Nameless Queen by Rebecca McLaughlin is a dystopian
novel set in the city of Seriden. There are three classes of people: Royals,
the ruling class, Legals, the upper class and the Nameless, those who live on
the outskirts of society and survive through pickpocketing and theft. The story
opens with a Nameless girl who goes by Coin wakes up to the news that King
Fallow has died. When a ruler dies, he or she whispers the name of their
successor and a black crown tattoo will appear on their upper arm and that
person is the next ruler. Coin soon realizes that she has this tattoo and is
frightened to what it could mean for her, a Nameless to be queen, so she hides.
After a few days, it is revealed that no Royal has the tattoo and they are
checking Legals for the tattoo. When her friend, Hat, is caught pickpocketing a
Legal, Coin makes the bold move to expose her tattoo and declare them to stop.
Coin is soon taken to the Royal Court where she is thrust into the world of
diplomacy and rule. How can a Nameless have the tattoo? How did the king know
her true name? What is her purpose as the Nameless Queen?
When I picked this book to read, I was intrigued by the
premise. Unfortunately, I found myself losing interest and it was hard to find
the motivation to finish. Coin is a typical Mary Sue, while being entertaining,
intelligent and likeable, she seems to be able to master everything with very
little effort and have no prior experience. When she enters the palace as the
Nameless Queen, she instantly has the skills of an experienced and skilled
diplomat. She also learns that she has certain abilities like reading someone’s
memories or their auras will very little trial and error. The book reminds me
of other dystopian novels that are very popular like Suzanne Collins’ The
Hunger Games series and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series. If you are
a fan of these series or the dystopian genre, I recommend Nameless Queen for
you.
Nameless Queen
is available in
hardcover and eBook
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