Reviews

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

capriqueen's review against another edition

emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I really liked this. The mystery was tightly woven, and I’m pleased to say I had it kind of right from the start. The cast of characters was managed really well. And I liked how it handled grief as Najwa sought justice for and mourned her best friend while coming to terms with the fact that Trina maybe wasn’t a very good friend in the end

There were several typos and some random formatting errors which surprised me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gaslighting

thehawk72's review

4.0

This book was so insanely good. I would have had to have more backstory on all the characters in order to give it a 5 I feel like, but I would absolutely read this again. Such a good mystery.

terhill's review

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

thebookdragon's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

deschatjes's review

3.0

Whodunnit set in Malaysia AG a scrabble tournament. While this book had a lot going for it - language, games, nerdy teens, a murder mystery - somehow the narrators voice was so unlikeable and unsympathetic that it became a bit annoying. I do hope this doesn’t detract others from trying

jayarna's review

4.0

Wow! This was such a great book. So sharp and fun, nerdy yet so cool! I loved this so much. The MC was so well done, handles grief really well and her motivations are so strong and really push the story forward

indiekay's review

5.0

4.5 stars

This has been on my saved list for ages and I decided to finally read it after a Booksta friend said they enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it too!

I could very easily see this in film. The setting, with a bunch of teenagers without their parents around (I mean, everyone other than poor Ben) staying in a hotel, trying to solve a murder mystery? Fantastic concept! And having it be about competitive scramble of all things was wonderful. I don't think I've ever thought much about the concept for competitive scrabble, so I loved reading about it.

I really liked Najwa as a protagonist, and all the side characters were really well fleshed out. The mystery aspect was really good -- it wasn't obvious from the get go who was behind things, and and every character had their own motivations for having not liked Trina.

I think something I really appreciated reading this was that there's no romance subplot. I didn't have to have a moment of "ohmygod why are you two kissing there's a MURDER to solve?!", which is something I often think when reading YA romance suspense stories.

sydney_arcuri's review

4.0

This was a great read. I really liked the definitions sprinkled throughout the book. The only part that I didn't really care for is at times - much like a lot of YA thrillers- parts of the plot just got really chaotic or crazy but not in a believable way. Other than that, I really liked the big reveal and process the characters went through to find the culprit.

panda_incognito's review

3.0

This novel has an incredibly unique premise, and I loved all of the Scrabble and word nerd elements, but it never fully came together as a mystery. I would describe this as more of a thriller, because it was dramatic and suspenseful without being well-clued or possible for readers to figure out. The investigation wasn't well-organized at all, and there are some key suspension of disbelief issues that are difficult for me.

Spoiler

It turns out that this isn't a murder mystery after all, and that the apparent victim died from an accidental overdose of conflicting natural supplements. This seems profoundly unlikely, and it is also extremely difficult for me to believe that a teenager's sudden, mysterious death from an apparent heart attack went ignored, and that there wasn't an investigation into the cause of death at the time, regardless whether or not anyone was suspected of killing her.

I found this entertaining to read once, and I enjoyed the Scrabble content and cultural representation, but it is confusing and anticlimactic enough that I wouldn't particularly recommend it as a mystery. This book will appeal more to people who enjoy thrillers, novels about characters with PTSD, and books related to toxic friendships.

kalista_putri's review against another edition

5.0

FINALLY, after what seems like 264929292839 years, a fiction book that doesn't bore me and kept me wanting to flip through the pages. It kept me guessing, "this is WHY i love mystery books", it made me doubt all the characters, including the unreliable MC (you never know right). It made me want to continue reading and i was never bored while reading this book, and i got bored a lot in reading fiction lately. Bikin deg2an jg!! I wish the ending the author would explore more about how MC anxiety goes, but overall a very good one!