Review: Four Dead Queens

Four Dead Queens
by Astrid Scholte

Publisher: Putnam Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 26, 2019

The breathtaking standalone debut of Astrid Scholte, FOUR DEAD QUEENS, tells the story of Keralie Corrington, a thief (called a dipper), for Mackiel, an influential businessman who deals in all things black market. Tasked with stealing anything not found in their quadrant, Keralie flourishes in the job that was seemingly meant for her. But when Keralie intercepts a comm disk from another quadrant, things don’t go as perfectly as she hopes as she watches the deaths of Quadra’s four queens. Hoping to find the culprit as a way of leveraging the palace, she teams up with Varin, the messenger she stole from, to track them down. But with time against them, and Keralie’s old boss following their every move, victory may be harder than they thought.

Only one word could describe how I felt about this book: wow. I was completely blown away with the sheer beauty of this world Scholte has created. Told in immaculate detail, not one aspect of this story was left underdeveloped or without resolve, with everything wrapping up nicely. This is especially notable because FOUR DEAD QUEENS is a standalone (unfortunately), something we rarely see in fantasy. Not that FOUR DEAD QUEENS is exclusively fantasy, as it includes a murder-mystery spin filled with the air of a thriller and the technology of a sci-fi, making it truly genre-bending. But this is far from the only reason why FOUR DEAD QUEENS is a book that demands to be read. 

I was immediately sucked into Keralie’s story from page one as she hid in a corner conspiring with Mackiel. As her story continued, that level of engagement never ceased. I was truly experiencing the golden domes and dark corners of Quarda with Keralie. Whenever I had to put this book down, I instantly felt myself longing to pick it back up, its allure constant and undying. Everything seemed to be alive in Scholte’s world, with not a single thing coming off as flat or half-baked. 

But of course, no description would be good without the world it was based on. Scholte made sure to deliver this with ease. The world of Quadra was complete and filled to the brim with so much detail that it felt real. I loved how much effort the author put into making each of Quadra’s four quadrants, laws, and technology so real. Like wondering which Hogwarts house people belong too, readers will wonder which Quadrant they would hope to call their home. Some will fall in love with Toria, the trade quadrant filled with curiosity and exploration, or Archia, the agricultural quadrant that emphasizes simplicity and nature. Others will wish to be in Ludia amongst all the passion and entertainment their quadrant has to offer, or Eonia where futuristic technologies are integrated into every part of their stoic and harmonious lives. Either way, once someone is born into a quadrant, they have little opportunity to leave again. This is just one of the laws that dictate the way the queens must rule Quadra, separate but together. These are laws that rule almost as much as the queens do, strict but for the good of the people. Readers will be happy to know that these laws are not just one-off tidbits to help embellish the plot a bit, but important to the progression of the story and fully integrated. I never thought that I would find myself caring so much about a book’s law system until I read FOUR DEAD QUEENS. Combined with the absolutely amazing technology, readers will wonder just how many twists Scholte has planned. 

To navigate these twists, Scholte created a cast of utterly unique characters to run free. Her main character, Keralie, is a girl of bravery yet anxiousness, both trying to do her best to please those in her life, but also unsure if she even can. She is the type of girl who appears tough and faultless, but later reveals that she is full of depth and care. The reader would never expect to fall for her in the span of just one book, but they do without a second’s doubt. There was so much about Keralie that I loved. From her sass, to her badass-ness, to the fact that her backstory is not at all what you would typically find in a fantasy. Everything about her was amazing. And it wasn’t just her who was well thought out, with all the other characters receiving the same type of care. Readers will fall in love with Varin, with his slow-to-warm-up cuddliness and pure-of-heart attitude and Mackiel, who knows what he wants and goes for it. Each of these supporting characters have fears and drives and backstories as well-thought out as Keralie's. These were characters with many sides to them.

And of course, with all these aspects going for it, the plot was nothing less than hypnotizing. It was both fast-paced and filled with enough detail that you won’t get whiplash. Bursting with political intrigue, romance, and a murder mystery twist, it is not a book that will let readers down. Most of all, it contained something that every reader can enjoy. From good old-fashioned thievery and sneaking through a grand palace, to technological contraptions and badass fight scenes, to the intricate mystery that readers will struggle to piece together with Keralie and Varin, there isn’t a single thing that will bore a reader.

I would recommend this book to fans of SIX OF CROWS who were enamored with its trickery and setting, and also fans of WARCROSS, as its plot wouldn’t be the same without the awe-inspiring technology. Of course, it is very hard to describe this book in relation to others, as it contains so many different aspects, but readers of classic mystery authors such as Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will also enjoy this book. FOUR DEAD QUEENS is a genre-bending debut that readers will be unable to put down as they sail through it like they are watching a movie.