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.
Synopsis taken from goodreads.
Title: Kings & Queens
Author: Courtney Vail
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Little Prince Publishing
Publication Date: Available Summer 2011
Format: E-book ARC
Source: Received from author courtesy of the Teen Book Scene. Many thanks goes to Courtney Vail and Teen Book Scene for sending me a copy of this book for review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
Tour: Teen Book Scene. You can follow along with the tour here, or by clicking the banner located below the review.
My rating: 3/5
Majesty overhears part of a conversation that involves plans for a church massacre. She has a lot going on in her life at the moment, having just recently lost her father in an accident. She doesn't think it was an accident, but is having a hard time proving that to the authorities. Now with having overheard this conversation, she's unsure what the police will do as they don't seem to listen to her at all. She calls in an anonymous tip, but unfortunately the massacre is just the tipping point to an entirely large scale operation and she is ensnared deep within it. Even her friends will be scrutinized as the revelations keep hitting closer to home.
Kings & Queens starts out with this erratic overload of information coming from every which way. Almost like someone is talking way too fast, or like rodents on steroids. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it does take some getting used to. The voice of the novel is quite reminiscent of Sin City actually, almost with that same voice-over quality. Immediately the reader is hooked wanting to know what Majesty is contending with. Her two best friends, Alec, and Derek also are quite enticing in their own ways, and their stories are just as compelling and confusing as Majesty's. Once certain elements were revealed to the reader, the book became even more intricate. Nothing is left to the wayside, and the killers seem to be one step ahead of Majesty at all times.
The story is intricate in detail, and Majesty has to go through a whole school's worth of suspects. With her father's accident tangled up with Majesty's sleuthing, there are a lot of threads on the go. Alec and Derek both have their own problems that they are working through, and we get to view things from their perspective as well. Though the main point of view is from Majesty, it does jump to Alec and Derek at times.
All in all, an interesting, and intriguing read. With thoughts being hurled at the reader from Majesty's ever-active and ever-investigative imagination, it does resemble a slalom course of information. Intricate in detail, this one is sure to hook and keep the reader guessing until the very last page.
Majesty overhears part of a conversation that involves plans for a church massacre. She has a lot going on in her life at the moment, having just recently lost her father in an accident. She doesn't think it was an accident, but is having a hard time proving that to the authorities. Now with having overheard this conversation, she's unsure what the police will do as they don't seem to listen to her at all. She calls in an anonymous tip, but unfortunately the massacre is just the tipping point to an entirely large scale operation and she is ensnared deep within it. Even her friends will be scrutinized as the revelations keep hitting closer to home.
Kings & Queens starts out with this erratic overload of information coming from every which way. Almost like someone is talking way too fast, or like rodents on steroids. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it does take some getting used to. The voice of the novel is quite reminiscent of Sin City actually, almost with that same voice-over quality. Immediately the reader is hooked wanting to know what Majesty is contending with. Her two best friends, Alec, and Derek also are quite enticing in their own ways, and their stories are just as compelling and confusing as Majesty's. Once certain elements were revealed to the reader, the book became even more intricate. Nothing is left to the wayside, and the killers seem to be one step ahead of Majesty at all times.
The story is intricate in detail, and Majesty has to go through a whole school's worth of suspects. With her father's accident tangled up with Majesty's sleuthing, there are a lot of threads on the go. Alec and Derek both have their own problems that they are working through, and we get to view things from their perspective as well. Though the main point of view is from Majesty, it does jump to Alec and Derek at times.
All in all, an interesting, and intriguing read. With thoughts being hurled at the reader from Majesty's ever-active and ever-investigative imagination, it does resemble a slalom course of information. Intricate in detail, this one is sure to hook and keep the reader guessing until the very last page.
4 comments:
Thanks for the fair and balanced review, especially in saying what you liked and what you didn't.
...rodents on steroids...haha. That is awesome!!! never heard my weird writing referred to that way, but that's a good way to describe it.
Voice like Sin City - I'm intrigued and I love an intricate mystery!
This sounds very interesting. Thanks for the review! :)
Very true review. I love the style of this book and found the mystery elements compelling. It definitely kept me guessing.
Post a Comment