“The Crown’s Game is an old one, older than the tsardom itself. It began long ago, in the age of Rurik, Prince of Novgorod, when Russia was still a cluster of tribes, wild and lawless and young. As the country matured over the centuries, so, too, did the game. But always, always it retained its untamed fierceness. For the winner of the game, there would be unimaginable power. For the defeated, desolate oblivion. The Crown’s Game was not one to lose.”
Not only is this lead captivating and well-written but also intriguing! This grabbed my attention straight-away and led to several undisturbed hours of reading. The story lends an uniqueness which to any avid reader is hard to find, but Evelyn Skye has nailed it! This battle between Vika and Nikolai showed a passion for the very magic running through their veins. Plus having a difference in type of magical manipulation, Vika with nature and Nikolai with his ability to alter and create objects, made for a well-balanced fight. I appreciate Skye’s choice in this decision because it really did help elevate this book to a five-star status! And I don’t say this lightly, especially for books with magic because I find them much harder to get into but I’m so glad to say that this is not one that is difficult to understand and will not confuse. Skye didn’t tackle too much or over-complicate the creation of this beautiful and cut throat Russia.
The Crown’s Game followed Nikolai and Vika as they take turns to win the title of Imperial Enchanter and they attacked this challenge with all they had. The inner struggle and pressure to just kill off one another added a fierceness that I wasn’t expecting.
But you know what my favourite part was??? That whole masquerade scene! I am a serious sucker for anything masquerade, from the masks to the elaborate costumes to the dancing, I love it and this one was executed perfectly! Vika is literally the embodiment of winter in her Lady Snow persona and costume. Pasha is dashing no matter what he wears and Nikolai and his great taste in clothing just made the whole thing so special to read. Vika dancing the mazurka with Nikolai will be something that I will always remember in this series. It was both beautiful and swoon-worthy! This book is by no means a romance novel, it is first and foremost a fantasy book with just a dash of romance and I am telling you this scene was the perfect amount of swoon!
And if this book couldn’t get any better (which it does!) the twists were insane!!!
---SPOILER ALERTS!!!
Pasha and Nikolai are half-brothers, who share the same father, the Tsar!!! (I just have to acknowledge how great their friendship was! Except for the pointless lying from Nikolai about his powers but you know it doesn’t seem like this vivid version of Russia was very excepting of magic so I get it, but they were best friends, so I think it gave more grief than anything between them! And when Pasha became dark after their father’s death was also slightly annoying but again, made sense and thankfully it was brief!)
Vika’s dad isn’t really her dad! And sacrifices himself for her!!!
And if they didn’t already have enough issues with their parents, Skye also introduced that Nikolai’s long forgotten mother is actually alive!? Like what! But not in the normal sense because she’s been “dead” for 18 years so you know she’s not her full self—sorry couldn’t help myself but at the same time you’ll know what I mean as you read it!
Rather than having to live with the fact that he killed the woman he loves to win the game, he chooses to kill himself with Galina’s dagger for it only to hit its mark and stab Vika instead??!! There are so many bombs being dropped on us as readers, I can’t keep my head on straight with this one! (But in a completely good way!)
“At least I die with her in my arms.”
Pages 385-386 will literally rip your heart out and make you ball like a baby!—You’ve been warned!
And of course he had to declare his love for her as he sacrifices himself because you know you have to have those heart-wrenching scenes too! The sharing of his energy to save her was absolutely beautiful and kind of poetic in the sense that they were essentially bitter rivals for the entire book, trying to kill one another only for him to actually give himself up to save her, it was both romantic and tragic!
And after all this, when Vika is given the role as Imperial Enchanter, she sees a very Nikolai shaped silhouette??!! Making him alive but it appears as only a shadow??!!
The torture is endless with this book!! I couldn’t guess any of these twists which makes this book even better because it made me grasp it even harder to see what would happen next!
Bravo Evelyn Skye! A well-deserved 5 out of 5!