Four Dead Queens

December 15, 2018
A thief is endangered by accidentally acquired regicidal evidence. Keralie, a top thief working for her childhood friend Mackiel, steals a case of comm chips--technology that holds embedded memories and implants them in another person's mind--from a messenger. When Varin, the messenger, who has a degenerative eye condition, coerces Keralie into helping him recover them, they run afoul of Mackiel and--as a power play--Keralie ingests the comm chips, receiving memories of Quadara's queens being assassinated. In each of Quadara's four quadrants, a queen lives and rules, following strict laws. Other than Keralie's, the other viewpoints in the book are close third-person following the queens, revealing palace secrets and their grisly ends while they try to find the assassin, interspersed with Varin and Keralie's efforts to stay alive while figuring out what to do with the information they have. This structure relies on timeline manipulation, which is deftly handled and results in exponential payoffs the deeper into the book the reader gets. The inventive worldbuilding, though occasionally superficial, features vastly different quadrant cultures (e.g., one high tech, one without electricity). The distinctive characters--strong queens and wonderfully flawed Keralie--are as appealing as the murder-mystery plot. Most characters are white like Keralie; Varin has dark hair and tan skin, and two of the queens are dark-skinned.Scholte's stand-alone debut marks her as an author to watch. (Fantasy. 13-adult)

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Gr 8 Up-Quadara is a divided but united nation with each of its four quadrants ruled by a different queen. The four rule a matriarchal society with absolute dominion over their area but work together to unite Quadara for common survival. Keralie is a skilled thief in one of the quadrants who steals memory chips from Varin, a messenger. Their lives are entwined when Keralie consumes the memories, therefore experiencing them for herself. These memories are of the violent deaths of each of the queens, leaving Quadara without a single ruler. Yet no news of these brutal murders has left the palace and the people are unaware. Keralie and Varin race to solve the murders with the hope of helping their nation somehow and bring what little information they have to the advisors. When they arrive however, they have audience with a queen. One who was murdered, adding more questions than answers for Keralie and Varin. At first glance this book is reminiscent of the Veronica Roth's "Divergent" series mixed with "Red Queen" books by Victoria Aveyard. However, the story takes unexpected turns, has complicated characters who develop over time, and ends unpredictably. VERDICT A recommended addition to young adult fantasy/dystopian collections, particularly where regal sagas are popular.-Sarah Voels, Cedar Rapids Public Library, IA