Astrid Scholte

There are a lot of things to like about Four Dead Queens. Unfortunately, there are also things to dislike and sadly, I’m here to tell you that the popular observations about this book are true, and it’s a huge detriment to its overall enjoyability. I don’t regret reading Four Dead Queens – it surprised me sometimes, disappointed me other times, but was an interesting adventure overall.

I’ll start with the biggest thing, the thing all the reviews are talking about. Four Dead Queens show more is lacking in execution. It’s all over the place with six different POVs, messy pacing, and too many things it’s trying to accomplish. Either side of the story would have been sufficient in itself. I get how there are so many different perspectives to any event, but the reader doesn’t need to know so many of them. It muddles the plot. The story is not quite about Keralie, not quite about the Keralie/Varin love story, not quite about a coup, and not quite about Queen Marguerite’s big secret. Scholte seems to have struggled for balance between all these things – while it’s important to have subplots, all of these things are given similar weights in the story and fade in and out in importance at different times. It makes the book feel like it has four halfhearted plots instead of one strong central plot and three interesting subplots. In that way, it was difficult to be attentive for the first three-quarters of the story. Nothing was really moving.

On the other hand, Scholte had some interesting world building in Four Dead Queens. The idea of the quadrants mixes fantasy with science fiction and plays with a few favorite tropes to build something different than a lot of fantasy books coming out right now. The world building is stronger in the beginning, when the queens are not dead (I’m sorry, it’s not a spoiler if it’s in the title) – as the story progresses, it fades to focus on a single quadrant with a few nods to another. As such, Four Dead Queens left a lot of areas unexplored. Given the already scattered nature of the book, I understand that choice, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I would have liked to see more.

Eonia, on the other hand, is a bit overall sketchy. There are a lot of ableist views in the quadrant, the most blatant one being assigned “death dates”. This is the quadrants way of preserving resources – they kill citizens when they reach an age where they become a “burden to society”. This includes older citizens, but also people with disabilities. I don’t think I need to explain why that is extremely problematic. The view is challenged within the book, but not removed. Adding to this, there is rhetoric around life being fuller without a disability. There arena’s to this throughout the book as a cure is sought, but it plays in heaviest at the end when one character assures another they are looking for a way to remove the disability. This creates an extremely problematic precedent that those with disabilities not only have less value, but are somehow less than whole and cannot be happy. This is very much untrue – there are many paths to a happy ending.

I will give Scholte some points for tricking me and not following the path I expected for the first two thirds of the book. I was dead certain that events were going to go a certain way and characters’ secrets would be revealed and I was completely wrong. I’m still (as always) unimpressed with the love story, but character progression took a different path and I can respect that twist.

The end of the book tied up very nicely with a ribbon. It rushed through events at a pace I would have appreciated earlier in the novel. The lack of questioning about certain outlandish comments and overly convenient events annoyed me as a reader, but for someone swept up in the story, I don’t think they would have thought twice about it. The ending was too clean and easy and folks are way too accepting of certain things and it didn’t play believably to me at all.

Ultimately, Four Dead Queens was an interesting read, but I don’t think I would have picked it up if it hadn’t come in a book box such a long time ago. show less

First thoughts...
Now, now, now...wait just a minute. You cannot just end it there! Why you gotta do us like that?!

Now, the more composed thoughts...
Wow, this book! If you ever wanted to read a more fantastical version of Law & Order, this is totally one to check out. It's this insane mix of fantasy/murder mystery with plenty of unexpected twists throughout. Astrid Scholte has a way of telling these really crazy mashed-up stories and I am completely here for it. The worldbuilding felt show more seamless, I instantly was engrossed in Telene and it's unique magic, edem, and the court hierarchy.

The story is set up so you get to know each character in their respective chapters and their individual stories as they slowly start to weave together as the mystery unfolds. Creating a greater depth to each character and also adding in more shock-factor for some of their actions later in the book.
"...Turns out, it's hard to talk after your jaw falls off your face and turns to dust." Jey was by far my favorite character! :)

I can definitely see this story as one you either love or hate. There's a lot going on and there's a lot of concepts intertwined into the plot that you have to just hang onto and go with. I personally found it so fun and unique! It held my attention easily from the first chapter, a definite five star read for me! And that cover is just the most eye-catching.

Big thank you to PenguinTeen via NetGalley for the e-ARC to read and honestly review. I cannot wait to see the art that might be included in the finished copy! show less

A definite must read!

Astrid Scholte paints the story of a beautifully haunting world in The Vanishing Deep. I found myself flying through chapters simply because I was so intrigued by the story and just had to know what happened next.

Tempe has hardened her heart after the loss of her parents and older sister, Elysea. She's self-sufficient and determined. Elysea confesses a secret to Tempe after her revival and Tempe makes a rash decision to flee Palindromena with her sister; creating the show more setting for a whirlwind adventure for the two sisters! Lor has his own secrets that are given away as you progress through the story providing more intrigue and mystery...and there is just a touch of romance between him and Tempest that I found quite charming.

This novel is creepy, twisty, and amazingly structured. I could imagine the story so clearly, making it that much easier to immerse myself into the dystopian world. "The Equinox is close to many sunken cities and if you look down upon the ruins below and let your eyes blur, the ocean looks like the night sky, and the coral its stars."

I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and, I enjoyed it so much I purchased a finished copy! show less

I received this book in my first OwlCrate box, so I really didn't know anything going into it. However, I was quickly immersed in the story and really enjoyed the different perspectives of the four queens, as well as Keralie and Verin.

The world that was described in the book was a little reminiscent of the dystopian Chicago in Divergent, but it still felt unique and fresh. There are four quadrants, each with its own Queen. Each heir is raised in her own quadrant, by guardians instead of her show more mother, in order to learn the ways of their people. But once they come to power, they are brought back to the court. It is here that the queens begin to die. Enter Keralie and Verin, who are from two different quadrants, and end up joining together to begin an investigation into the queens' murders, each with their own purpose.

The author used time jumps in a very interesting way to tell the story of each queen's death. I won't spoil anything, but I did not feel that the time jumps were difficult to follow and I love how this became integral to the story. Overall, Four Dead Queens was a fantastic murder mystery with a twist and I'll definitely be looking for more by this author! show less