This was my first book inspired by Malian mythology and I'm excited to dive into the source material to see Mina Fears inspiration. I really enjoy Regnecy based fantasies and believed this was a unique take on the Trials trope. I'm so excited to see what else she brings to the Black fantasy world.

I liked this book ok, but I was expecting more. I wanted a YA fantasy fairytale retelling with high stakes, adventure, and romance, and it didn’t quite hit the mark. I could tell this was the author’s first book. The pacing was off, the world building was lacking, and the characters felt one dimensional. I needed more buildup for the romantic relationships instead of insta-love. It was still enjoyable to read, but I didn’t love it like I was expecting to. The the narrator, Sandra Okuboyejo, does an amazing job. It was a treat to listen to her voice the characters and bring the story to life.
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My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice level: 🌶️
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Read if you like:
▫️YA fantasy
▫️historical fiction
▫️mythical elements
▫️court politics
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Thank you to Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio, Mina Fears, and NetGalley for the ARC and ALC I received an advanced copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Amie is destroyed in respectable society and loses her inheritance from her parents after her sister betrays her. As an outcast, she is compelled to serve Princess Mariama and gains a fresh perspective on her. Because so many suitors have perished because of the princess, Amie has thought she is heartless. A suitor must pass a number of tests in order to gain the princess's hand in marriage because the emperor forbids anybody from marrying his daughter. The emperor's inability to understand reason and the trials' impossibility are the sole issues. The two females end up becoming unlikely friends.

At first, it seemed that this book would be a historical narrative with references to gods and other mystical concepts, but they would not actually appear on the page. As a result, I was taken aback when things suddenly altered and magic appeared on the pages. This thrilled me as a fantasy enthusiast, but it's also one of the aspects that made me feel a little conflicted. I was fascinated by the concepts underlying the magic in this realm, but I also wished there had been more background knowledge. I think the sequel might include those nuances in some cases, but in others, I think more time might have been spent delving further.

In the end, I find myself feeling torn about this book. Although I loved some parts, I can't help but wish there had occasionally been a little more nuance.

I enjoyed this audiobook narrator and I think they are the reason I was able to enjoy this as much as I did. Thank you to @mac and @flat for the ARC and ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads review linked below as well.

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. As usual, my review and my opinions are 100% my own.*

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really really wanted to like this book. I love me a deadly trial plotline, and based on the blurb thought this would be an interesting story at a minimum. Instead what I found was some pretty slow pacing for most of the book and characters that kind of tried to be interesting, but ultimately there was nothing that really set them apart. It was a nice try for a debut author and I would definitely be willing to read a future book, but sadly this one fell short for me.

Special thanks to the author & @flatiron_books for my gifted copy, and @macmillaudio for my gifted ALC‼️

“Everyone close to you suffers at one time or another.”

Mina Fears debut novel was quite interesting to read. A little slow in some parts which is expected with fantasy but the audio took me through it. There was no real excitement in the narrators voice so it took a minute for me to be pulled into the story. I honestly think it would be more enjoyable without it.

Deep within the imperial palace at Timbuktu, the book follows Amie recently betrayed by her sister, disinherited by her family then sent away to be a servant maid to Princess Mariama. During her stay at the palace Amie conjures a plan with her potential suitor Kader the traitor to save money and run away together. But when she discovers a magical map sending her and a few others on a death mission Amie soon realizes she’s been tricked and could lose everything including her life.

I thought the book had great world-building and the concept of the battle trails was very intriguing. Some of the characters were meh but Amie and Mariama well-developed. There were a few instances where the author could’ve went in depth with certain plot lines. For the most part there was an even mix of fantasy and suspense. I didn’t really see the romance aspects come off the page but there were themes of power, control, friendship, and how we define our destiny.

Overall, the book wasn’t really for me but doesn’t mean it’s not for you. “Readers can expect a classic fairy tale complete with fallen princesses, palace intrigue, doomed suitors, enchanted maps, and vengeful gods.”

The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears is a fun and engaging fantasy!
This was an entertaining and fun read. The story was interesting, and I particularly enjoyed the elements here!
I really loved how the world building was approached in this book. Very entertaining.
The story has an interesting plot and it was such a great read..
The characters were very well developed and highly entertaining.

all amie wants is to marry the boy she loves and raise a family, but a scandal leaves her ruined and working as a maid in the palace instead. her plan to run away and start a new life with her love is complicated by her growing closeness with the princess, who wants to end the impossible trials her father has set for her suitors.

i really, desperately wanted to love this—a historical fantasy inspired by a malian fairytale! with a queer protagonist!—but damn did the execution fall short. amie is potentially interesting, with different hopes and dreams than many YA heroines, but fears falls into the trap of telling instead of showing, and as a result i have no idea why i should root for her or anyone else. (i can tell you i’m not rooting for either love interest.) the characters’ motivations and relationships made no sense. the plot and pacing are all over the place (the first third read like an entirely different book than the last two-thirds) and the fight scenes actually left me cringing.

it’s a shame when there’s so much potential here. this is one of the rare occasions when i think a YA fantasy might have benefited from a higher page count to better explore these characters and their relationships.

I don't often read YA. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I've just aged out of the category. But I was willing to set that aside when the opportunity came to read this one. I don't think I had ever read a book inspired by Mali culture, so I was intrigued. While I did enjoy the cultural influences, I will say that the character development, plot, and pacing were subpar. There was the weird feeling that the story was progressing both too fast and not fast enough, and there was not nearly enough development of the magic system. I did not find myself caring what happened to the characters, especially the main one, which is a problem. The ending was also very unsatisfying. While I understand that this is the first book in a series, the ending was just did not give enough for me to consider reading the next book.

If you enjoy a dark fairy tale that reads like a bedtime story and feels different from other stories of this genre, then this will scratch that itch for you. This debut YA historical fantasy hit the mark in several places and is a refreshing addition to the genre. However it missed the mark in other places and I’m still undecided if I’ll want to read the next book.

Amie is the disgraced daughter of a noble tradesman in 14th century Mali. She is forced into servitude of the Princess of Mali but soon discovers that the Princess is not what she seems. Her father, the Emperor of Mali, is a ruthless ruler and father and forces her daughter’s suitors to endure deadly trials to attempt to win his daughter’s hand in marriage. Together Amie and the princess concoct a plan to end the trials and achieve their mutual goals.

This novel was a refreshing introduction to the culture and folklore of Mali, one that I was not familiar with. It was exciting and vividly written. However I didn’t get quite enough character development for me to fall in love with the characters. I think I like Amie by the end? I needed more from other supporting characters like her sister and the princess to really get to know them and root for them. I think there was a lot of potential for redemption arcs and romantic side-plots but it didn’t get built up enough for me as the reader.

I want my stories to show, not tell. This book did too much telling for me—I didn’t get to put the puzzle pieces together as the reader as far as plot twists. Motives and tension were spelled out for the reader and while they were interesting to read, it didn’t feel as fun having things explained to me. For this reason this book gets staunchly placed in the YA category for me. Fantasy elements felt scarce for me as well; the first 50-55% of the book reads and feels like historical fiction. But the introduction of the fantasy elements felt sparse and not fleshed out enough. I wanted and needed more from both the historical fiction and fantasy elements to feel fully invested in either facet of the story.

Bottom line: not bad but not great either. This series has the potential to be really amazing with just a little more meat on its bones. 3/5 for being entertaining!

My deepest gratitude and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Flatiron Books, for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Absolutely fantastic storytelling… until you reach the end. The readers now have to use their imaginations to create their own ending, as this is a standalone. I was certain this would be a 5 star ya fantasy. A unique fairytale I had yet to experience. I was engrossed in the plot. Everything that happened to the girls. The love triangle, the plot twist, the betrayal. But the biggest betrayal of all was that ending. No. I want the actual ending. I want the delicious storytelling that the author weaved throughout the rest of the book to continue. What happened? How was the final conflict resolved? Well, unless this debut author decides to make it a duology… the world may never know.

Let me just get what didn't work for me out of the way. The pacing in The Scorpion Queen is incredibly slow. While the elements I was intrigued in were announced before this, I kept wondering when the hook, the premise of the plot, would roll into action. We see the cruelty, we see the ways in which the trials make the Princess feel like a monster. Yet at the same time, there isn't a lot of outlet for these feelings until around 30%. And after that I still had a bit of trouble with the pacing. The action, the hook, occurred, but then I still had some issues.

This was an incredibly good read! The story was beautifully written and the characters were flushed out really well! Definitely worth the read!

Aminata "Amie" Aqit, is a sixteen year old living in imperial Mali starting her first day of servitude at the royal palace. Amie is distraught as due to his sister's lies her engagement to the boy she loves has ended and her reputation is in ruins. The wages from her new job are to be used to pay back the bride price her father had spent on her. Having grown up as the daughter of a successful merchant, Amie is having trouble adjusting to life serving Princess Mariama, the emperor's daughter. Princess Mariama, is haunted by all the death and destruction in the kingdom in her honor. Her father has possible suitors compete in an impossible set of trials. Amie becomes increasingly closer to the princess while she plots for a way to reunite with her love, Kader. One day she discovers a way to end the trials but it will require a deadly journey.

The Scorpion Queen is a great read for teens who are trying to get into fantasy books for the first time. It's evenly paced with prose that's not verbose or bogged down by metaphors. There's magic and gods sprinkled throughout but despite the comp to Children of Blood and Bone this isn't a tale of different groups of magic powered beings battling it out. With a straightforward plot it's fairly easy to follow while still managing to throw in some action and twists. Things ended up going in a different direction than I had expected. Readers may be frustrated with the abrupt and rather ambiguous cliffhanger ending that leaves many threads open for interpretation.

really really interesting!!

mina fears' the scorpion queen is based on a Malian fairytale, and follows the disinherited daughter of a well-off merchant, Amie, as she is thrust into servitude to Princess Mariama of Mali. Mariama has watched 99 suitors be challenged to a series of fatal trials, and with the help of Amie and two of Mariama's maids, the four begin to develop a plan to ensure that no other suitor shall lose his life to the massive kettle in which the last 99 men have been boiled alive publically. Amie wishes for nothing more than to escape Timbuktu and run away with her love, Kader, and she quickly finds herself torn between her desire for a chance at freedom and a happy life with her lover, and her drive to end the bloodshed that haunts the princess' nightmares.

above all, I loved the nuance of this book. i find that dark fantasies can sometimes latch onto systems of black-and-white thinking and i really enjoyed the moral ambiguity both in the plot and the characters themselves. the cast of characters felt unique, and i became hooked very quickly, reading 65% of this in one sitting!

really really cool read!

thank you so much to netgalley and to flatiron books for the advanced reader copy of the gorgeous new limited edition sprayed edge copy of this book!!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

"Once the daughter of a prosperous salt merchant Amie’s life was cruelly overturned in a matter of months. At sixteen, Amie now finds herself disinherited, framed for a scandalous crime, and forced to serve Princess Mariama of Mali . Her father, Emperor Sulyeman, has created a series of impossible trials for his daughter's suitors. When they fail, he publicly boils them alive, littering Mariama’s path to marriage with ninety-nine corpses."

Amie was a great character to read, though I got the feeling that this was Fears' first published work. It read like a very first novel, and that's not a bad thing. It just had some plot issues and character issues that would be solved with a little experience. There isn't anything listed for a sequel, but the book left the story with such an open ending, that I can't imagine a sequel isn't in the works.

All in all, I'll read the sequel if there is one coming. But The Scorpion Queen was a big ol' meh for me.

I tried and tried to get into the story, but ultimately, I gave up. This is a debut, and it definitely reads like one. I could never get connected to the characters, and it annoyed me how they kept making the most idiotic decisions. There are elements of a really interesting plot here, but unfortunately, as is, it’s not a book for me.

I appreciate the eARC sent from NetGalley and Flatiron Books. All opinions are mine alone.

I actually liked this book more than I thought I would. Usually, when I read a synopsis of a new author's work, it doesn't give good details about what I'm getting into. Either it's overselling the novel, or it missed the mark completely. I didn't get that with this book. The Scorpion Queen was straight to the point and didn't stray too far from its mission. However, there were some pacing issues, particularly in the book's first half. It could have been evenly distributed throughout the narrative. Additionally, the book lacked the Fantasy elements I was hoping for, which may disappoint readers expecting a more fantastical setting or plot.

The reveal kept me listening. The plot twist was not what I was expecting, and it made you question who the villains were the entire time.

It wasn't a bad book. It has its lulls here and there, but it is still pretty enjoyable. A cliffhanger was produced at the end, but I have no idea if there will be a sequel or not. I'd pick it up to finish out the story if there were.

I'm always excited to check out debut authors, so I jumped at the chance for this one. It was good. It felt a little more YA than I assumed it would be (which is completely on me)

I think the writing was good, but room for some improvement. I did like the story and I did like Amie. I think she was a great FMC and I think there is a lot of potential for growth with her.

While this definitely won't be in my top read of the year, I do think there are those that will really enjoy it.

I truly don’t think I’ve gotten THIS sucked into a YA fantasy, THIS fast in a longggggg time! 🦂

If you’ve been following me for a while, one of my biggest obstacles when it comes to any fantasy is complicated and convoluted world building. But from page one, the world building of this novel has had such an ease to it (while also being not boring nor lacking any detail, which is a very delicate line to toe in this genre). Needless to say I’m absolutely loving @minafears writing!!!!

⭐️THE SCORPION QUEEN, out JANUARY 28th⭐️

Thank you to @flatiron_books for the review eARC copy of this book💕

I will definitely pick up the sequel, I can't wait to see where the story goes. If you love any stories with old gods, mysteries to unravel and great character development. I would recommend you pick this up!