Review: The Crown's Game (The Crown's Game #1) by Evelyn Skye

Collaborative feature with Alexa. We read ARCs together and post our reviews on the same date.

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skyepub 5/17/16 by Balzer + Bray
Young Adult - Fantasy
Received ARC via Edelweiss

What a debut novel! I've mentioned before that reading a lot of fantasy back-to-back this year has been a bit of a genre overload, so I was worried about starting The Crown’s Game. My worries were unfounded though because I was completely swept into the magical, Russian-inspired (!) world that Evelyn Skye created. It tells the tale of two enchanters — Vika Andreyev and Nikolai Karimov — and the ancient duel of magic they must participate in to become the Imperial Enchanter to the Tsar. There can only be one winner and the other must die by the game’s end.

We switch back between Vika and Nikolai’s point-of-views and I immediately could not choose a winner. I wanted both of them to win the duel and fall hopelessly in love (trust me, you will too!). But their lives, this game and the people orchestrating this entire event make everything complicated and dangerous for them both. One of my favorite parts of the story was seeing what Vika and Nikolai are capable of. Each were raised to develop their magical skills but Vika was raised by a loving father on a small island while Nikolai was an orphan taken in by a cold but knowledgeable tutor. They’re both powerful in their own way and conjured up magic that the author took great pains to describe. And it paid off! Magic is like a third character in this book and I loved imagining their enchantments.

My other favorite part were the characters themselves. Vika and Nikolai are intelligent, kind and imaginative and it’s no surprise they are drawn to each other from the start. But both have entanglements to the crown — mainly in the form of Pasha, the prince who falls for Vika and Nikolai’s best friend. (Love triangle alert! But it’s one I didn’t mind.) I thought all the different plots came together really well and kept the story constantly moving forward until the very end. Which I guarantee will have you clamoring for the next book in this series.

Do I recommend?

I do! It was super enjoyable to immerse myself in this world and story and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

What would your enchantment be?

This is really tough! I know I'd want to do something fun and even kind of silly. Like maybe an enchantment where everyone in the kingdom would only have to think about what kind of clothes to wear or a new hair color and it would magically happen. If I could do that, it would make getting ready in the morning so much faster.