This book will be published on January 7, 2020. I read an advance reader's copy and undoubtedly there will be differences between the version I read and the published edition.
...but honestly, when I first saw this book, I thought it was a Holly Black book because I'm so ready for the third book that I picked it up with way too much excitement.
But, I mean, it kind of turned out okay? Kind of?????
An amazon summary, "One girl must make a name for herself--or die trying--in this royal fantasy where an unknown peasant becomes the ultimate ruler. But how long can she keep the crown if everyone wants her dead? Perfect for fans of Furyborn, Red Queen, and Everless.
Everyone expected the king's daughter would inherit the throne. No one expected me.
It shouldn't be possible. I'm Nameless, a class of citizens so disrespected, we don't even get names. Dozens of us have been going missing for months and no one seems to care.
But there's no denying the tattoo emblazoned on my arm. I am queen. In a palace where the corridors are more dangerous than the streets, though, how could I possibly rule? And what will become of the Nameless if I don't?" AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
One girl, who goes by the name Coin, lives on the streets of the kingdom, just trying to survive. She's part of a class of people referred to as the Nameless, and they don't have much of any access to the day to day things you would expect in regular society (shelter, food, water, etc). If they can work, they work the worst jobs, and they don't have anyone looking out for them. The other two classes are essentially the nobles and the royals.
The funny thing about this kingdom, is that the crown is passed on through magic. As the king/queen is dying, they say one last name, and the magical arm tattoo crown passes onto that person as the king/queen dies. One day, Coin woke up with the crown even though she has no known name (she picked out Coin as a way to reference herself). Bewildered, Coin tries to hide at first before she steps in to save her friend, and reveals the crown. She's rushed to the palace where there's a whole different set of rules on how to survive. Maybe she can pass on the crown to someone else without dying.
Dun dun dunnnnn
That's enough summary.
I really liked the beginning of the book? I felt it was well paced, was setting up the characters nicely, positioning them in ways that they'd be able to grow, and all sorts of fun world building stuff. But... something happened where the main character, Coin, seemed to kind of lose confidence in herself. The magic started to get kind of murky and lost explanations sometimes, and there were a few moments where it seemed like a random side character just appeared to make a one sentence quip to rectify some situation so the book could move on with the story.
It seemed like it wanted to talk about the class system and how unfair it was, but then it deviated grossly to political manuvering, but didn't really do too well at making all the characters coherently function in that setting, so it became inner speculation about Coin's life. It was all a little haphazard and weird. There was also too few guards on the freaking crowned queen. But okay, sure.
I also didn't really have a sense for how big the town or kingdom was? At times it seemed HUGE, like sprawling, full of slums, the whole nine football fields. Then there were other times where it was like, wait, so there's a castle, surrounded by little houses for the nobles kind of? Huh????
Ultimately, I think it was trying to build up to some political upheaval with the class system, neighboring countries maybe being at war, and magic being unleashed to the world again??? But trying to build it up for a book two rather than solve anything in book one. Except for where the nameless were disappearing too, which was still a troubling part of the story. It also felt VERY IGNORED until it was WILDLY RELEVANT again for the climatic bits at the end of the book.
At this point, I don't think I'll pick up the sequel unless someone can change my mind.
Happy reading!
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