"The Crimson Crown" by Cinda Williams Chima

 

Title: The Crimson Crown

Author: Cinda Williams Chima

Series: Seven Realms, #4

My rating: 5 of 5

(Book read from July 9th to July 10th, 2013.)

Summary:

  

 
A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed-Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love.

Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana'Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells' inner turmoil, Raisa's best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love.

Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it?

A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.

 

 

 

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

 

 

The Crimson Crown, as the finale of the Seven Realms series was everything that I could've wished for & more! I absolutely loved it & it was the perfect ending of this magnificent world & amazing characters Cinda Williams Chima has created!

 

After the ending in The Gray Wolf Throne, Raisa now is the Queen of the Fells, and she has quite the job of trying to make peace & balance between the clans, the wizards, and everyone & everything else that has been happening, not to mention the threat of war to her Queendom, and on top of that - trying to stay alive!

 

She has only a few people she can trust, and almost everyone around her wants to compell her to do as they want, but of course Raisa is strong queen, and not gullible, she does know her own mind, even when she can't do what she wants to.

 

And then there's Han, trying to do everything in his power to keep Raisa alive, to manage to get the only thing he ever wanted in his life, and trying to stay alive long enough to do it.

I seriously don't know how to review this book without including any spoilers, but as always, I'll try.

Poor Han, he has so many "schemes" going on, so he has quite the job of balancing all of them, while those who think that are using him, (even though he's working only for himself & Raisa's interests), don't find out the truth. So, of course, at one point, that came back to kick him in the butt. Once again, Han is a wanted man for something he didn't do ;) Yeah, someone is framing him, and also, it's his own fault for not confiding completely in anyone, although I can certainly understand why he doesn't do that!

I loved that we saw more of Crow, finally Han reveals his secret to him, and I absolutely loved Crow's magic, he'd been such a brilliant wizard. Also, we found out in details what exactly happened so long ago. To be honest, I realised quite early who was the responsible one, and it was a little bit heartbreaking watching you-know-who finding out the truth.

 

There was lots of amazing magic, lots of betrayal & backstabbing (it is politics after all), lots of action, mystery, suspense, and romance! And that ending, both the last chapter & the epilogue, they were so lovely, yet bitter-sweet, but absolutely perfect! They were like the icing on the cake!

 Every questions you might have gotten through the series & every mystery was absolutely resolved in this book, and although almost all of the things that happened & were revealed, I was right about them, I didn't mind, because they weren't too obvious, and I absolutely loved the adventure!

And those secondary characters - Cat, Amon, Fire Dancer, Night Bird, Crow - I absolutely loved them! I loved how much they changed & grew up through the series, and they're all some of my favs now. Also, Fire Dancer's brilliance when it comes to his use of magic has to be especially mentioned, it was a pleasant surprise that I absolutely loved, and really brilliant!

Now for the main characters, I absolutely loved both Han & Raisa as characters! Raisa is one amazing heroine & queen! I love how she stands up for everyone, she's headstrong, and despite being small, she can kick your butt. She's also smart, and I loved that she knew that everyone should work together if they wanted to survive the possible war with Arden!

As for Han, he's smart, cunning, resilient, powerful, charming, and doesn't give up, he knows what he has to do to keep his queen safe, and ultimately to achieve his goal!

As for Han & Raisa, they were perfect for each other. And the scenes between them, they were so sweet & romantic & perfect, and I absolutely loved every second of it!

I'll stop here, because anything more would be full of spoilers! The writing as always was absolutely amazing! Cinda Williams Chima will keep you wrapped up in the magnificent world she created, just turning the pages until you finish it!

I highly recommend the Seven Realms series to every fan of fantasy, you won't regret it! It's definitely one of my favs, and despite feeling sad that it's over, I know I'll enjoy reading it again & again! Also, I have to admit, that despite this being the last book in the series, I'm hoping for a spin-off, maybe set in the Carthis realm, since it was only mentioned, and it sounded quite interesting, and it will be amazing to delve in this magnificent world once again! 

 

 

 

Challenges:

 

2013 TBR Pile Challenge

2013 Books-In-A-Series Reading Challenge

Don't Let It End Reading Challenge