The Crown’s Fate by Evelyn Skye is the sequel and conclusion to The Crown’s Game. When we left off, Pasha’s coronation as Tsar was only months away, Vika had been named Imperial Enchanter and Nikolai was presumed dead at the conclusion of the game. Barely a week has gone by, magic is growing and Russia is full of unrest.
But all isn’t as it seems. Nikolai is not dead but merely a shadow of himself, caught in a dream and growing darker by the day. Pasha faces doubts of his legitimacy and his fitness to rule. And Vika is finding it difficult to adapt to the loss of freedom that comes with being Imperial Enchanter.
Can Nikolai, Pasha and Vika restore the bond between them that was broken by the crown’s game? Will Russia survive a resurgence of magic and the turmoil it causes? And who will be caught in the crossfires?
Womp, womp. This was an OK sequel. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like it had the same flow and feel of the first book. I like the competition of the game and the tied fates of the competitors in the first book and this felt sort of forced in the second.
There were a lot of allusions to other Russian myths and fairytales, what with the resurgence of magic, and I kept waiting to get a few more glimpse of Baba Yaga or the fish king that was mentioned. These little bites were thrown in and then really only addressed in the end as something the Imperial Enchanter would have to look into. I’ve been so into Russian literature and fantasy lately that it just would have been nice to have more of this.
One of the biggest problems with this book was that the author tried to put in several branches to lead you in the wrong direction, so you wouldn’t expect the end but these weren’t really successful for me. The ending was terribly predictable and tied up a little too neatly if you asked me. The way this book was set up, I just felt that someone shouldn’t have had a happy ending. But a lot of readers like neat little packages and for them this book will be completely satisfying.
The more I am thinking about this one, I think I am giving it 2.5 stars not 3. It was entertaining in that it passed the time but it really wasn’t one of my favorites. Not a bad read but lacking in some areas.
That’s all for now!
-M-
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