Hey lovelies!

Today I am writing my review for The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye!

This was such a popular book when it came out and I’ve heard so many things from some of my blogger/bookstagrammer friends about this so I wanted to give it a shot!

But firstly, THE COVER! And the spine! I actually included it in one of my previous posts about beautiful bookish spines, if you want to check it out! But the cover itself is so beautiful and I am totally and completely in love with it! I love the creative imagery and the use of colour! It also stands out on my bookshelf with the simple but beautiful spine.

Enough of my rambling! Let’s begin!

About the book. 

{ WRITING }

I found the writing of this to be clear and concise however, it didn’t stand out to me. It wasn’t bad by any means and I think Skye did a great job of explaining the Crown’s Game and the magic however, I feel like a poetic writing style would have worked better.

Nonetheless, it was clear and easy to understand which is such an important aspect for me, especially with a fantasy novel.

{ IDEA }

The idea of this was quite cool! The book is set in Russia in the 19^th century and mixes in Russian culture, magic, romance and political intrigue quite well. I haven’t read any book set in Russia before which really drew me to this one.

However, I feel the blurb really misled the reader about what the book was about which is what made me feel disappointed! The blurb isn’t very accurate and doesn’t represent what the book is about.

There also was absolutely no world building, which is a huge no-no for me in a fantasy novel, especially one set in a place as rich and imaginative as Russia. I feel Skye could have worked to build up her world more elaborately for a more richer and vivid reading experience.

{ PLOT }

I enjoyed the plot of this book but not immensely. Fun fact: I read this book in a day!

Not sure how I managed it but the plot was good enough for me to keep reading but not enough to make me think about it even after I finished reading it unfortunately.

There were some parts that were dry. The plot didn’t have twists and turns and it was a little predictable. Another thing that I gotta discuss! The characters claim that the Crown’s Game is cut throat and violent but THERE WAS NOTHING VIOLET OR CUT THROAT. AT ALL!

The competition was so tame that I wondered if they were even competing. I would have liked it to be more cut throat and realistic – especially since the loser has to die. You would expect the characters to use any means possible to win if their life is on the line, but they didn’t do that in the slightest.

I can’t say too much more about the plot without some major spoiler alert but overall, the plot fell a little bit flat.

{ CHARACTERS }

The characters are easily my least favourite aspect of this book. Sorry to say that.

Vika, Nikolai and Pasha are the three main characters and all of them are as flat as paper. None of them leapt off the pages for me and it just left me feeling so FRUSTERATED because I wanted to love them! I really did. None of them were very interesting, they are barely memorable and added no interest to the book.

Another thing. I did NOT feel the romance in this book. At all. In the slightest.

It felt quite forced. There wasn’t any chemistry between the characters and it felt like there was being romance shoved in for the sake of having romance. And don’t even get me started on the love triangle.

I didn’t like how Vika dealt with her ‘suitors’ (it’s the 19^th century. Don’t give me that look.) either. It was very jarring, awkward and left a sour aftertaste in my mouth.

{ FINALLY… }

Even though 90% of my review has been negative, I did enjoy the book enough to give it 3 ½ stars and I am looking forward to reading the next book but there were a lot of disappointments for me in terms of the characters and plot. The inaccuracy of the blurb also left me very frustrated.

I think others will enjoy this book but it wasn’t what I was looking or hoping for, sadly! 

OVERALL RATING: