Review: The Shadowed Crown by Lidiya Foxglove

The Shadowed Crown (Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow #2)
by Lidiya Foxglove

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: Reverse Harem

Blurb:
Growing up under a curse, I never thought I would be the queen of the dragons and the mate of kings. My fate was written in a prophecy.

…but prophecies are very tricky things. My late father thought I was destined for one man: the Dragon King…without guessing more than one man might fulfill the prophecy.

There is the man I married, King Aurekdel. Although blinded in childhood, his fighting skills are honed and his charm, even more so. He cares for his people, but also has a ruthless side stirred up by his war against the enemy mist dragons.

Lord Seron, Aurek’s champion and closest companion, is a noble warrior who wants to lead the army and strive for peace, but when a family secret is revealed, he is forced into a reluctant destiny.

Ezeru was our natural foe: a rock dragon, a race of more bestial dragons. Sinister magic made him stronger and more intelligent, alienating him from his own kind. Now, he will turn against the mist dragon queen who created him…as he feels an unusual pull to me.

My head guard Oszin is the only fellow human to accompany me to the dragon kingdom. The son of farmers and the descendant of slaves, he has been devoted to me for years and been rewarded for it, but he has a rebellious streak and I fear he might risk his life for an ideal.

I am strong now, learning magic and the sword. And I am starting to understand: the union that will bring peace must begin with me, pulling together these four very different men and their different worlds. One of them will be the father of the next heir of the kingdom. My father’s weakness as a ruler was his downfall. But what makes a strong queen? The path of war or the path of peace? A mistake could cost me dearly.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and The Shadowed Crown is a great sequel. There is a big event at the end of book 1 that changes everything and a big part of this book deals with the result of that event and what it means for all the characters. I enjoyed seeing how they all had to adjust and work with this new information. I can’t say much about it for fear of spoiling things and that would be a shame as the twist is so awesome and the resulting changes feel realistic.

I actually enjoyed the overall plot and character changes maybe even more than the romance in this book. The plot is great, filled with politics and danger and seeing how everyone dealt with that. I liked seeing the dragons adjust to the changes that hit them in this book and also getting to know more about the situation with the mists dragon and rock dragons.

Really everyone of the five main characters has changes they got through in this book and I enjoyed seeing them fit in their new role. I also loved seeing Himika grown into a queen in this book, it was powerful to see her fit into her role like that, while in book 1 she was way more reluctant. And seeing Seron and Aurek deal with the change was both awesome and a bit sad at times too. I also liked getting to know Ezeru a bit more and while I don’t really feel his romance with Himika yet I did like him and how he cared for the rock dragons. And Oszin also has some big changes he goes through as well and a decision he makes.

For a big part of the book not all the four men are around Himika and the fourth one is only being added in this book. So there isn’t much time to really see the harem as a whole, but nevertheless we get to see a lot of how the men interact with Himika and each other. Seeing the dynamics shift throughout the book due to what happens and the fourth men being added. The romances were great and I liked seeing their relationships develop more in this book. Ad also seeing the men interact with each other and how that changed

There are also things being added in term of world building. The dragon world gets fleshed out even more and I liked seeing the other castle. And the whole situation with the war with the mist and rock dragons gets explored more in this book. I liked getting to see more of the rock dragons and also Ezeru’s role in all that. I wasn’t a fan of the whole mist thing and how overly powerful some of the mist seemed was a bit weird, especially how some removed free will basically.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this sequel. The end of book 1 had a big twist and another event that really influenced this book and it was great to see how things changed as a result of that twist. It also has some political parts and I enjoyed learning more about the conflict with the rock and mist dragons. I liked seeing the relationships develop and how the dynamics between the characters developed too and we haven’t even seen the whole harem together due to what happens in this book. I liked seeing Himika change in this book and seeing her grow into her role as queen was awesome. I also liked getting to know Ezeru, he was an interesting character, although I didn’t feel his romance with Himika fully yet. All in all this was a solid sequel and I am looking forward to book 3 especially as they will be returning to the sky world in that book!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

Do you enjoy reading about dragons?