The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Hyperion

Pages: 608pgs

The Story

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.

The Review

Honestly what more can I possibly say about this series except that it is brilliant beyond any other fantasy book I've read in a long, long while and I'm quite obsessed with it. If you've been reading my reviews over this year of Chima's Seven Realms series, you would know how much of a fan I am of her writing and of her characters. So for her fourth and final installment, THE CRIMSON CROWN, Cinda Williams Chima sure doesn't disappoint her readers. In fact, she has excelled my own very high expectations of this final conclusion to her much beloved series and she has blown my mind into pieces!

Even for a very long book I enjoyed and practically inhaled every single moment featured in this book - from the forbidden romances, the deadliest schemes of kingdom politics, the action and the suspense, and even the whole debacle of men and women wanting to destroy each other in order to achieve great power in Chima's medieval-like world . . . it was all brilliant needless to say. But what Chima succeeds well in with her books is with her colourful cast of characters and how each of them are perfectly contrasted within the book's own storyline. She not only brings such power to her writing, but she also has this very unique way of making us readers feel this raw emotion for each and every character of hers. They're just too amazing - the characters - and I could go on and on all day about them.

But what made this book even more gratifying was the two main characters, Raisa and Han, and how everything was concluded at the very end. For me, Raisa and Han are two of my absolute favourite main characters in the entire fantasy genre and never once did I loose my love nor faith for them. Not even when it came to this book. While both of these two main characters may have their flaws and show them from time to time, but in each and every installment that I've read - from books one to four - they have grown and matured so much, which is exactly why I love them because they feel so real and honest to me. I mean, these two characters get under my skin (in a good way of course) and I just don't know what I will do myself since the series has now come to an end. This also leads me to the book's ending. Both sad and giving me the 'over-the-moon' feeling, I have to say this is one of the best conclusions I've read for a favourite series of mine and it was so . . . well let's just say it was such a very happy ending for most of the characters in this final book and it nearly made me tear up a bit, so let's just leave it at that note, shall we?

Overall, both richly detailed and extremely satisfying, THE CRIMSON CROWN blends the wonderful combination of fantasy elements and foreign lands together, engaging Chima's readers from the beginning of the book and leaves you wanting more!

The Rating

5/5 stars