That is probably what it came down to: I simply didn’t believe the villain to genuinely have nurtured such motives to do what they did. Why would this particular person be so set on being so evil? I didn’t believe it. It was unsatisfying, not clever enough, and made no sense. They felt like an afterthought – as though the story had floundered with no reasonable solution and OH! here the villain comes to make things make sense. I didn’t appreciate the easiness of the ‘real’ villain. And it is in enough of a way that I can accept this book for what it is.īut my fingers are positively itching to elaborate on what really got my goat with this book. Keralie’s desperate escape from him, from her past and from herself is exciting and something you’re sure will prove to be a great character arc.

he just sort of manages to pull of a plan with a bit of luck and is a little too conveniently friends with another important character, to whom we are introduced much later on.īut Mackiel *does* keep our hopes pinned high throughout the story that he is the ultimate evil and we’re so ready to blame everything on him. Mackiel never really blossoms into a evil genius. Where was our evil mastermind, Mackiel? Pft. It’s like I said: I just didn’t want the plot to be what it was. It wasn’t a terrible ending the ending made perfect sense, it tied things up nicely, it clarified everything that went on and left us able to sleep at night knowing that all was right in Quadara. The journey through this book’s 400 pages was so worth it just for how much I damn well enjoyed it. The blurb is pretty much all you get in this book – it never goes beyond it. But what we don’t have, is anything much more than what is described in the blurb. We have some nefarious characters, some jaw-dropping plot twists and some stunning world building. And the plot of the book is that the queens die, one by one, with Keralie all tangled up in the mess.

Whilst the kingdoms are separated by geography and walls, the queens reside in the palace together and rule from this central point. She lives in a realm divided into four kingdoms, ruled by four queens. This book is an epic fantasy following a thief called Keralie. It’s sort of like eating an amazing dessert and then you try someone else’s dessert, only for it to ruin the lovely taste in your mouth right at the end. So I will say right now that this is worth reading for the world, the characters, the awesome Agatha Christie vibes and murder mystery, but it is not a *satisfying* book to finish. But the overall plot, I disappointingly admit, was lacking. What to think about this book? Every page, every sentence, every word was so enrapturing and exciting. Review on Goodreads Big thanks to Allen & Unwin for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte 3/5 STARS

4 dead queens book