Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Name: Four Dead Queens
Author: Astrid Scholte
Series Number/Standalone: Standalone
Dates Read: May 7-June 2
Rating: 3.5
ISBN: 9781101951026

Summary: 
A divided nation. Four Queens. A ruthless pickpocket. A noble messenger. And the murders that unite them.
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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 - Goodreads

Review:
I went on a bit of a rollercoaster with this book in terms of how much I was enjoying it while reading it.

When I first started the book, I was enjoying the writing and the concept, but the characters weren't really doing anything for me. I was prepared to have it end up being a two star book.

However, around 100 pages in, I got super invested in the story and the characters really started to click with me. The world started to make more sense and the mystery aspect of the plot really started to take off. In fact, I would say everything from parts 2 and 3 were fantastic. I practically doubled my reading speed from the first 100 pages because I was so enthusiastic to keep going and see what the outcome would be. Through here, I thought the book might end up being a 4-4.5 stars.

However, part 4 of the book fell a little flat for me. Especially in the last 60 or so pages. I felt like the solution to the murder was a little bit of a cop out. I felt like some of the conversations that took place should have been a bit more impactful than they turned out to be - as many of them were kind of glossed over and solved easily. This is a large part of what brought the rating down to a 3.5-3.75.

I was also very conflicted with the romance throughout this book. I enjoyed it, generally speaking. I liked both characters and I liked how they interacted with each other. My main problem came from the time frame. By the end of the book, the characters have known each other for about a week and one of them is willing to say that they're in love with the other, which is just a bit much for me.

That being said, I think that this book was a lot of fun and very well done, especially for a debut novel with a concept that was this complex. The story did wrap itself up relatively nicely, even though it felt a bit rushed. I'll definitely try whatever Astrid Sholte writes in the future!