The Crystal Queen (Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow #3)
by Lidiya Foxglove
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: Reverse Harem
Blurb:
Just as I’m learning to embrace my fate and grow into a strong queen, the unthinkable has occurred. Two of my men are in the hands of the enemy, and the Queen of the Mist Dragons loves to corrupt and maim her captives. Even as I bear new life within me, I don’t know if my mates will live to see them. But I am prepared to fight for what I love, any way I can. The greatest danger, however, might be much closer…The Crystal Queen is the conclusion to the Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow saga!
My Review
I love this world this author has created and I was excited to see how the series would wrap up and also a bit sad to see it end. The Crystal Queen is a great ending to this series and also gives us another glimpse of Phoebe and her men from the Guardians of Sky and Shadow series and how they’re doing now. And it has like 3 epilogues, one after the battle, then a skip forward and then another skip forward. It was a tad confusing, but also great to see how things are going later.
Things are a bit dire at the start of this book, two of Himika’s mates are missing and they’re traveling to the sky world while preparing for war. I enjoyed reading about how they traveled to the sky world and seeing the familiar characters from the Guardians of Sky and Shadow series again, but the focus stayed on Himika’s story. It was fun to see the dragons experience the sky world and Himika enjoy the things she missed underground, but also how they realize their home is underground.
I wasn’t a big fan of the whole mist plot line as I am don’t like memory loss plot lines, so that part bothered me a bit at the start. but I did like how it all got resolved. At first with the group being split up I preferred the point of views of Himika and those with her, as the point of views of those captured by the mist dragons just was sad and a bit dark as we get to see how that court works. I was happy when that part was over. It all get’s resolved pretty well. And the ending was well done too. And the epilogues were great.
One of my favorite parts of the book was seeing Ezeru change. After book 2 I wasn’t quite sure about him, I hadn’t fully warmed up to him, but in this book we get to see more of him and also parts of that are changed and developed since we first met him. And I found I really liked his character in this book. It also was fun to see his interactions with Aurek especially. I also liked seeing how all Himika’s mates interacted together, the dynamics were great to see and how they worked together. They really have become a family and it’s awesome to see.
I am also happy with how the author resolved some things quite realistically. It’s hard to say more for spoilers, but I had expected some characters to act differently and I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. Staying true to the characters, but also having them realize they can’t do everything.
This book nicely wraps up the big plot lines in a satisfying way, but also leaves space open if the author ever decides tow rite a spin-off series about some of their kids. It also was great to see what the future holds for the dragon after they resolve these things.
To summarize: This was a great ending to the series as a whole and this trilogy. We get to see familiar characters from the Guardians of Skye and Shadow series again, which was fun. This book nicely wraps up the main plot lines and with multiple epilogues also shows us a glimpse of the future for these characters. I wasn’t a big fan of the mists and the memory loss plot line, but I was happy how it all got resolved. One of my favorite parts of the book was seeing Ezeru change, he really grows into his role and I like how we get a better feel for his personality in this book. I also liked seeing how Himika’s mates interacted with each other and how they all worked together. The epilogues were great too and it’s just so fun to see them all happy. All in all a great ending to this series, although I am secretly hoping the author might still write more tales in this world.
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
I’m glad you series had a strong, satisfying ending and you could enjoy the way iffy characters like Ezeru turned out. Sounds like things got dark a little with that mist thing and the dragons. I can see there is some strong worldbuilding and engaging characters in this trilogy.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Review: Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose
I am glad it had a great ending and I am glad I ended up liking Ezeru. I wans’t a fan of the darker parts with the mist thing, but overall it was a great read.
I love the interesting character names and that cover is so pretty.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Freebie Friday!
The covers in this series are so pretty!
This sounds like a really intriguing series, Lola – thank you for a great review:). As for series enders – I’ve recently completed the Lady Trent Memoirs by Marie Brennan and it was done really well.
It really was a great series. It’s always great when series enders are done well.