Blog Tour Review: Kings and Queens by Courtney Vail

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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.

Kings and Queens was a bit of a...weird book. It's, like, the sort of thing you either get or absolutely hate, if you know what I mean? And for me, I stood more on the 'meh' side than anything else, but I've seen many favourable reviews on Goodreads, so it's really just me.

I was confused from the first page. The book is a bit of a roller coaster, and I lost track of the plot very quickly. There are so many characters, each of them with such detailed backstories, that I felt like too much was being crammed into too small a space, and I'm really not a fan of that. But I have to say that the author did keep me guessing at every turn, and that, to me, is the mark of a good mystery book.

I admire the author for trying to keep all of her characters three-dimensional humans. I am writing a novel myself and I have to say that it's hard at times to step away from the paper-character cliches and to make sure the fictional cast is as real as possible, and I think the author succeeded in doing this, although a result of this was far too much tragedy being crammed in the 328 pages.

Overall, Kings and Queens wasn't really for me, but I would recommend it to fans of mystery or anybody who's seeking something a little different. Much like Shatter Me, readers are either left to love or hate the story, and the author's writing style does take a long time to get used to, but once you're accustomed to it, hold on for a lot of guessing and a wild ride!

I am no longer giving ratings to blog tour books. A free copy of the book was provided for review purposes but did not influence this review in any way.