2021-10-26
A queendom is divided, and a teen girl hopes to unite it.
In the Queendom of Frea, the citizens of the Upper and Lower Realms live apart but under the ostensibly benign rule of their queen. Thirteen-year-old Jacs, a Lowrian girl, is an inventor’s apprentice who finds a message sent by Connor, an Upperite boy yearning to learn about the Lower Realm. They strike up a secret correspondence that lasts years—but unbeknownst to Jacs, Connor is really Prince Cornelius, the queen’s only son. When the queen is assassinated during a rare visit to the Lower Realm, the subsequent investigation and subjugation of her fellow Lowrian citizens inspires Jacs to covertly join the Contest of Queens, a competition that sees young women facing off against each other for a chance to become the next queen. This first entry in a new fantasy series is a mixed bag: It introduces a matriarchal society based on a corrupt system and thoughtfully examines prejudice while establishing its main characters’ charming relationship as well as Jacs’ empowering story, including friendships she makes along the way. However, though the queendom’s power dynamics may be gender flipped, its heavy-handed presentation reinforces gender essentialism, and the novel’s voice vacillates between middle grade and young adult as it follows the characters through the years, an inconsistency that may lose some readers. The main cast is assumed White.
An uneven read featuring an endearing pair of protagonists. (maps) (Fantasy. 14-18)
