Katherine Webber

Representation: Implied Asian characters
Trigger warnings: Fire, avalanche, dead bodies, death of a grandmother and animals, animal attack, murder, military violence and war themes, near-death experiences, self-harm, blood, grief and loss depiction, physical assault and injury, implied emesis
Score: Seven points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

At last. I wanted to read this book for so long after reading and enjoying the first instalment in the series, Twin Crowns so when I heard that one of the two libraries I go to now has this I immediately picked it up and finally read it. When I finished it, I only thought it was okay and unfortunately not as good as the first one but the third one which will be published in 2024 could be an improvement. It starts (more like continues) with the main characters, Wren and Rose, who I know already and I pick up right after the events of the first book with both of them being queens of Eana to mixed reactions. After that the story's pace slows with Wren going off alone to the ice kingdom in the north and Rose going to the Sunkissed Kingdom to meet more characters I've never seen before up until that point. Here is where the flaws surface, of which there are few: the writing of the characters wasn't outstanding as I couldn't connect or relate to them but I somewhat liked some of them. But not all. At least the worldbuilding is intriguing enough to keep me reading with examples including how the Sunkissed Kingdom and Eana came to be and even a myth about a bear but it leaves unanswered questions like where did the north ice country come from and how can the Sunkissed Kingdom hide in the desert with its population intact? The only explanation is an eternal water source but I didn't find that realistic. The pacing is as slow as the first part of the series (that doesn't bother me usually but it does here) which left me reading a few hundred pages with not much action. The conclusion has more action though finishing the narrative swiftly on a cliffhanger.… (lisätietoja)

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: War themes
Score: Eight points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

8/10, this was a fantasy book I had high expectations for after reading and enjoying The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska and wow did it deliver and there are so many great aspects about this but I especially liked the worldbuilding of this since it was quite creative and immersive. The plot was kind of disconnected and incohesive and it only got together towards the last 100 pages however I enjoyed both stories of Wren Greenrock and Rose Valhart and somehow they swapped for whatever reason in the beginning but I enjoyed the former more since Wren was likeable and Rose wasn't at first but she developed her character which I liked and this was a slow burn which might be a dealbreaker for me but in this case it wasn't. The Wren plot starts off in the Anadawn Palace where she impersonates Rose and all goes well until she didn't want to get married to the prince of the neighbouring country and tries to stop it by planning a murder but that didn't go so well and her cover was revealed when Rose came back to the palace. Rose was in the desert with Shen and she didn't like it at first and once she discovered that she's a witch she denies it at first but then she accepts it and goes to meet the leader Banba at a town called Ortha and I found that the Great Protector was evil since he messed up Eana and killed some witches but not all of them which I found strange. The two twins meet each other and they disliked each other at first but soon they banded together to try and take back control from the antagonist called Willem Rathborne and they succeed and they became queens and that's it. If you like high fantasy stories with strong protagonists do give this one a try since I enjoyed it and you might also.… (lisätietoja)