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A review by emleemay
The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin
2.0
I really did my best to like this but it was just not my thing.
Starred reviews from Kirkus usually prompt me to take a second look at books I was about to pass by. Then when I read that this one was a high school comedy retelling of history - specifically that of Henry VIII and his six wives - I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. But I struggled just to make it through.
The book is narrated by Annie of Cleveland, or "Cleves". She befriends Henry at Overachievers Camp, dates him for 15 days, and lives to tell the tale. Which is more than can be said for some of this player's other girlfriends. Now Cleves and Henry are best friends. But after two of Henry's exes die, the evidence begins to pile up-- could Henry be a murderer?
To be honest, I thought the murder aspect of the plot leaned more toward ludicrous than the hilarious/meaningful it was shooting for. Maybe because the plot - and its timeline - were so messy that the whole thing left me scratching my head.
My problem with this book all comes down to two main things:
» It's not my brand of humour.
Humour is so subjective, and this one just did nothing for me. I generally prefer it when funny things and situations occur as the story unfolds. I laugh more when the author sets the scene and builds up to the punchline. I’m less of a fan when the characters just constantly talk in jokes, as they do here. It felt forced. And kind of annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, occasional jokes in the dialogue can be very funny, but Annie's constant need to be quirky and snarky left me feeling exhausted. I enjoyed last year's [b:Nice Try, Jane Sinner|33413915|Nice Try, Jane Sinner|Lianne Oelke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500554660s/33413915.jpg|49155351] much more, for example. On a side note,
» The convoluted, messy, confusing plot.
The chronology of events in this book is very confusing. Cleves zips around from past to present without any warning, making it difficult for me to follow. There are some chapters that feel so messy and random that they read almost like stream-of-consciousness. We are constantly bombarded with jokes and sarcasm, and it takes forever to get to the actual meat of the story.
One thing I will say in the novel's favour is that the ending is quite satisfying if you manage to enjoy the book up until that point. I've seen some other DNF reviews complaining about an issue - an issue I might have complained about had I not finished it - but it is actually resolved well. The issue being
Some readers are going to love this book. It just didn't work for me.
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Starred reviews from Kirkus usually prompt me to take a second look at books I was about to pass by. Then when I read that this one was a high school comedy retelling of history - specifically that of Henry VIII and his six wives - I thought it sounded like a lot of fun. But I struggled just to make it through.
The book is narrated by Annie of Cleveland, or "Cleves". She befriends Henry at Overachievers Camp, dates him for 15 days, and lives to tell the tale. Which is more than can be said for some of this player's other girlfriends. Now Cleves and Henry are best friends. But after two of Henry's exes die, the evidence begins to pile up-- could Henry be a murderer?
To be honest, I thought the murder aspect of the plot leaned more toward ludicrous than the hilarious/meaningful it was shooting for. Maybe because the plot - and its timeline - were so messy that the whole thing left me scratching my head.
My problem with this book all comes down to two main things:
» It's not my brand of humour.
Humour is so subjective, and this one just did nothing for me. I generally prefer it when funny things and situations occur as the story unfolds. I laugh more when the author sets the scene and builds up to the punchline. I’m less of a fan when the characters just constantly talk in jokes, as they do here. It felt forced. And kind of annoying.
Don’t get me wrong, occasional jokes in the dialogue can be very funny, but Annie's constant need to be quirky and snarky left me feeling exhausted. I enjoyed last year's [b:Nice Try, Jane Sinner|33413915|Nice Try, Jane Sinner|Lianne Oelke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500554660s/33413915.jpg|49155351] much more, for example. On a side note,
Spoiler
the most I have ever laughed at a book was in [b:Faefever|2702704|Faefever (Fever, #3)|Karen Marie Moning|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437781062s/2702704.jpg|2728068] when Barrons walks in on Mac with the MacHalo and the whole Bad Moon Rising thing. It was so funny that I can remember literally rolling around with laughter (almost 8 years ago!). I would read a few more pages and have to pause to laugh again.» The convoluted, messy, confusing plot.
The chronology of events in this book is very confusing. Cleves zips around from past to present without any warning, making it difficult for me to follow. There are some chapters that feel so messy and random that they read almost like stream-of-consciousness. We are constantly bombarded with jokes and sarcasm, and it takes forever to get to the actual meat of the story.
One thing I will say in the novel's favour is that the ending is quite satisfying if you manage to enjoy the book up until that point. I've seen some other DNF reviews complaining about an issue - an issue I might have complained about had I not finished it - but it is actually resolved well. The issue being
Spoiler
the discrepancy between Cleves' feminist comments and her actual behaviour.Some readers are going to love this book. It just didn't work for me.
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