"Four Dead Queens" by Astrid Schotle *Contains Spoilers*

Four Dead Queens is set in a land called Quadara. Quadara is divided into 4 quadrants and each is ruled by their own queen. The 4 quadrants are each known for their own specialty. Archia is the quadrant responsible for agricultural needs and is run by Queen Iris. Eonia is technology, run by Queen Corra. Ludia is entertainment and arts, run by Queen Stessa. Finally, Toria which is the quadrant for intelligence (commerce, curiosity and exploration), run by Queen Marguerite. Each queen is subjected to 12 rules, The Queenly Law, and must abide by those rules which protect themselves and the future of Quadara.

Four Dead Queens begins by following the life of Keralie, a commoner pickpocket from Toria. Keralie steals a very valuable item, at the order of her "boss" from Varin, a messenger from Eonia. This item could cost Varin his life. When Varin confronts Keralie, the two of them are thrown into a twisting, misguided adventure together. The unlikely pair are expected to work through the lies, deceit and vengeful plot of an estranged queen to reveal the true assassin of the queens.

This book, admittedly, took me an extremely long time to finish. I began this book sometime in October and I just finished sometime recently. While I initially gave the book 4.5 stars, some farther insight has caused me to drop this book to a solid 3 stars. While the final twist definitely threw me off (hence the higher stars at first), the book it's self was a little lackluster. There is no explanation to why Quadara decided to have 4 queen rulers, no explanation behind the queenly laws (or very little), we saw no depth to the quadrants and the main character was a hard for me to like. In addition, the romance here was very bland and seemingly just thrown in.

Pages: 413 Reading Time: Too long Rating: 3 Stars