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"item_title" : "Queen of the Tiles",
"item_author" : [" Hanna Alkaf "],
"item_description" : "They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen's Gambit in this stunning...unforgettable (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages. CATALYST13 pointsnoun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend's death, it's with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It seems that even though Najwa is trying to change, she's not ready to give up Trina just yet. But the same can't be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All's fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina's formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina's death wasn't as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it. As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it's up to Najwa to find out who's behind these mysterious posts--not just to save Trina's memory, but to save herself.",
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They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen's Gambit in this "stunning...unforgettable" (Publishers Weekly) thriller set in the world of competitive Scrabble, where a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.CATALYST 13 points noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend's death, it's with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It seems that even though Najwa is trying to change, she's not ready to give up Trina just yet. But the same can't be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All's fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina's formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina's death wasn't as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it. As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it's up to Najwa to find out who's behind these mysterious posts--not just to save Trina's memory, but to save herself.
Malaysian author Hanna Alkaf’s Queen of the Tiles is a raw, moving exploration of complicated grief, a celebration of teenage determination and a nail-biting murder mystery set at a cutthroat Scrabble tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
At last year’s Word Warrior Weekend competition, Trina Low, the titular Queen of the Tiles, made it all the way to the final round before she slumped over her board—dead. Najwa Bakri, Trina’s best friend, has been experiencing traumatic flashbacks, depression and memory loss ever since. “It’s as if Trina’s death cracked me open, and now pieces of me keep escaping, scattering themselves everywhere,” she explains.
Seeing a therapist has been helpful for Najwa, as will be attending this year’s Word Warrior Weekend. Along with ensuring that no one will tarnish Trina's legacy, Najwa is also intent on proving that she is still an accomplished Scrabble player in her own right. This year, it’s Najwa who will become Queen of the Tiles.
Of course, other competitors have the same idea, setting the stage for round after round of precisely crafted, often mesmerizing gameplay. Queen of the Tiles brims with the skills a player must possess to become a Scrabble champion: sharp focus, quick thinking and a prodigious vocabulary. Every chapter opens with an esoteric word (plus its definition and Scrabble point value, natch). Alkaf builds an immersive, complex world but doesn’t stop there, layering in a compelling locked-room whodunit, too.
Indeed, the Word Warrior Weekend is upended when Najwa begins to receive anagrams via direct message from Trina’s long-inactive Instagram account. You wouldn’t think a word puzzle could seem threatening, but in Alkaf’s clever hands, the brainteasers foment unease and hint at a truly horrifying possibility: Could Trina have been murdered?
Scrabble frenemies become amateur sleuths, and everyone’s a suspect. During high-level Scrabble battles, shocking secrets are revealed and edgy suspense builds as the tiles click and slide. Readers will be guessing until the very end of this ensorcelling (15 points), sesquipedalian (26 points) mystery.
