coin brought something slightly new to the table. Not having a name and having to be a thief to survive was different. However, what really set this book apart was how magic did not affect those who were Nameless. Coin's ability to read people due to being such a great thief was my favorite part about her character. The supporting characters also were great and really helped move the story along. I think the only thing about some of the characters that I was not the biggest fan of, were some seemed to be a little too "soft".

All in all, this was a pretty good book that I would definitely love to know what happens next.

Book: Nameless Queen
Author: Rebecca McLaughlin
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Crown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with this ARC.

I really did enjoy this book. The characters and the world were just amazing. I love the mixture of the fantasy and dystopian elements. It just made for such as amazing vibe-think of the world of Red Queen. I don’t know what it is about this mix that always pulls me in. I know both genres are close, but there just is something about them being mixed together. Plus, the idea of rags to riches is just one of my favourite things in book. The whole street rat who is actually royalty troop is something that never gets old for me.

Coin is our lead character. I love how she stays true to her character throughout the whole book. She is strong and caring, but flawed. I love how she will do anything for those she cares about and how she stands up for what she thinks is right-even though she has been named queen. I just love it whenever characters are placed into different situations, but still manage to keep themselves pretty level headed.

Hat, though, was probably my favourite characters in the book. She remained me so much of Primm. She’s sweet and innocent. She is kind, but she is strong in her own way. It’s not the same kind of strength of Coin, but it’s there. It’s more of an innocent kind of strong.

The world building is great. Like I said earlier, there is just something about the mix of fantasy and science fiction that just makes it really difficult for me to put it down. This is a world were some people have a name and some don’t. This leads to a class divide and a social ranking. I know, I know, a lot of you are rolling your eyes at this plot. However, I will always have a soft place for this.

What really made me drop a star off the book was the fact that the ending was really rushed. It felt like for a long time that there was going to be a second book, but we ended up with a really rushed ending. I really wish that the author had taken more time to flesh the story out in this first book, then made it a trilogy or something. Trust me, there is enough in this book to carry a series.


Anyway, this book comes out on January 7, 2020. I’ll be making a Youtube video on this very shortly.

Welcome to a world where your rank in life is based solely on if you have a name or the lack of a name. You can be royal if you have a name, legal has a name but is not royal, illegals you have no name so you are nameless. Nameless have no rights at all and are basically the lowest of the low.
If you want to rule you must have this royal tattoo that is passed on to you when the current dies and speaks your name . Which basically means the nameless will never rule (kind of hard to be named if you have no name). Until one day when all hell comes crashing down and a nameless women ends up with the tattoo.
Now since this is a standalone novel meaning their is no more story contacted to be told. The background of how things are, our main character coin backstory, and the big reason she ends up with this magical tattoo is all withheld tell the last 30 percent of the novel. Which for me was a bit annoying as i was really wanting to connect more then i did with coin.
The first half of the novel does an excellent job of establishing her relationship that she has with one other nameless character and gives some of her history of where she been and where she is now but we don't get much about how the kingdoms came to have nameless people or how magic is controlled.
The strongest part of this story is the last half of the book where all the major plot twists happen and really does not give a lot of time for the events to progress. I think this novel should of been two books maybe 3 just to give the whole concept more time to progress and establish things that really were not able to developed in such a short novel. Otherwise I really looking forward to seeing what else this author has to share. Check out Nameless Queen January 2020.

Nameless Queen takes place in a world where your political status is determined by your name and the lowest class (poorest) are not even given names and, therefore, considered to not be citizens. They are unable to hold jobs and many turn to lives of crime, just to survive. But what happens when one of them is named Queen.

A weird, and yet interesting concept. It was a little confusing, though. Like, if there were whole families in the Nameless class, how did the parents not give their children a name? Isn’t choosing to call somebody anything, in fact giving them a name. Maybe not a legal one, but if there’s magic in the world, wouldn’t it consider any name, a name? Or was Nameless referring to a more political and legal aspect, like they couldn’t apply for paperwork to legally prove their names? Honestly, the concept left me with a lot of questions, but that might just be because I tend to overthink every single thing. Regardless, the story caught my interest and definitely kept it!

Nameless Queen has been a really difficult one for me. I finished the story about a week ago and every time I’ve sat down to type this review, I just can’t seem to get my thoughts straight. On the one hand, I really liked the story. It was unique. It had likeable characters. And hate-able villains. It was an easy and fun read. But then on the other hand, I really don’t think it was done right.

McLaughlin had the chance to create the next Hunger Games and Coin had the potential of being the next Katniss, but it all sort of fell flat. There’s not a lot of depth and I would have loved to dive deeper into Coin and what made her tick. I would have loved to learn more about the magic, the treaties and the other cities. I would have loved seeing more of Belrosa and what made her so horrible. It would have been incredible to have shared more of Coin’s personal growth from loner street thief to someone who cared about everybody. In the very beginning, she mentions not wanting the responsibility of taking care of Hat because she’s just trying to survive, but then (spoiler alert) she’s running into burning buildings to save people she doesn’t know. It’s reasonable that the crown helped her grow beyond her narrow life-view, but seeing a little bit more of that struggle would have really helped to build her character development. Honestly, it all seemed a little rushed. It could have easily been split into a duology and given a lot more back-story and meaning!

All in all, I really enjoyed reading Nameless Queen. It was a good book, it just could have been great. But that’s not going to stop me from telling everyone about it and recommending it to a whole bunch of people. 4 out of 5 stars!

I gotta say, this has got to be the most boring book I have read this year. The synopsis sounded really interesting, but the premise...ehh. Kind of a tired trope for me.

Our MC Coin is nameless yet one morning wakes with the crown tattoo on her arm making her the new ruler of the country, granting her with some magic that isn't really explained all that well for the part of the book I read to (and considering how much I did read, it should have by that point). And this is a problem because she is "Nameless", and typically only the "Legals" and the "Royals" get the tattoo. None of them want her to have the tattoo because she could be more loyal to the other nameless and start to give them rights, *gasp*. How DARE she want to give people the chance to have jobs and homes and food legally... What a HORROR that could be for the country.

Anyway, Coin as a character is so dull. She hardly struggles with her new powers, she can create illusions almost instantly. She mostly complains about annoying shit and is forced to take etiquette classes... for some reason. The council plans to force her to hand over the power during some tournament, so it seems really pointless for her to take these classes. Yet, they don't bother to teach her how to read, and with her being nameless you'd think it would be assumed that she couldn't since the Nameless don't really exist in their society as people. They can't have or DO anything, most of them are orphans.

I feel like this book is more suited for a few years ago, at the height of the Dystopian genre. Because now, the book feels like a tired trope. Especially with Coin being a Mary Sue of sorts.

This is a world divided into three different class systems. The royal, who have the most control and power. The legals, which seem to be the working class. And then the Nameless, who are so below everyone else they don't even have a name.
The story is told from a Namless girl who calls herself Coin. Where the king dies, she is named heir by a magical tattoo appearing on her arm. Instead of running away she faces her destiny head on.

Going into this book I didn't have high hopes for it. Something about the name threw me. However I was very much surprised by it. There was great characters and intriguing storylines to get swept up in. There isn't any romance in this book but the story does not lack because of it. Between the character development and the political aspects there is more than enough going on to keep reading.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

This book starts with an interesting idea, gets a little uninspired in the middle, but ends on a high note. Rounded down because it doesn’t make sense to me that Coin could be both Nameless but also have her name spoken as the Queen. I don’t feel like that ever really gets resolved but the implications of each status have major impacts. Nothing is truly unique or remarkable but it’s a fun read and I actually think a sequel would be more successful now that the world building is done.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Soooo good. You follow this nameless girl who goes by Coin. Who comes from a world of Nameless, loyals, and royals. They have a different way of bestowing the crown by saying a name of the heir with their last breath. Coin wakes up and wakes up with a crown tattoo on her arm. Becomeing the QUEEN of the kingdom because on the king's death bed he whispered her name. HER NAME. But she is nameless how or why would he name her and not his daughter. She plans to except until fate makes her show herself to save her "friend" and potentially everyone else. You have twists and turns and you can just feel the emotions in the words of this book.

I would total take points off for the ending tho. Like IT WAS RIGHT THERE GIVE IT TO ME!!!

Yeah this book was not for me, as in I wanted to DNF it, but pushed through it. The world building was lacking, character development was lacking. The book was very predictable and I hated that because it really sounded cool, and had a lot of promise-just wasn't executed very well.

Overall, I thought this book was a good standalone ya fantasy novel. In the beginning it was giving me major Six of Crows vibes because the main character Coin is a part of the "Nameless" lower-class who live on the streets and have to steal to survive. However, this quickly became a royalty-political power struggle novel, with major "chosen one" vibes. The part that stuck out to me the most was that THERE WAS NO ROMANCE in this book! Instead, the book focuses on the power struggle between the societal classes as well as the friendships between the female characters, which was kind of refreshing! There did seem to be a tiny hint of a f/f relationship between the MC and a secondary character, but it was never fleshed out. I wish we had gotten a little more character development from some of the characters, but as a short standalone novel I understand why some descriptions were modest. I really enjoyed Esther and wished we had seen more of her. My biggest beef were the bad guys: Marcher, gang leader (morally gray?) and the general (standard evil villain) -neither were fully fleshed out nor is the reader given a clear understanding of what their goals actually were and the "why" behind them.

This novel was refreshing. It is the first novel I have read in awhile where the main female character was not entwined in some type of romantic relationship. This allowed Coin to fully grow into herself and it truly a breath of fresh air to read.

Alright, this book was an absolute borefest. It sounds extremely promising. A story about a nameless girl, who rises to power from streets and has no concept on how to rule, which checks off a lot of boxes for me. I love stories about queens, who come from peasantry and come into their power. However, this was not that story.

Coin is from the nameless class, who are more or less peasants without a home and resort to thieving to support themselves. They remain nameless for their entire life as a sign of their rank. There are also the Legals, middle-class, and Royals, who are nobility. The line of succession for the Seriden throne is determined by the last monarch, who utters the name of whoever he wants to be the next ruler and then a black crown tattoo appears on said person's arm. Imagine Coin's surprise when she discovers this tattoo on herself.

Attempting to save her friend, Hat, from execution, Coin reveals that she is the bearer of the tattoo and whisked away to court, where her presence creates quite a stir. The nameless are not supposed to be named as royalty, but the court must accept Coin as their temporary queen. However, they propose to Coin that she remains as their queen until the Assassins' Festival, where the crown tattoo and the power to be the sovereign can be transferred to whoever bests the bearer. Of course, this is not as simple as it appears and Coin discovers that her past and identity are not as clearcut as she always believed.

Overall, the story and the characters are just not compelling. Coin is completely a Mary Sue and I did get a feel for her character at all. I know she's a thief, done 'terrible' things to survive, but this is a backstory that repeatedly is told to the reader, but her skills and knowledge never really come into play. Sure, she reveals her tattoo to save her friend, but that's the only way that her past becomes involved in this story. The side characters are also entirely forgettable. There's Glenquartz, which is an absolutely ridiculous name. He's a guard at the court with a quite tragic past and he helps Coin for no apparent reason. Esther, the daughter of the dead king, also plays a significant role but again, there's no explanation for her motivation either.

As I already said, the story and characters were not compelling. The world-building leaves a lot to be desired and the dialogue could be cliche. At the end of the story, there was nothing that I particularly liked about the characters or the story. It just felt flat.

No one has any idea how excited that I got accepted for an arc on Netgalley. So, I thank you Netgalley and Crown Books for the opportunity to read Nameless Queen prior to publication. This review is an honest review.
I am a sucker for anything with royalty in it, so this book was right up my alley. It sucked me in from the beginning and interested me about the caste system. I did dock a star because I didn’t feel like the caste system and world building were built that well, but you can somewhat understand it still.
We start off with a dying king and him giving the name of his heir. The only problem is that his heir is Nameless and it is impossible. Coin, the Nameless heir has two options: accept it or run. But, with the way events turn out she accepts it and at first people of skeptical. They do not want a Nameless Queen, it is impossible. She must do what the Royal Council says, but will she?
I definitely recommend Nameless Queen. It’s fast and engaging. Coin reminds me a lot of Celaena from Throne of Glass with her wit and cunning tongue. Pick this up, you will not regret it.

I loved this book!! Rebecca McLaughlin created a world I could really connect with coming from a poorer family. I loved Coin’s character development and the way she grows as the Nameless Queen. I can’t wait for book 2!

Rich and unique in world-building, McLaughlin has created an entertaining tale perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Victoria Aveyard.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley..
In this Kingdom you have three classes of people: the royals, the legals, and the nameless.. The main character is a nameless girl who call herself Coin. She has grown up on the streets, stealing and grifting. When one morning she wakes up with a tattoo of a crown on her arm. This means that she is meant to be the next ruler of the Kingdom. Now she knows that not one of the Royals wants a nameless to be on the throne and if she comes forward their is a good chance she will be killed. When Coin is discovered she is taken to the palace and put in the dungeon until the other rulers decide what to do with her..
I struggled a little bit in the beginning to connect with Coin and the other characters, but by the middle that had changed.. We find out some royal secrets, and there is a mystery to be solved, and Coin has to figure out a way to keep her throne..
Then at the end this thing happens.. and i was like "oh no this can't happen"" then I held my breath........
Spoiler alert


and it all ended well. what i was hoping to happen did.. I don't know if this is supposed to be a standalone or if we will be seeing more of Coin and her friends but I would read more by Rebecca McLaughlin especially if we can see this world again..

I really liked the concept of the book. The class basis is genius and unique, however the book fell flat for me. I know stories are supposed to be magical and make the extraordinary real, but some of the things ( like Coin being able to learn things almost instantaneously) were just too incredulous to make the story believable. The world is unique, but overall it just did not work for me. Definitely a lot of potential there, just not executed very well.