Majesty // An Unexpected Conclusion

Author: Katharine McGee
Published On: Sept. 1st, 2020
Publisher: PRH Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA, Alt. Reality, Romance
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Synopsis:

Power is intoxicating. Like first love, it can leave you breathless. Princess Beatrice was born with it. Princess Samantha was born with less. Some, like Nina Gonzalez, are pulled into it. And a few will claw their way in. Ahem, we’re looking at you Daphne Deighton.

As America adjusts to the idea of a queen on the throne, Beatrice grapples with everything she lost when she gained the ultimate crown. Samantha is busy living up to her “party princess” persona…and maybe adding a party prince by her side. Nina is trying to avoid the palace–and Prince Jefferson–at all costs. And a dangerous secret threatens to undo all of Daphne’s carefully laid “marry Prince Jefferson” plans.

A new reign has begun….

Wow. I’m just like…..in shock?

After reading American Royals a few months ago, Majesty quickly became one of my most anticipated fall releases. I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I loved the first book. I quite literally just finished this sequel about twenty minutes ago, and am just not sure where I stand.

**This is going to be hard to talk about without spoilers, because everything, and I mean everything, turns on its head in this book. I’m going to do my best, but if you are really keen to read this book without knowing small plot points, maybe skip this review for now!!**

Before I get started with my likes/dislikes, let me just say that if you’ve read the first book and you think you know where this one is going, trust me, you don’t.

• The length. In all honesty, when I picked this book up initially, my first thought was “damn girl why you so small?”. I was really looking forward to the DRAMA to play out, and the fact that we follow four perspectives AND only had about 350 pages in this book to wrap it all up stressed me out. In the end, though, I’m glad things moved pretty quickly and am thankful that McGee didn’t drag out these long, painful relationships but instead got straight to the point.
• The female-centered narrative: I think at first I was frustrated that we didn’t have an inside perspective on the boys – like, they’re the cause of the majority of drama! What are they thinking! Gimme the scoop! But later, I fully came to appreciate that this is a story about females and their growth and learning to love and accept themselves, and that was super refreshing!
• The world-building: I will forever be entranced by this fake idea of American royalty. The little comments, like how New York City is just a “regional shipping city” and the fact that the statue of liberty remained in Washington DC “where it belonged” continuously reminded me that this is a fantasy story. I think I’ll always be fond of it just because it’s so unique in this aspect, and I found the idea of this world just absolutely wild.

• The irrelevancy of the first book. This duology suffers from what I am now dubbing “The ACOMAF Effect”. Basically, the events of the second book render the entire plot of the first book absolutely pointless. Other than a few developmental points that continue into the second book, the first book will pretty much be irrelevant.
• The relationships from the first book…fall apart. If you were at all invested in any of the relationships from the first book, get ready to be disappointed. Pretty much every single relationship in this book is different from the original, and it’s frustrating that we spent all that time in book one coming to care for the pairs only to see them totally squashed.
• The similarities between the girls: I know we’re writing from four different perspectives, so it’s really hard to distinguish one from the other, but I felt like this one was just all about their romantic relationships. They all felt really similar and at the end all came to similar conclusions about their lives, which was fine, but didn’t lend well to me connecting to each one individually, since they were all kind of interchangeable.
• Daphne: Still the Worst. She’s actually the most horrible person on the planet, and I didn’t think she got nearly what she deserved. Also, Jeff is an idiot. There, I said it. This was probably the most unsatisfying of all the girls endings. It felt like being hung over the edge of a cliff and waiting for the fall, only for it to never come. Just, ugh.
• The ending: I guess it’s better to be left wanting more than wanting less, but I just feel like this story isn’t over yet. I want more. What happens to Connor? What about Sam, Nina, and even Ethan? Can we get a Himari story, even though she’s also kinda evil? Like I just am not ready to be done with this world yet and hope that we get more stories in it.

Don’t get me wrong, I read this in less than 24 hours. Despite it’s misgivings, this book is wildly addictive and just an overall fun story to read. While I’m left feeling a bit disappointed by how things turned out, I still hold this duology in my heart, and will definitely give McGee’s next works a try!

Rating:

(Maybe more of a 3.5.).

Have you read this duology? What did you think of the ending?

Thanks guys! xx