Addicted to YA discussion

This discussion will be lead by Dustin. The discussion leader will be here to help keep the conversation going. Look out for comments and questions the discussion leader might make and respond back to them!

I am 20% into this story and I really like the narrators of the book. I am looking forward to seeing where the story will go from here!

OK here is your first question:
Which of the four quadrants would you like to live in? Feel free to change your answer as you read more of the book.

As of part one I would have to go with Eonia, I would need the technology to keep myself comfortable. I think I could handle to repress emotions think about the community lifstyle. I don't have the strength to work in Archia where I toil more the necessary for the sake of simplicity. Toria seems like a poor rough place so I would not survive very long, likely killed for my meager monies, and Ludia seems to party like for my tastes.

I would probably like Ludia best, since I refuse to repress my emotions. I'm not good at it anyway, I have too expressive a face.

I'm having some trouble getting invested in this one, and I am just baffled. It has all my usual interests, but I just don't really care about Keralie. The Queens, however, are SUPER INTERESTING, and I love reading more about them.

Dustin wrote: "OK here is your first question:
Which of the four quadrants would you like to live in? Feel free to change your answer as you read more of the book.

As of part one I would have to go with Eonia, I..."

I think of the four, I would most like Toria. I'm not a tech savvy person (despite the fact that I graduated from a science academy), so I wouldn't give up emotions to live in Eonia. Ludia seems too party-like for me as well. Though I could probably live in Archia, I think I would get more pleasure from Toria.

Emily wrote: "I would probably like Ludia best, since I refuse to repress my emotions. I'm not good at it anyway, I have too expressive a face.

I'm having some trouble getting invested in this one, and I am ju..."

I am enjoying listening to the audiobook for this one. They have two different narrators, and one of them has an accent (Irish, I think), so it is super fun listening to her. And I agree, the queens are really interesting and I like what I am learning about them (I'm 35% through the story).

Well I am 46% of the way through and I now longer want to live in Eonia, nice place to see but the brightest light casts the darkest shadow so no thanks. Now it would have to be Ludia, I might not like it there but I think I could at least survive.

As far was the story goes, I am enjoying spending time with the queens more then Keralie and Varin, they play well of against each other but seeing the queens and how they around each other is more interesting. Likeing this book, might read another by the author

I just finished the book! It was so good! I didn't predict the ending at all!

I just finished this book! I feel it had a really strong ending.

I have finished the book I liked it the ending was not what I expected

(view spoiler)[I knew that one of the Queens was going to survive but I thought it wuold be Corra, maybe some dermasuit survival mode thing having it be Margu was a surprise but I guess it made since she died last and slowly so they had time to plan. Finding out htat the murder was Keralie was definitely something I did not see coming and kind of made me a little annoyed with Macki it just seemed like he could make anything happened when ever he wanted it to. like no one had free will id he needed them to do something but that was a small thing that only happened never the ended and did not ruin it for me. Varin was nice to have around but h really didnt do anything big do a missed opportunity. (hide spoiler)]

I’m kind of speechless right now. I would never have seen that ending but it was perfect. To rise from such a bleak reality is commendable. Astrid Scholte needs to write more. I absolutely love how the queens chapters give you background and details you can appreciate in other chapters without it overloading those chapters.

I just started this book, and I'm really enjoying it! The world building is wonderful, and I love Keralie! (I'm a sucker for rebellious female protagonists.)

For the second question: Which queen was your favourite and why?

Mine was probably Corra. She was an interesting character and her secrets were believable to find out. She was also the only queen I know that tried to fight and survive as hard as she could so I think she was best queen

I think Stessa was my favorite. I liked that she and her love found a way to be together even after Stessa's coronation. And I liked that when it came down to a point where she had to make a choice, she chose what meant the most to her personally, and didn't let the opinion of others ultimately decide for her.

My favourite would be Corra. Not only was she able to use her unique upbringing to the benefit of her quadrant but she stayed true to her heart as well. I could see her devastation and how she managed to put her duties first in public and grieve in private

My favourite queen would be Stessa I think. I really liked that she was herself first, queen second. She said what she thought, without holding back.

But, to be fair, I feel like we can't get a proper judge of Iris because she died so quickly into the book.

So true.

I too would have liked to see more of Iris she seems like she was a great Queen, maybe the best ruler of her quadrant. I just didn't see enough of her actions to consider her my favourite

My favorite Queen was Corra. Her relationship with Iris was so sweet, and I wanted to see more of it! I was so sad when she died, even though I knew from the get go that she would die. Her secrets unfolded so well, and I loved learning more about her.

What is your opinion on Queenly Law and do think it was OK for the queen to violate it?

In my opinion queenly law was decided upon by four queens who had good intentions but were being influenced by their circumstances and emotions. Four women had just lost their husband who did not always treat them right and they all of a sudden had the power to change things. I think it would have been better to negotiate a different law instead of outright breaking it but again a key trait of being human is having emotions and free will to act on them.

I think that keeping the Queen isolated in the palace was not the way to do it. It made them foroget about their people and not see how their quadrant has changed during the dynasty. Informanats are not enough you haveto be their as see for your self

I brought this down to the laundry room just to see if I could get a feel for it (I wasn't at all interested in this book release until it showed up in my Owlcrate) and next thing I know I'm done with Part 1 and my laundry is almost finished!

As of right now, I am quite ambivolent towards Keralie and find the queens POV's a lot more interesting, but I do see potential for her to become a great character by the end.

I think Toria is more my style than the other quadrants, but I'm curious to see if that will change the more I learn about them

What do you think was the biggest mistake made by Mackiel?

For me it was not killing Keralie after she finsihed her job. Instead he taunted and left her to be executed, it would have been better to program in in kill herself in the prison cell or at least get her to some how rush the guard and force them to kill her. By admitting to her what happened and letting her live he defeated himself

His ego was definitely his downfall! But that's okay, because I really enjoyed the ending of this book and I was actually surprised by the outcome (which never happens with mysteries). I did guess way ahead of time that the "memories" (view spoiler)[ weren't actually memories (hide spoiler)], but I didn't suspect the killer at all.

I really wanted to read this book but heard it wasn't that great and was more like a soap opera fantasy with only one good character although the plot sounded interesting...Maybe I should try it?

Sanja wrote: "I really wanted to read this book but heard it wasn't that great and was more like a soap opera fantasy with only one good character although the plot sounded interesting...Maybe I should try it?"

It didn't feel soap opera to me actually. I really liked it actually, and most of the cast was very interesting to me. Give it a try, though I recommend the Barnes and Noble version if you can get it, it has an extra chapter that ties some loose ends.

Such a great book! Can’t wait for more by her, can’t wait til the vanishing deep comes out!!!!!

I would probably live in Eonia; I am very young and grew up with a lot of technology so I can, rather disappointedly, say I am addicted to the internet. While I can survive if it went down, I prefer information to come to me in the matter of minutes. I'm also a pre-med student so I'd assume it the realm of science was meant for me!