Welcome Back, Booklovers! The Scorpion Queen is a YA debut inspired by tales from the Mali Empire and different from the type of YA fantasy I've been reading lately. But in need of a change I decided to give it a chance. I received an arc from Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.
Aminata "Amie" Aqit, is a sixteen year old living in imperial Mali starting her first day of servitude at the royal palace. Amie is distraught as due to his sister's lies her engagement to the boy she loves has ended and her reputation is in ruins. The wages from her new job are to be used to pay back the bride price her father had spent on her. Having grown up as the daughter of a successful merchant, Amie is having trouble adjusting to life serving Princess Mariama, the emperor's daughter. Princess Mariama, is haunted by all the death and destruction in the kingdom in her honor. Her father has possible suitors compete in an impossible set of trials. Amie becomes increasingly closer to the princess while she plots for a way to reunite with her love, Kader. One day she discovers a way to end the trials but it will require a deadly journey.
The Scorpion Queen is a great read for teens who are trying to get into fantasy books for the first time. It's evenly paced with prose that's not verbose or bogged down by metaphors. You immediately feel for the heroine who is bearing the brunt of her sister's betrayal. There's magic and gods sprinkled throughout but despite the comp to Children of Blood and Bone this isn't a tale of different groups of magic powered beings battling it out. Instead this is the story of an ordinary girl who is stronger than she thinks.
With a straightforward plot it's fairly easy to follow while still managing to throw in some action and twists. Things ended up going in a different direction than I had expected. Readers may be frustrated with the abrupt and rather ambiguous cliffhanger ending that leaves many threads open for interpretation but hopefully a sequel is in the works.
Enjoyed the review
ReplyDelete