Evelyn SkyeThe Crown's Fate (Crown's Game, 2)

I won this ARC in a contest hosted by the author. This review is completely voluntary and honest. I was in no way compensated for this review.Nothing is more satisfying than bingeing a duology! Evelyn Skye brings an end to this duology with The Crown's Fate, which picks up some few weeks after the events of The Crown's Game. We were left completely shaken by the events that occurred and the events that are about to occur here are sure to shake you as well! Once again we return to a re-imagined Russia and see both the beauty and the darkness that lies within.We rejoin Vika in her new role as Imperial Enchanter, though she still doesn't know how to act around Pasha. With his coronation just a few months away he's taken to his new role with more shame than stride. Vika learns her new role isn't all that it was cracked up to be. Plus she still misses Nikolai terribly. Ever since seeing him in one of his dreamscapes she's clung to the belief that a part of him is still alive. And a part of him is...Nikolai is somewhat live, but he's not entirely corporeal either. He's trapped in one of his dreamscapes--sorry if I'm not using the right word, seemed to have neglected to write down the exact terminology--because he doesn't quite have enough energy to be gallivanting about the real world. He longs to go back because he misses Vika. His mother, Aizhana, comes back into the thick of things and offers her help, he refuses and naturally, Aizhana finds a way to go around Nikolai's wishes and helps him anyhow. It's at this point we see Nikolai change, he becomes darker, it's like he lost all the love in his heart.He comes back to reality with the intent of revenge. He's angry at Pasha for reasons that I can't explain and let's just say Nikolai is a force to be reckoned with when angry. I can no longer recognize the boy from the first book as he is driven by the darkness inside of him.Then there's Vika who is caught between the boy she loves (Nikolai) and the boy she is sworn to serve (Pasha). Vika is torn between the two boys, but not in the romantic sense. She wants to protect them both but when they both end up endangering her, Vika is going to have to find help in a surprising ally.What truly surprised me about this book was how amazing the bonds of friendship are. Pasha and Nikolai were great friends before all the chaos. Vika grew to be friends with both Pasha and Nikolai and she cares for them both. We see this all through their actions. I was kind of surprised that the romance was still nonexistent. I guess I've been so overwhelmed with romance in my reads these days, that it caught me off guard. While the characters toss around the word "love", we actually have very little romance. And it's kind of refreshing, don't get me wrong, I would've loved some swoony moments between the characters, but that wasn't the way of things. And really, romance should be far from everyone's minds with what's about to occur in this one!This is a book filled with epic battles. Magical duels and cunning. You never know what a character might do until they do it. There are a few glimpses of other fantastical lore--as least in my mind that's what I think of it as--that pop up, I couldn't quite understand their purpose, but t the same time, I just kind of rolled with it. In the grand scheme of things I had a general theory about them, I was actually surprised when these events are mentioned one last time towards the end, is Evelyn leaving room for spinoffs? Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see!The Crown's Fate is quite the breathtaking read! It's a most surprising read in all the best kinds of ways! The ending was quite surprising as well and it's truly the best kind of ending. It's one that gives just enough of a resolution and at the same time leaves you knowing that while we may not be there, the adventures will still be continuing for the characters!Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

The Crown's Fate begins where the previous book left. We find Vika as the coveted position of Imperial Enchanter, vowed to Pasha, whose coronation is just week's away. Pasha takes on this position with much shame due to how he achieved this powerful position. Vika finds herself missing Nikolai, who she had to kill in order to gain all of the power needed to play the role of Imperial Enchanter. Her vision of seeing Nikolai in his dreamscape, leads Vika to believe that there's a posibility that Nikolai is alive. She just doesn't know how to reach him...yet.Nikolai is trapped in his dreamscape, stuck in corporeal form, struggling to hold on to the world of the living. His mother Aizhana visits him often and dishes out some hefty information. She claims that if Nikolai was to kill the visitors that come to his dreamscape, he could steal their energy and can escape to the world of the living. Prideful Nikolai outright refuses and continues to miss Vika. However, Aizhana is not to be trifled with and seeks the best for her son. Aizhana takes action and it's at this moment that everything changes for Nikolai. He becomes darker, crueler, embarking on a path of revenge. His target(s), Pasha and Vika. Nikolai becomes something unrecognizable. He's no longer the boy he was in the first book. Let's just say that he becomes every bit of his mother's son.Vika must deal with being the sole survivor from playing The Crown's Game. She fights an inner battle between loving Nikolai and being loyal to Pasha. When things escalate and Vika becomes endangered, she seeks out an ally, one that will surprise you.What I loved most about this book was it's stress on the bonds of friendship. Through death and darkness, it seemed that Nikolai and Pasha still had very deep emotional ties to each other that they couldn't deny. Even with everything that has transpire between them, they still found themselves missing the other.One important aspect that I loved was the rebellion that was quietly brewing. Pasha and his sister with the help of Vika, seek out those loyal to the rebellion. They realize too late that there's descension among the ranks of their people. Nikolai utilizes the Rebellion as a tool to help himself gain the upper hand on Pasha. They're a lot of magical duels and great moments of action. There was never a dull moment.The Crown's Fate is a much darker book than it's predecessor. Wrapped up in political intrigue, a spark of rebellion, and a well of magical power, it's characters strive to right the wrongs that have been made, which has dire consequences. Deeply rooted emotions of love, love loss, revenge, and betrayal make this book one to be devoured in one sitting. Check out The Crown's Game the sequel before this book.

Crown's fate return us once more to imperial Russia, with an internal threat brewing that spells devastation for their lives. Revolution threatens to tear a country, and a heart, apart. The magic is not purely combative, it has a folkloric edge or twist to it. The novel is character-centric and will make your heart bleed.Definitely worth checking out and Aizhana... Not all monsters are monsters. For we are all the heroes of our own stories

Good book enjoyed it.

The Crown’s Game was a book that I highly anticipated reading, which left me underwhelmed – so I went into this one a little wary. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to answer so many question in just this last instalment (this is a duology). I ended up DNFing this book. I found this book even more underwhelming than the first and I was really having to force myself through it.Whilst this book starts off at the end of the previous one, I feel like it is basically a repeat of book 1 – but on a slightly different level. It is less a game and more of an open warfare between Vika, Pasha and Nikolai. The book is basically Nikolai trying to get the better of Vika and Pasha, whilst Vika hits back and Pasha sort of stuck in the middle. I didn’t feel like there was a huge amount of character development from book 1 (except for Nikolai with what his mother was doing to him) and the characters remained relatively 2D. I didn’t feel a connection with characters to actually care what was going to happen to them throughout the story.I also feel like I was being given more questions than answers. How was Nikolai in the form he was? How did Aizhana come back? How does the transference of energy work? Why can Galina do magic if there is only supposed to be two people in the entire of Russia who can do it? Why can only two people do magic? There are more, but I feel like all the questions I have would take over this post. I have spoken to a couple of people who read both books and they have had similar opinions in the sense that they have a lot of questions that have, and will remain, unanswered.The plot didn’t really interest me that much – to the point where I was having to force myself to pick the story up. The style and the form that the plot took was very repetitive from book one, but on a bit of a bigger scale (I don’t want to say too much because of spoilers). I also decided to read the ending after DNFing to see how it would all wrap up and I found the ending to be a little weak. It would have been better had it gone down differently.I honestly don’t understand either canon for this book. I don’t see a connection between Vika and Pasha or Vika and Nikolai. Jealousy was a huge motivator for what some of these characters did and I honestly didn’t understand why because I didn’t see a spark between any of the characters.All in all, I was pretty disappointed by this duology. This series was highly anticipated series for me and I ended up not really enjoying either book as much as I thought I was going to! I gave this book 1/5 stars.

Very good book! Loved it!

Compré este libro de segunda mano y excepto por una cosilla estaba perfecto.