Duology Review: The Crown’s Game & The Crown’s Fate || Where the Crown lost its Fate in my Heart

Title: The Crown’s Game and The Crown’s Fate
Author: Evelyn Skye
Series: The Crown’s Game duology
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, [Young-Adult]
Heat Rating: Cool
Page Count and Format: 416 and 427 pages respectively, Paperback
Published: May 17th, 2016 and May 16th, 2017 by Balzer + Bray respectively
Source: Purchased
My Rating:

Blurb (from Goodreads):

The Crown’s Game:

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air.

They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

The Crown’s Fate:

Magic is growing, shadows are rising, and the throne is at stake…

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.

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As much as I love the beautiful colour combination of this book, I am disappointed to say that it didn’t live up to my expectations. I did have high hopes for this duology although the premise was unique but it still failed to make an impression.

When Vika is finally called for the role of an Enchanter, she learns there is another one in Russia, Nikolai and she has to fight him. Whoever stays alive until the very end, becomes the Tsar’s Enchanter. But when feelings come into the way, things become complicated and Pasha who is the heir to the tsardom best friend life falls into a dilemma because one is the girl he is falling for and the other is his best friend.

Soooo, the plot was kinda like the mini-hunger games except with only 2 participants and it involved actual magic! We are introduced to the two enchanters Vika and Nikolai, both whose characters I enjoyed individually. But can someone tell me when did the romance happen? Yes, they felt a certain kind of kinship because they both shared a magic which was a burden at that current point but other than how did the love happen, they didn’t even get to spend much time together as they had to plan for the next attack against each other. The romance was a big downfall in this book.

The book takes place in Russia, a different kind of Russia where magic still exists but other than some of the town descriptions, I found the world building very lacking. There was a lot of scopes but it didn’t live up to that point.Though I did enjoy the magic, it was pretty intriguing but I wanted mooore!! The plot twist at the end of book 1 was a little surprising due to which I wanted to continue book 2. But I thought it was going to creepy and stuff! It was but I didn’t feel the chill in my bones.

No, I am not being over-dramatic. Or I might be. It’s just in my DNA!
(Haha… yeah I couldn’t stop without a reference!!)

The pacing of both the books felt a little slow but book 2 was a bit more. The fact surrounding Nikolai didn’t hold much mystery and oh well… Also, unfortunately, Pasha wasn’t an interesting character either. And there wasn’t much character development in book 2 either but I’m glad at least he could hold down the fort. He mostly acted like a puppet like his sister told him to do and he was just, I don’t know he was not a memorable character. He was still okay until book 1 but his decision betrayed me but after that how much he repented didn’t matter much to me.

Overall, The Crown’s Game dulogy was an okay read, I wanted more of the magic stuff. It was there but I needed mooooore of it!! The writing flowed smoothly. And overall it was still engaging enough for me to finish the duology. Although most of the stuff had let me down, I’m still glad I gave it a try.

Recommend it?

Yes.

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Sooo guys, what do you think about this duology? Have you finished it or are you still halfway? How was the experience for you??

• 3 stars
• 3 stars out of 5
• Balzar+Bray
• duology
• Evelyn Skye
• Fantasy
• Magic
• May release
• own-copy
• paperback
• Purchased
• romance
• The Crown's Fate
• The Crown's Game
• The Crown's Game duology
• YA
• Young-Adult