The King is Dead was a tense read, with lots of twists and turns - I was gripped. However, it didn't explore some of the ideas it puts forward as fully as I would have liked - the emphasis here is very much on the mystery, which is to be expected from a YA thriller but dampens the effectiveness of the narrative somewhat. Though we see the effects of homophobia and systemic racism, they are not reflected upon. I also found the open ending to be rather unsatisfying - I had been craving James to really consider his position more thoroughly through the entire text, so this left me feeling a bit short-changed.
That said, the mystery itself is sometimes predictable, but still intriguing. The characters are well fleshed out, and all feel real. This is certainly an entertaining read - just be prepared to set any real thoughts about the monarchy to one side.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is such an interesting YA read and really enjoyed it. It follows James, a prince, who has been in the spotlight all his life as the first black heir to the throne. Suddenly, his father dies and James is crowned King at only 17 years old! Now that James has been crowned King all the secrets about himself are at threat of being released, in particular his sexuality and his relationship. One day his boyfriend goes missing and the royal secrets (which only James knows about) are being leaked online.

I think the author tackled the pressures complications and potential difficulties around this very well. It tackles the pressures of being forced to take responsibility at such a young age, the difficulties around being a royal and also accepting his LGBTQ+ identity and think that this is a superb read for the YA audience,

With the passing of his father, James unexpectedly becomes King at 17. Alongside this James struggles with the secret he has been hiding from the world of his sexuality. Then his secret boyfriend goes missing. What other royal scandals and secrets are about to be revealed?

This book was very interesting. It is set in an alternative United Kingdom and considered what the reaction may be to the first Black and gay heir to the the throne. This serious commentary was encapsulated within a "gossip girl" style mystery.

Absolutely loved this thrilling tale of terrible tabloids, duplicity and double standards. It was so interesting how this explored homophobia, the burden of family obligations, the dark side of being in the public eye and being born into royalty, and the ruthlessness and racism of the British media from the perspective of a Black queer character. Benjamin is a brilliant, memorable protagonist who draws you in from page one and this was a compelling and entertaining read.

James was a prince, a teenage heir to the throne. Not anymore. His father has died unexpectantly and now, James must deal with the grief of losing his father, while being scrutinised for being the first black king of England. The last thing he needs is the intrusive press finding out that he’s also gay. To make matters worse, his secret boyfriend has disappeared, someone is leaking stories about him to the newspaper, and he is realising that he can’t trust anyone.

As a romance this didn’t really work for me. We don’t see enough of James and Jonathan together to make me root for them, and I wish we did have a little more sexual tension and cute moments between them. However, the mystery was enough to keep me reading.

This is a great choice for the TEEN/YA section of any bookshop.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to read this - I love stories about royalty, especially those that inspect entrenched privilege and assumptions, as well as taking a look at The Firm and the class and race privilege inherent in the whiteness of the divine right of kings. And for the first 80% of this book, I really got that. Benjamin Dean went hard on the racial privilege of being a white member of the royal family and there's no doubt that the media backlash that James faces as the crown weighs heavy on his head is hugely influenced by his race, and that's not to even mention the scandal that would arise if his sexuality were to become common knowledge.
So I was really loving this book until things started unravelling in the climax. As secrets became unveiled and the role of certain players in the game is unveiled, I found myself becoming more and more disappointed. Why you gotta do the Queen Mother dirty like that, Mr Dean? There are several unveils in the final pages of the book that made me just ask is this meant to be an inspection of race and privilege in royalty? Because the reveals just made it feel like a Black royal family is bound to have scandal in its closets, and it just added unnecessary drama to what was already a really interesting book. So I was disappointed by the final reveals, although there's loads of spectacular inspections in the form of deliciously scandalous royal escapades in the first four-fifths of the book. Mixed bag for me.

This is a really fun YA royal romp! Enough mystery, intrigue and cliff-hanger moments to keep you turning the pages, and plenty of emotion and romance to make you care about the characters. The setting within the palace and the problematic nature of fame and duty add a different slant to this YA than a lot of other similar mysteries and romances. It's a bit like 'Red, White and Royal Blue' meets 'One of Us Is Lying'!

This is such a good read! Tightly plotted, full of queer intrigue and twists, but underpinned by an all-too believable realism about the world and how this country views non-white people in positions of power and authority. Benjamin is truly a major talent.

Okay….maybe it’s on me for assuming this book was going to be something it’s not…
So this is NOT a f**k the monarchy book. This is not anti royal. I don’t know if I’m the only person who got that vibe from the blurb…but yeah, a disappointment. I got to 80% before I called it quits and skipped through the rest of the book to see if we got some of that eat the rich commentary.

While this book handles the racism so plainly seen in the British press re: Meghan, it didn’t quite hit the marks in other ways - the Diana media disaster was right there….. So the new king is upset and angry not just at the racism but the very non racist anti-royal protestors. Yeah sorry for not thinking some rando should rule over an entire country (or multiple ones because lol imperialism) just because their ancestor said God said I’m better than you and said you need to do what I say.

The Princess Diaries series is the only book to treat the monarchy the way it should be treated.

Anyway, down with the royals and redistribute their wealth. France are doing fine with their tourism revenue from their ex royals :)

Oh my god. This book was up to everything I wanted and more! I could not put it down! I was hooked from the very beginning, this book definitely lived up to the expectations I had for it!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy!

I did enjoy this book, absolutely for those who loved Red, White and Royal Blue but also love a good mystery.

Scandal is rife within the British Royal family (a fictional one) and with the current King dead, his son about to take his place, a missing lover kick starts a heartbreaking domino of secrets exposed to the public.

I did like many of the characters but I felt they could have been developed more than convenient plot devices. It also took me a little while to realise this was a re imaginating of the British monarchy, until they mentioned Buckingham Palace i'd assumed this was a fictional country. I very much enjoyed the exploration of a black monarchy within this story and just felt this could have been focused on more without the odd love triangle, it sympathises with the Megan and Harry incident. Much more could have been delved into with how multi-cultural London and the country is, the story only really focused on the negatives, that a Black monarchy is rejected while important I don't feel actually represented England today.

Overall a good bit of escapism, mystery and romance rolled into a nice package.

A black gay Prince meets the vibes of Gossip Girl sign me up! I loved Me, My Dad And The End Of The Rainbow by this author so when I heard Benjamin Dean and his first Ya book being published I was super excited! I haven't read many royal mysteries before but I'm now a royal mystery fanatic! I loved this book.
James has been a Prince all his life so knew that he was heir to the throne, but when his Dad dies unexpectedly he didn't feel ready at just 17 to be crowned King.
He's always managed to keep parts of himself hidden, his relationship, his sexuality but now he's King he's almost become public property A public that aren't exactly thrilled they have a black monarchy so when James's Boyfriend goes missing it's difficult to know who to trust. If he can trust anybody at all, even the people closest to him.

I enjoyed this. It was a really interesting premise that was executed in a really fun way. I liked the almost cosy mystery vibes it gave while also being really insightful, authentic feeling and searing indictment on how the British Press would handle this situation.

James as a character was really interesting, a seventeen year old that desipite the huge weight that has been put on his shoulders makes his mistakes and then learns from them. Dean created such an authentic feeling world around James, from day to day life in the palace, the duties of royal life, to how the press acted. The mystery on top of that was also cute. It has a couple of twists and turns which kept me reading and I really did enjoy it.

My take away from this other than it being an enjoyable read, is that it was a fantastic study of the media engine at full force. This is where this book excelled and for me became really interesting. How the Newspapers reported, how it infected public opinion and how it affected James and his family were all really well written and for me made this stand out from a cute romance mystery.

The King is Dead follows 17 year old Prince James, who is now to become the first black King of the UK. He also happens to be the first gay King. Of course, things start to go wrong immediately. Secrets are being revealed everywhere, each one turning the public against King James even more.

First of all, I loved the plot twists in this book and it was interesting to work out the mystery of who was behind the leaking of secrets in the newspaper. The whole way through, I didn’t know who to trust which made it even more intriguing!

I was hooked to this book and I needed to find out who was behind the letters and the secret leaking! It’s such a fast paced mystery book that I had no problem finishing it quickly.

The characters were also interesting, and easy to like. I loved how it was written from the perspective of James, so we could see inside of his head and it made him very easy to understand.
I also loved his relationship with some of the characters. Although the book wasn’t based on relationships, it was nice to see some included- platonic and romantic. At one point I did suspect at least half of the characters as being the secret leaker, but I’m very glad it wasn’t a certain someone (not going to name names because spoilers 😉).

Finally, let me talk about the ending. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I definitely didn’t expect those plot twists. I don’t know if i missed something since I’ve seen lots of people say it was predictable, but I didn’t see that coming.

Overall I really loved this book and if definitely recommend it!

5/5 ⭐️s

It was a highly entertaining, gripping, and thought provoking read. A thriller featuring an interesting MC who doesn't know who he can trust.
There's a lot of prejudice exposed in this excellent story and I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing and how the author deals with very serious issues.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Remarkable concept and impeccable execution from start to the end. Every single page gives a full-throttle effect. The story moved marvellously. I finished the book overnight. The book supercharged me. That’s says something. For one, I am motivated enough to read his other books. The entire read was a heart-pounding impact on me.

This was a quick read with plenty of thrilling twists and heapings of royal scandal. The story involves a newly-crowned king embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game with a shadowy figure promising to reveal his deepest secrets. It's hard to feel sympathy for a member of the monarchy (and I did sort of hope James was going to burn it all down) but the author wrote a seventeen-year-old, closeted gay kid who it's impossible not to like. I was rooting for him throughout and loved the ambiguous ending.

The author did particularly well dissecting the media's attitude in the UK, especially towards prominent Black figures. The incisive commentary challenged the racism prevalent in the media and there are many parallels to Meghan Markle's treatment. I didn't become as invested in either romance as I'd hoped since the first love interest disappeared immediately after we got to know him and someone else was suddenly introduced. It weakened the first relationship as it no longer seemed as serious as we'd thought yet prevented the reader from rooting for the second interest as we kept waiting for the first to resolve. Overall, a fun read for the summer.

Free courtesy of Netgalley.

Wasn't sure about this book, but I really enjoyed it, it's a mind puzzle kind of book. Who is the culprit and why ? You will change your mind quite a few times.

The king has died, leaving his 17 year old son to take over, the onle issue is that the king was married to a black woman and his twin boys are both Black. There is a portion of the country that don't want a young black boy sitting on England's throne.

As soon as James's father dies, trouble starts for him, the press is out to bring him down, his twin is angry with him for being special, his secret boyfriend has disappeared, his cousin wants the throne and he feels like he is alone.

Then a journalist who is out to bring the Monarchy down starts releasing all the Royal families secrets, and stirring up the public to turn against them, only someone close to James could know the secrets being told but who is it and why ? Is James life in danger and can the stop the person before the crown collapses ?

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy!

I was really looking forward to reading this one – I'd absolutely loved Benjamin Dean's middle-grade novel "Me, my Dad and the End of the Rainbow"!

"The King is Dead" takes you to the backstage of Buckingham Palace, where young James has been made king after the death of his father.
Some people have an issue with that, though, as James is Black...
And that's not all; he's hiding a secret. If people learn he's gay, he knows things will take a turn for the absolute worst for him and his whole family.
But when his boyfriend disappear, things start to unravel and everything points to a traitor inside the Palace.

Here is what I loved about this novel: its criticism of the latent racism in the UK, and how it might show if, someday, there is a Black king or queen. I'm sure most of the readers will easily draw parallels between what James and his family have to face, and what Meghan Markle went though.
There was a good observation and description of what living life under the spotlight must be like that I really enjoyed.

I have to say, though, I wish the book had focused more on that aspect, and a bit less on the mystery. That mystery wasn't really a mystery at all, and, at times, took away from the more interesting plot.

All in all, though, it was a nice read, and I'm really hoping Benjamin Dean will try his hand at YA again!

Wow this was so cool!!! I actually read it in one sitting and didn't expect to. I thought it was really well written, it was intriguing and kept my interest. I love the cover so much, that was the reason I picked this up in the first place.