Book Review: Kings & Queens

Kings & Queens by Courtney Vail

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Little Prince Publishing (January 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615469779
• ISBN-13: 978-0615469775

Seventeen-year-old Majesty Alistair wants police to look further into her father’s fatal car wreck, hopes the baseball team she manages can reclaim the state crown, aches for Derek…or, no…maybe Alec…maybe. And she mostly wishes to retract the hateful words she said to her dad right before slamming the door in his face, only to never see him again.

All her desires get sidelined, though, when she overhears two fellow students planning a church massacre. She doubts cops will follow up on her tip since they’re sick of her coming around with notions of possible crimes-in-the-works. And it’s not like she cries wolf. Not really. They’d be freaked too, but they’re not the ones suffering from bloody dreams that hint at disaster like some crazy, street guy forecasting the Apocalypse.

So, she does what any habitual winner with zero cred would do…try to I.D. the nutjobs before they act. But, when their agenda turns out to be far bigger than she ever assumed, and even friends start looking suspect, the truth and her actions threaten to haunt her forever, especially since she’s left with blood on her hands, the blood of someone she loves.

Cover: I loved the cover with its eerie way. I love the fusion of colors, the gothic text and brushes. But actually the lips did it for me. Cool!

Review: I admit, I was a bit confused reading the first pages. There was what we call information overload, like the author wanted to give us a heads-up on what was going on in the book. But after getting past it, I was confusedly hooked with the story.

The book was written with rich detail. The story itself has this complexity that makes me scratch my head. The idea/theme behind the book was also amazing and intriguing. And the characters? Well, mostly each of them has this back story that talks about their tragic and sad fates. The author wonderfully give each of them life and personality. Ms. Vail was a new, fresh, quirky voice in this genre.

Ms. Vail’s writing style was something I’ve never read before. I may not be a die-hard fan of the writing style but I truly appreciate when the characters speak the same language but they totally sounded different!

This is a fast, quick read with so many things going on at the same time.

But I felt like there was too much detail which was the drawback of this book. There would be times that if the readers hadn’t been paying too much attention, surely it would be hard to follow because somehow each detail is connected in solving the mystery.

I appreciate the author trying to incorporate a huge number of characters and giving their own stories and some (perspectives) so the reader might really think and analyze who the suspects are. But with this number, it could already be a series. Maybe that’s why some of the reviewers said, the story was a bit rushed because of the details and information given out in every turn.

What’s best about this book, is it’s truly a good mystery. The reader was confused in a good way that it seemed as if every character in the book could be the potential suspect except Maj of course. Even I, was fooled at the end!

I gave this 5 stars because even though the story takes some getting used to, but after really letting go of my imagination, I was totally into Maj’s world, guessing and analyzing the mystery with her!

King’s and Queens by Courtney Vail is a young adult mystery novel which was full of complexity, twists and turns, high school drama, conspiracies, mystery and depth. If you’re one of those who loves exciting rides with a story that would keep you guessing until the very end, then this one is for you!


Check out my interview with Courtney Vail..:)



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