Much Better, Much Darker, and then...Blazes!: Crown's Fate

I wasn't sure that I would want to continue reading Evelyn Skye's YA fantasy series Crown's Game, because the first title was so derivative, but her characters did stick with me, so I gave it a second shot.

Crown's Fate was a much better story. Much darker, much more violent and sinister, but not so dark that you can't see the hope and maturity emerging from Vika, the Imperial Enchanter for this make-believe Russia, and Pasha, the soon-to-be-crowned tsar. The stakes of the magical competition between Vika and Nikolai are higher than ever as he escapes the dream-realm with his evil monster of a mother's help, absorbing all her hatred and viciousness along the way. This causes Nikolai to do some pretty outrageous things out of anger and revenge, even as he struggles with his sense of betrayal and loss.

I liked that throughout the book, there seemed like there was nothing Nikolai wouldn't do to hurt the people who've hurt him, and that you (and Vika/Pasha) struggle to understand and gradually accept that the introverted Nikolai they knew is gone. Much of what he does put him beyond redemption, even despite Vika's strong magical connection to him, and the fact that he's not acting of his own free will.

All of this was fine, right up until the very end. Not to spoil anything, but with all these fatal stakes, there seems to be no reckoning for Nikolai's behavior. Instead of being torn to shreds to see what havoc he has wrought, he just says "Blazes...what have I done?" That's it. No real regret, anguish, or torment, and everyone's happy to forgive him in the end, just because? Sorry...no. I was on the hook right up until that moment, when this character who did still wish for these things, even under a stronger influence, is basically able to escape all responsibility for his actions. And given the setting, where the actions of tsars and princes affect the lives of thousands, it puts that bad taste for royalty in your mouth that has coated the tongues of millions across the globe and throughout the centuries. So the resolution didn't exactly endear me to anyone. Everyone, especially Nikolai, having to come to terms with the consequences of his actions, and the extreme conclusion of his emotions, would have been a fine setup for a third book, even if this one had ended on a grimmer note. That would have been infinitely better, and more in keeping with the tone of this volume.  And the waving away of the Russian people's fears and anxieties with a royal proclamation or two? No. We already saw that didn't work inside the plot, so why the hell should that work at the conclusion of the book, when things have gotten worse than they were before? Once again, just like in the first book, the proto-revolutionary body of Russians is given short shrift here, which is a shame. This story was ripe for a third book, but I guess we'll all have to settle for the neat-and-tidy-even-if-it-doesn't-make-sense happily ever after we've been given.

K. Rating: 3.5/5