Waiting on Wednesday: The Crown's Fate

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone and Red Queen, The Crown’s Fate is the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Crown’s Game, an atmospheric historical fantasy set in Imperial Russia.
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.

Why I'm Waiting

I wasn't a huge fan of the first book when I read it earlier this year, but I do want to see where the series goes and since it's only a duet I'm not worried about investing a lot of time. Plus, these covers are just so pretty, I can't help but want it on my shelf!

The Crown's Fate is released on May 16th, 2017

You can preorder the book here. 

Book Review: The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1)

Author: Evelyn Skye

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Edition: Hardcover

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Rating: 3 Stars

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, so it's more than a little disappointing that I didn't like this book more.

The Crown's Game follows multiple narrators, including Vika and Nikolai, the only two enchanters in all of Russia, Pasha, the crown prince, Yuliana, his sister, Galina and Sergei, Vika and Nikolai's mentors, and Aizhana, a mysterious figure who seems to have risen from the dead.  There is a competition between Vika and Nikolai- they must prove themselves and become the official enchanter of Russia.  The catch, whoever fails dies.

While I don't dislike the idea of multiple narrators, it didn't always work here.  It took away from each character's presence by shifting between them so frequently.  Closer to the end this wasn't as much of a problem, since all the stories intersected, but it made it harder for me to connect with the characters.  My favorites were Vika, Nikolai, and Pasha.  Particularly, I liked how Vika and Nikolai conformed to the opposite gender stereotypes (does that make sense?) similarly to how Emma and Julian do in Lady Midnight.

As for the setting, which has been getting the most praise, I must agree it the most vivid part of the book.  Imperial Russia has a particular taste and Evelyn Skye managed to capture it in this novel.  As vivid as it was, I do wish she had spent even more time describing and exploring it.

My biggest problem with the book lies in the magic system.  There don't seem to be any rules for how it works.  There's clearly a limit, since the book does eventually touch on the idea of using too much magic, but I wish it had been set up early on and that there were more defined rules to it.  It felt sloppy for a long time, and when a cost was finally included, I just didn't buy it as much.

The ending was one of my favorite parts.  I thought it was well done and a surprising twist to the whole thing.  It certainly doesn't end like many other books I've read.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this duet (I think there are only two, but I could be wrong) even though I only gave it three stars.  It is a debut and it really wasn't that bad, so don't let my star-count sway you completely.

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