Alright, this book was an absolute borefest. It sounds extremely promising. A story about a nameless girl, who rises to power from streets and has no concept on how to rule, which checks off a lot of boxes for me. I love stories about queens, who come from peasantry and come into their power. However, this was not that story.

Coin is from the nameless class, who are more or less peasants without a home and resort to thieving to support themselves. They remain nameless for their entire life as a sign of their rank. There are also the Legals, middle-class, and Royals, who are nobility. The line of succession for the Seriden throne is determined by the last monarch, who utters the name of whoever he wants to be the next ruler and then a black crown tattoo appears on said person's arm. Imagine Coin's surprise when she discovers this tattoo on herself.

Attempting to save her friend, Hat, from execution, Coin reveals that she is the bearer of the tattoo and whisked away to court, where her presence creates quite a stir. The nameless are not supposed to be named as royalty, but the court must accept Coin as their temporary queen. However, they propose to Coin that she remains as their queen until the Assassins' Festival, where the crown tattoo and the power to be the sovereign can be transferred to whoever bests the bearer. Of course, this is not as simple as it appears and Coin discovers that her past and identity are not as clearcut as she always believed.

Overall, the story and the characters are just not compelling. Coin is completely a Mary Sue and I did get a feel for her character at all. I know she's a thief, done 'terrible' things to survive, but this is a backstory that repeatedly is told to the reader, but her skills and knowledge never really come into play. Sure, she reveals her tattoo to save her friend, but that's the only way that her past becomes involved in this story. The side characters are also entirely forgettable. There's Glenquartz, which is an absolutely ridiculous name. He's a guard at the court with a quite tragic past and he helps Coin for no apparent reason. Esther, the daughter of the dead king, also plays a significant role but again, there's no explanation for her motivation either.

As I already said, the story and characters were not compelling. The world-building leaves a lot to be desired and the dialogue could be cliche. At the end of the story, there was nothing that I particularly liked about the characters or the story. It just felt flat.

No one has any idea how excited that I got accepted for an arc on Netgalley. So, I thank you Netgalley and Crown Books for the opportunity to read Nameless Queen prior to publication. This review is an honest review.
I am a sucker for anything with royalty in it, so this book was right up my alley. It sucked me in from the beginning and interested me about the caste system. I did dock a star because I didn’t feel like the caste system and world building were built that well, but you can somewhat understand it still.
We start off with a dying king and him giving the name of his heir. The only problem is that his heir is Nameless and it is impossible. Coin, the Nameless heir has two options: accept it or run. But, with the way events turn out she accepts it and at first people of skeptical. They do not want a Nameless Queen, it is impossible. She must do what the Royal Council says, but will she?
I definitely recommend Nameless Queen. It’s fast and engaging. Coin reminds me a lot of Celaena from Throne of Glass with her wit and cunning tongue. Pick this up, you will not regret it.

I loved this book!! Rebecca McLaughlin created a world I could really connect with coming from a poorer family. I loved Coin’s character development and the way she grows as the Nameless Queen. I can’t wait for book 2!

Rich and unique in world-building, McLaughlin has created an entertaining tale perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Victoria Aveyard.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley..
In this Kingdom you have three classes of people: the royals, the legals, and the nameless.. The main character is a nameless girl who call herself Coin. She has grown up on the streets, stealing and grifting. When one morning she wakes up with a tattoo of a crown on her arm. This means that she is meant to be the next ruler of the Kingdom. Now she knows that not one of the Royals wants a nameless to be on the throne and if she comes forward their is a good chance she will be killed. When Coin is discovered she is taken to the palace and put in the dungeon until the other rulers decide what to do with her..
I struggled a little bit in the beginning to connect with Coin and the other characters, but by the middle that had changed.. We find out some royal secrets, and there is a mystery to be solved, and Coin has to figure out a way to keep her throne..
Then at the end this thing happens.. and i was like "oh no this can't happen"" then I held my breath........
Spoiler alert


and it all ended well. what i was hoping to happen did.. I don't know if this is supposed to be a standalone or if we will be seeing more of Coin and her friends but I would read more by Rebecca McLaughlin especially if we can see this world again..

I really liked the concept of the book. The class basis is genius and unique, however the book fell flat for me. I know stories are supposed to be magical and make the extraordinary real, but some of the things ( like Coin being able to learn things almost instantaneously) were just too incredulous to make the story believable. The world is unique, but overall it just did not work for me. Definitely a lot of potential there, just not executed very well.

The Nameless Queen is filled with so much depth. The story takes place in the city of Seriden and follows a young homeless girl with no name except the self designation, Coin. In Seriden the title of King or Queen is passed on just before death with the current ruler saying the name of the future ruler. At that time a crown tattoo as well as certain magical gifts pass to the named heir.

The first layer encountered is the socio-economic divide between the three classes of Seriden. You have the Royals. These people come from families who have passed the crown back and forth throughout the years. For the most part they make up the Council that leads the city. Next you have the Legals. These people would be considered middle class by our standards. They have jobs, homes, and food but things are not always what they seem. Not all Legals are created equal but all Legals are considered citizens of Seriden. Lastly you have the Nameless. The Nameless have no home, no job, they must steal or con for the food and clothing they have, they are not considered citizens, and they have no names other then the ones they give themselves. So, without a name how does a Nameless girl end up the next heir and with the crown tattoo?

Being Nameless is a lonely existence. You can only rely on yourself. You need to fight and work hard for every little thing you obtain. It can be risky to develop relationships or friendships with others. The slightest infraction can get you arrested and the Royals would rather execute you then waste time caring for a prisoner. Despite this, Coin forms an alliance with a younger girl called Hat. Throughout the story you can see the way Coin constantly keeps Hat at arms length while at the same time going to great lengths to ensure Hat’s safety. It is during one such instance that Coin’s crown tattoo is revealed and she is outed as the heir apparent.

The final layer is an understanding of what Shakespeare himself made so famous, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Basically a name is merely a label. It does not define us. We are defined by our actions, who we are, and how we present ourselves. Coin had a chance to learn her real name but learning that name would not change where she came from, how she had lived her life, or the person she chose to become.

Rebecca McLaughlin tells an engaging story. She built a wonderful world with enchanting characters. These contracts are presented in a manner to make the reader think hard about their own life without getting in the way of the story being told. I enjoyed the Nameless Queen and highly recommend it.

If someone where to give a class on a modern day Mary Sue, this book would be required reading. 'Coin' is an accomplished thief with all the moxie of a girl three times her age. She is able to still the gold fillings from a marks mouth while they are chewing on a pail of nuts without anyone the wiser. She can beat up street thugs and demand sanctuary from the grapevine operators, all without breaking a sweat.

She is a Nameless, but by some stroke of luck the dying king names her Queen. Oh and did I mention those come with mysterious powers she is able to master in two pages. Oh and did I mention she is a snarky sarcastic queenling with everyone who she is supposed to be scared of because they hold her life in their hands. But you know who has time for al that when you are being the best heroine the world has ever seen.

I honestly could not finish this book. Sure I love fantasy but this just goes beyond the pail. The author makes a point of repeatedly mentioning the Nameless, the Legals and the Royals but never explains what or who they are, or how they came to be. Its almost as if everything including world building and the story take a back seat just to introduce us to Coin and show us how badass she is.

One minute she can barely feed herself and the next minute she is throwing up complex illusions and swiping pillows in the royal palace.

I guess I wouldn't mind this being a character driven story if the everything else had been well done, but sadly not. The story starts rolling 4 pages in, and its like L.A. traffic, stop and go without nothing but dandelion fluff in-between.

This was such a promising start, but sadly got lost on its way to 'Next Katniss' land.

I wanted to love this story based on the concept and I pushed myself to read 50%. The world building was not there, character development was severely lacking, and there was no relationship connections. I even wanted to like the main character but after 50% I knew very little about her or her past. This book was just not for me.

I really loved this book! Coin is a well-written main character; she is snarky, tough, and has a great arc throughout the story. She reminded me a bit of one of my favorite characters, Sage, from “The False Prince”, though she is her own unique person. The side characters were great, and I was fully invested in the book as I wanted to find out what happened to everyone.

While I was briefly confused once or twice about some aspects of the world of the book, I really enjoyed the tension and politics of the society. It was really interesting to read about the Nameless, though I felt bad for them and I wanted to fix their place in society.

There is no romantic subplot, which I was initially a little disappointed about because I usually prefer books with a little romance. However, the story was a strong one and I didn’t feel like it was lacking anything without a romance. If anything, a romance would probably have distracted the reader from Coin’s journey, so I’m glad the author made that choice.

I enjoyed the plot twists a lot, and I hope there will eventually be another book about Coin! I’m not sure if there will be, and the ending was satisfactory for a stand-alone, but I think there’s room for a sequel. (Also, it would be fun to see what kind of guy would be a good match for Coin!)

If you enjoy reading YA books with sarcastic characters, royalty, and plenty of twists and turns, you will enjoy this book! I highly recommend it!

Content: mild swearing, including made-up swear words. No romance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This novel was an enjoyable read and it not a love story, which makes it all the more interesting. Coin is an interesting character, for who would expect a Nameless to become a Queen? However, she cannot be nameless since the king had to give a name for the magic to pass on to another. Coin has enemies from her life on streets and now encounters more in the palace, for the Council wants her to "peacefully" give up her tattoo on the Assassins Festival. Coin has no issues there, but things are not as they seem. Nameless are going missing and Coin wants to find out why. Coin gets some unlikely allies, but her troubles are only just beginning. She will have to become more than who she is if she wishes to join the Nameless with the Legals and Royals. Coin will also discover truths about herself and others and will have to make a choice of doing what is right or accepting what is.

I received a free copy of NAMELESS QUEEN by Rebecca McLaughlin in exchange for an honest review. In this high-fantasy world, magic and law exist for the top two tiers of society: the royalty and the legals. The bottom tier of society, the nameless, is immune to magic, and, though the laws do not apply to them, they aren’t protected by the laws, either. Basically, the nameless cannot hold jobs and are subject to “execution” for any reason. When the king dies, the throne unexpectedly and impossibly passes to a seventeen-year-old nameless girl. The nameless girl is now queen, but her throne grants her no power or rights; instead, she is now in more danger than ever. Can the impossible queen serve as a pawn for the counsel, will she have to turn over her position to someone with rights, or will she be able to achieve sovereignty?

This was a great book. I highly recommend it to fans of magical political fantasy and to fans of stories exploring the difficulties/rebellion/liberation/elevation of slaves and the otherwise downtrodden. Though a sequel is not guaranteed, the conclusion leaves room for another adventure.

#NamelessQueen #NetGalley

She's a thief that lives on the street. She's one of the nameless. They have so little value they are not even given a name. So when the King dies, she doesn't really care. But then she finds out that the next heir named is not at the palace...

Crown Books for Young Readers and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published January 7th.

She has the tattoo they are looking for and they take her to the castle. She begins her time there in the dungeon while they debate how this could be true. An orphan raised nameless can't become queen. But she possesses the tattoo.

They eventually move her into the palace but the general there intends to kill her to get the tattoo so she can rule. There is an event where people sign up to fight her in hopes to gain the tattoo. It's deadly. But most don't know she has a sister with the same tattoo. The General does though. When she can't beat the Nameless one, she stabs the sister trying to get her tattoo.

This is a busy story with nameless missing from the streets to another army being built up. The general wants to kill all the nameless and only the present queen stands in her way.

Who will win the final battle?

Thanks to NetGalley for advanced access.

Nameless Queen presented an exciting summary of royalty, dueling, and magic - the story of Coin, a thief and grifter who, despite being a member of the lowest class (the Nameless) in a hierarchical society, somehow ends up "the impossible queen." The characters were likable, and there were a few villains who brought enough strife and drama to the plot. I appreciated Coin's development, as she embraced her values and decided to take a stand. The story emphasized the importance of family and explored the idea of identity.

I thought that it read kind of slow, while at the same time the storyline seemed to leap all over - if that makes sense? In other words, we are given an intriguing set up where the author took the time to somewhat lay out events and characters, but we are unable to really delve into Coin's world and the society described. Overall, it would have benefited from more detail and elaboration, in the sense that I wanted to learn about this world and the characters by show, and not tell.

For example, I would have liked to see characters much more fleshed out, including one who was a sort of fatherly or uncle-like ally to Coin. We did receive some background info about him, but I thought that like other descriptions in this novel, it was more tell, rather than show. Like when Coin and him meet, he is a Royal guard who imprisons her, but then almost from then on he is helping her navigate her new position as heir with advice and showing concern? Like did he just like her personality from pretty much after the moment they met? The characterization was bland. Also, besides the one clear antagonist, there was one character who was pretending for at least half the novel and one who I was unclear about. It bothered me a little that the opposing forces did not really make me feel anything.

An uncomplicated debut with a slightly flat narrative. I would maybe designate this toward the younger side of YA.

Putting a name on or to things tends to make it easier to manage them, as demonstrated through events in Rebecca McLaughlin's Nameless Queen. 

The power that comes with the throne is magical,  but it's passed down through the utterance of the chosen successor's name and the appearance of a crown tattoo upon their arm, which is why the people of Seriden were wildly surprised that the king named one of the Nameless instead of his daughter, the heir apparent. Coin, the Nameless young woman chosen by the king to take up the crown after his death, is part of a class of citizens far below the notice of the Royals and Legals; having survived over the years through her cunning, ability to read people, and light fingers, Coin now faces an entirely new challenge behind the palace walls and in the wake of the indignation evident among Royals as she endeavors to secure a livable future for herself. 

A fairly fast read, this fantasy story has some good potential in its premise and world-building and offers an opportunity to discuss some serious societal issues that are raised and addressed within the text. The trajectory of the story is quite predictable and is a rather slow burn toward more meaningful changes or action; it would be very interesting to get further context and background for the world than what was presented as the three social classes and trade between kingdoms were intriguing in their dynamics. Coin is a decently interesting character who exhibits smarts and strength as she grows throughout the trials she faces and the hampered power that is thrust upon her. There was a slight lack of refinement to the narrative with sections of jarring cuts between points of action or narration on the page that made it seem like you missed a chunk of story.

Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

I wanted to love Nameless Queen so much, especially since the synopsis sounds AMAZING. But when I finished this book I didn't know how I felt, and now its a few days post-finishing Nameless Queen and I am still not sure.

Nameless Queen started off really strong. I wanted to get to know these characters, this world and the different social classes. But by the middle I was bored. But I wasn't bored enough to stop reading. I am going to chalk this up to it being a "me" issue since I have seen tons of glowing reviews for this book.

I do plan on checking out the second book to Nameless Queen when it's published to see how Rebecca wraps everything up. If you're looking for a quick fantasy novel with strong female leads, I say give this book a shot!

The Nameless Queen.

A fascinating read that I couldn’t put down from the time I picked it up. I tend to be a quick reader, so I picked up this read at 10:13am and I finished just now at 1:39pm. I kept telling myself to put it down and to savor it but I couldn’t. I just kept drinking in the pages as I went and I loved every single minute of it. Of course this sounds like many other fantasies I’ve read especially ones with Queens and Magic but it was also just good. There are many “nameless” Queens in books, ones that come from the ashes, the thief’s, the misfits, etc… but the Nameless Queen was great in and of itself.

I absolutely loved Coin’s character as she was a great arrogant thief who didn’t want to rise above what she knew. She just wanted to keep going protecting her family, friends, and everything she’s ever known but as usual she was thrown into chaos. In The Nameless Queen she was thrown into royalty by becoming the Queen. She fought with her captors and the royals every chance she had and she didn’t let up. In many books we find that the person who becomes royal from the bottom usually gives in to someone at some point in time but Coin didn’t. She never once changed what she was fighting for and really showed her true colors when she began working with Esther (the heir apparent).

The girls in my school love reading the typical “girl meets boy” type of books but they also LOVE a fantastic heroine who beats on everyone around her (in a good way). They love seeing a tough as nails woman lead the book (and it’s people) into the future in whatever way she sees fit. And it today’s day and age it is hard pressed to find books like these unless you do your research. I am so glad I joined NetGalley and I can find these gems before they come out so I know what to get my students. This book belongs on any book shelf no matter where it is.

Thank you!

When the blurb said perfect for fans of Everless or the Red Queen I knew this book was going to rock my world and rock my world it did. Nameless, is so on the lower level of citizens that she doesn't even get a name. They are disrespected and unwanted. But the tattoo on her arm? It means she is Queen. How is that possible? But it's the truth and she will roam the royal halls and hold this crown. But can she survive this? You will have to read to find out.

The world building in this is amazing and Coin and her crew will make you laugh and smile and cry. You can't help but rooting for them. I am on the edge of my seat because I need the rest of this series right now. I cannot wait for the next one.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me give a honest review.

This book to me felt like I was rereading The Red Queen at times. Especially with the 3 different types of people, Royals, legals and nameless.

I felt like the story was good but it lacked detail. Detail that readers like myself need in order to understand how things work. I’ve read stories where Aura’s were apart of the world but is it the same type of thing in this story? How do they work? What needs to happen in order to read/feel someone’s Aura? The author lacked detail in that area.

I also thought the world descriptions could’ve been a little better. Again, more detail. Although from what the author DID describe, the world sounds pretty amazing.

I found I enjoyed the characters. I was of course annoyed with the main character a few times (like almost every book I read haha) but I liked her.

The story itself was actually good! There were a couple instances where I felt like I was rushing through it just to finish the pages, but it started to pick up and caught my interest about 55% through the book and that’s when I realized I liked it.

I’m not sure if this is going to be a stand alone, only because I felt like there was room to add another book. I would definitely recommend this book.

3.5/5 ⭐️’s

This book drew me in from the get go!!! I throughly enjoyed it, especially the world building and the plot. I felt perhaps the characters could have been a little more fleshed out, but it didn’t deter me from continuing to read it !