Majesty | A Sequel That Couldn’t Live Up to the First

2.5/5 stars

I picked this up immediately after reading American Royals I. I was intrigued by the forbidden romances and drama. The ending scene of book 1 drew me in and had me wanting more right away. I was hoping for more character development and exploration into the couples, but got neither. Like with American Royals, there is so much drama throughout the book, but by the time I reached the end, I questioned what had changed and how the characters grew.

McGee attempted to bring in discourse on racism with the new character, Marshall, but it was disappointing. Rather than feeling inspired and uplifted, I was irked that this character was more of a prop used to prompt change. “Sam was aware how powerful that kind of imagery could be— maybe even powerful enough to change the national discourse.” While I agree a change in discourse is essential (I am a woman of color and activitist), POC characters should not need to ride the coattails of white protagonists to be seen. At the 90% mark there was another attempt at recognizing themes such as colonization and racism, but again it felt like it was just thrown in there to appease readers. I would have preferred these topics be explored much more deeply or just left out.

I did appreciate the theme of women being powerful and independent. This could have been a really strong point had it not been overshadowed by the lack of character development for everyone. There was just so much going on and so many perspectives to follow (4 points of view) that I was missing out on really connecting with any of them.

I wanted to love it and I felt like there was so much potential for where a sequel could go. Unfortunately, this just tried to fit in way too much and as a result, was underdeveloped.