This was SO MUCH FUN. I will never look at Scrabble in the same way again (chess players could NEVER) and tbh the only explanation is that Hanna Alkaf is a bonafide word genius.

QUEEN OF THE TITLES combines wordplay, rivalry, and a potential murder to create a truly unique Malaysian YA contemporary. It follows Najwa, a Scrabble prodigy returning to a tournament in the wake of her best friend Trina's shocking death. But when mysterious messages appear on Trina's famous Instagram page, Najwa starts to suspect one of her fellow Scrabble competitors might be hiding a deadly secret.

Is it a little predictable? Sure. Are these kids melodramatic as heck? Of course. Is the ending a slight letdown? Well, yeah. But did I enjoy every single second? YEP YEP YEP.

It's fast-paced, confidently written, and despite the heavier topics of grief/ambition/pressure, it never stopped being FUN. I adored the Malaysian setting, and Najwa is my friend now. That's just how it works. It was witty and twisty and delightful, and I don't hesitate in recommending Alkaf's newest at all.

2.5/5 stars. I was excited to pick up Queen of the Tiles, a thriller/mystery about a girl at a Scrabble tournament, sounds fun! However, the mystery part of the book was a little slow and dragged on a bit.

I loved the authors look into the main characters mental health and the portrayal of mental health in this book. Her descriptions were unique and seemed very accurate. I liked how she used the description of ants in Najwa's mind to describe anxiety. It was unique and an accurate portrayal of the feelings that the thoughts you have when experiencing anxiety and panic attacks.

The mystery/thriller part of the novel, however, was predictable, and not really a mystery. I feel the book would have been better written as a contemporary, with the main character coming to terms with the death of her friend, and learning to cope with her anxiety, while returning to the Scrabble tournament scene. Instead, we got some intrigue, with a mystery dragging on, when not rally necessary.

I did like that this book was not set in typical USA or UK location, being in Malaysia, with a focus on a Muslim main character. It was nice to see a different location and character in the narrative. That being said, it just didn't save the book for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf follows Najwa. Najwa has just entered her first Scrabble competition since the mysterious death of her best friend. It is the very same competition that Trina died during last year. Najwa hopes by doing this competition she will have some closure. Trina was known as the Queen of the Tiles, and her throne remains vacant since her death. All of Najwa’s friends are eager to take her place. When Trina’s Instagram account suddenly becomes active again and begins posting cryptic messages implying Trina’s death might have actually been a murder, Najwa is dead set on discovering who is behind the posts, and the possible murder. She is adamant that the culprit is someone in the competition.

This is a super quick, fun to read mystery. The premise is very unique and smart. I learned quite a few new words for Scrabble!

Okay, Netflix needs to turn this into a mini-series, stat! First of all, it's a murder mystery set at an annual Scrabble championship. How absolutely nerdy-awesome is that for a setting?! Even better, clues are revealed in word puzzles. (Are they called anagrams if the mixed-up letters don't really form words?) Watching protagonist Najwa Bakri look at a jumble of letters and figure out what they spell: what I would give to see that play out on screen! And finally, it's set in Malaysia, with Malay words casually integrated into characters' dialogue. As a word nerd who loves mysteries and who grew up in Southeast Asia, this is a book I wish so badly I could have read as a teen, and I am so thrilled today's teens get to experience this for themselves.

Queen of the Tiles is a word nerd's dream of a murder mystery. Beyond the clues being word puzzles, the story also shows us glimpses of the Scrabble games. Just like The Queen's Gambit showed non-chess-players how awesome chess strategies can be, Queen of the Tiles introduces us to a world where placing one word immediately below another can unveil multiple combinations of two-letter words that end up doubling or tripling your score. It shows us how a player may put in a made-up word on purpose, to force their opponent to do something on their turn that will open up an even bigger opportunity for the first player to score. Seriously: I would watch a documentary on this; I would watch a CGI sequence of these Scrabble tiles clicking into place while teens eye each other and plot their next move. 

The central mystery revolves around Najwa's best friend, Trina. Trina was beautiful, brilliant at Scrabble, and Instagram-famous. She was adored as a superstar Scrabble player, which, honestly is awesome in itself to imagine such fame, and widely known as the Queen of the Tiles. She dies suddenly in a match against long-time opponent Josh, and her death was deemed to be due to natural causes. A year later, Najwa returns to the Scrabble tournament circuit to compete in the same tournament. Trina's death the year before casts a pallor over the tournament, but most of the buzz is around how the title of Monarch of the Tiles is now up for grabs. Then Trina's long-dormant Instagram account posts an update, hinting that there was something suspicious about her death. And Najwa, along with some of Trina's other friends, investigates her final hours. 

Najwa is a fantastic protagonist. I love how the author incorporates Najwa's Scrabble brain into her regular thinking: Najwa often thinks in Scrabble tiles. Her reflections on events include a single-word summary of the situation, along with that word's Scrabble score. She also says each person can be encapsulated in a single word, and then drops complex words with such nonchalant chill that I wish my vocabulary had such range. I also like how the author explores her trauma over Trina's death, and her complicated feelings about having been in Trina's shadow. We see a bit of Najwa's experiences in therapy, and some of the skills she learned to cope, and I love how natural the author makes all of it feel. There's still so much stigma around mental health, that it's good to see the value of therapy portrayed in this novel.

I also absolutely adore the cast of characters. Most of Trina and Najwa's friends, who also happen to be prime suspects in Trina's death, are amongst the Scrabble elite. (One of them, Ben, is known in the community as Singapore Ben, to differentiate him from KL Ben, who is much lower ranked.) As brilliant as Najwa is, these other characters stand toe-to-toe with her on the Scrabble field, and it's just a joy to see all these teens chat about love, dating, family, and other teen topics, while casually also doing word games over snacks. 

Honestly, I can gush about this book all day. It's probably my favourite read of the year so far. I highly recommend it on so many levels, and if it ever does get turned into a mini-series, I would binge it that very weekend. I devoured this book in a single day, and already I want more!

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.