Author: Evelyn Skye
Publication Date: May 16, 2017
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Pages: 415
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Review for book 1
Russia is on the brink of great change. Pasha’s coronation approaches, and Vika is now the Imperial Enchanter, but the role she once coveted may be more difficult—and dangerous—than she ever expected.
Pasha is grappling with his own problems—his legitimacy is in doubt, the girl he loves loathes him, and he believes his best friend is dead. When a challenger to the throne emerges—and with the magic in Russia growing rapidly—Pasha must do whatever it takes to keep his position and protect his kingdom.
For Nikolai, the ending of the Crown’s Game stung deeply. Although he just managed to escape death, Nikolai remains alone, a shadow hidden in a not-quite-real world of his own creation. But when he’s given a second chance at life—tied to a dark price—Nikolai must decide just how far he’s willing to go to return to the world.
With revolution on the rise, dangerous new magic rearing up, and a tsardom up for the taking, Vika, Nikolai, and Pasha must fight—or face the destruction of not only their world but also themselves.
Oh boy. Here I am again, reviewing a book that I hated. I reviewed The Crown's Game when it was first released and you can check out my review of that here. It was a giant disappointment to me for various reasons, but I thought I saw a glimmer of hope for the second book and decided to pick it up. I shouldn't have wasted my time.
Basically, everything I hated about the first book stuck around for book two. One of my biggest complaints about the first book was the overwhelming number of tropes the author used. But the most annoying trope of all was the love triangle. It was weird, completely pointless, and in the second book, it became very childish. It persisted through the WHOLE BOOK until there was magical resolution in the last few pages. Just POOF, suddenly there was no love triangle anymore. All the characters came to the realization at the same time. Ugh.
Now let's talk about the plot. I was greatly disappointed with the direction that the plot went in The Crown's Game, but I think it was a decent storyline overall. But The Crown's Fate went in such a different direction that it didn't even feel like it was part of the same story. It had the darkness that I wished was present in the first book, but it was thrown into the story so sloppily that I was still not interested in it. It didn't feel like a continuation of book one at all.
This same feeling applied to the characters as well. They acted completely differently throughout the second book. They weren't nearly as interesting as they had been previously. They were mostly whiny and annoying and moody. And there was no character development whatsoever. They were the same people when the book ended as when it began. This was a huge disappointment because the characters were one of the few things that I actually liked about The Crown's Game.
All in all, I think its safe to say that I really, really dislike these books. They held so much promise and were such a letdown. If you were someone who actually liked The Crown's Game, you may enjoy The Crown's Fate as well. But it is such a change from the first book that you may also be let down by this one. There are much better fantasies out there that I would highly recommend over these books.
