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adventurous
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Murder
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Murder
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a great reimagining of Arthurian tales with fae and a dark side.
I appreciated the way the author wrote about our FMC’s grief and trauma. I felt like this was really relatable for a lot of people. I loved our grumpy and brooding MMC Arran!
He is the morally gray MMC I’ve been needing for a while. And the way he appreciates Keyva’s full figure. Yes please, we need more of that in fantasy books.
Plus some very hot spicy scenes are always appreciated 🥵
Not to mention the cliffhanger?!?! I was shook! And I will be starting the 2nd book immediately following this review.
If you’re looking for a dark fantasy series with political intrigue and an enemies to lovers storyline then I’d recommend giving this one a go.
My only note/criticism that the beginning of this book was quite slow and I wasn’t really sure where the plot was going until I hit the 40% mark.
I appreciated the way the author wrote about our FMC’s grief and trauma. I felt like this was really relatable for a lot of people. I loved our grumpy and brooding MMC Arran!
He is the morally gray MMC I’ve been needing for a while. And the way he appreciates Keyva’s full figure. Yes please, we need more of that in fantasy books.
Plus some very hot spicy scenes are always appreciated 🥵
Not to mention the cliffhanger?!?! I was shook! And I will be starting the 2nd book immediately following this review.
If you’re looking for a dark fantasy series with political intrigue and an enemies to lovers storyline then I’d recommend giving this one a go.
My only note/criticism that the beginning of this book was quite slow and I wasn’t really sure where the plot was going until I hit the 40% mark.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief
Minor: Body shaming
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Veyka never wanted to be queen, however, a cruel twist of fate made her the unwilling heir. The Queen of Secrets.
Set in a fae land divided in two between the elemental and the terrestrial faes, "Crown of Earth and Sky" is a retelling of the Arthur legend with a twist. We follow Veyka Pendragon as she navigates through the scheming royal council, her bethrothed, known as the Brutal Prince, and the secrets he brings with him. All of this while she's crippled by grief, a position she never wanted, the past that still haunts her, and her plan for vengeance that's the only thing that motivates her.
This is a romantasy with an enemies-to-lovers plot which, gave all the satisfaction that it promised. It's quite steamy, which is an added bonus for me, however, being the first book of the series there wasn't as much romanticism. However, Veyka and Arran seem promising in that regard. I really enjoy it when politics are woven into a fantastical plot. The inner machinations of the Elemental Court and this new world and magic system as well were really fascinating and easy to follow for me. I honestly enjoyed every minute of this story. The two MCs were rounded and complex, there was more than met the eyes of both of them, and getting to know them as they unraveled each other's secrets was a pleasure. The story was also action-packed and it proved time and time again how Veyka is a plus-sized, knife-wive queen. No matter what she thinks.
That unforeseeable cliffhanger was just cruelly delicious enough that I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.
In this book you'll find: enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, faes, magic, action and intrigue, plus size representation, knife-wife. (check TW before reading)
Set in a fae land divided in two between the elemental and the terrestrial faes, "Crown of Earth and Sky" is a retelling of the Arthur legend with a twist. We follow Veyka Pendragon as she navigates through the scheming royal council, her bethrothed, known as the Brutal Prince, and the secrets he brings with him. All of this while she's crippled by grief, a position she never wanted, the past that still haunts her, and her plan for vengeance that's the only thing that motivates her.
This is a romantasy with an enemies-to-lovers plot which, gave all the satisfaction that it promised. It's quite steamy, which is an added bonus for me, however, being the first book of the series there wasn't as much romanticism. However, Veyka and Arran seem promising in that regard. I really enjoy it when politics are woven into a fantastical plot. The inner machinations of the Elemental Court and this new world and magic system as well were really fascinating and easy to follow for me. I honestly enjoyed every minute of this story. The two MCs were rounded and complex, there was more than met the eyes of both of them, and getting to know them as they unraveled each other's secrets was a pleasure. The story was also action-packed and it proved time and time again how Veyka is a plus-sized, knife-wive queen. No matter what she thinks.
That unforeseeable cliffhanger was just cruelly delicious enough that I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.
In this book you'll find: enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, faes, magic, action and intrigue, plus size representation, knife-wife. (check TW before reading)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Crown of earth and sky 2.75⭐️ 4🌶️
Fantasy romance
Dark themes
Dual narration
Arthur reimagining
Revenge
Fae Shifter romance
Secrets
Found family
Intricate magic system
Magic with cost
Mid/plus size FMC
Tw: suicidal thoughts, memories of rape and child abuse.
The writing gets very stilted when it goes from regular dialogue/scene into a spicy one. Almost the spicy scenes were written separately, then added in where the author thought things were getting slow. When it comes to this story, I almost think that there was enough plot going on that all of the spice wasn’t necessary and did the story a disservice.
Why in the world didn’t we get an explanation about the specific differences between the fae kingdom’s powers until chapter 52! That’s something that should have been laid out WAY earlier. Little things like that make me really annoyed.
There was repetitiveness, some near repeat of a paragraph earlier in the book, that brought me out of the reading and made me annoyed.
The characters are decently flushed out. The found family was very apparent and I enjoyed the different dynamics between characters, I only wish there had been more. I’m assuming with the last chapter we will see more as the series goes forward.
The plot and pacing was also good… there are many unanswered questions, leaving a decent trajectory for the next book.
Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the eARC. All opinions are my own
Fantasy romance
Dark themes
Dual narration
Arthur reimagining
Revenge
Fae Shifter romance
Secrets
Found family
Intricate magic system
Magic with cost
Mid/plus size FMC
Tw: suicidal thoughts, memories of rape and child abuse.
The writing gets very stilted when it goes from regular dialogue/scene into a spicy one. Almost the spicy scenes were written separately, then added in where the author thought things were getting slow. When it comes to this story, I almost think that there was enough plot going on that all of the spice wasn’t necessary and did the story a disservice.
Why in the world didn’t we get an explanation about the specific differences between the fae kingdom’s powers until chapter 52! That’s something that should have been laid out WAY earlier. Little things like that make me really annoyed.
There was repetitiveness, some near repeat of a paragraph earlier in the book, that brought me out of the reading and made me annoyed.
The characters are decently flushed out. The found family was very apparent and I enjoyed the different dynamics between characters, I only wish there had been more. I’m assuming with the last chapter we will see more as the series goes forward.
The plot and pacing was also good… there are many unanswered questions, leaving a decent trajectory for the next book.
Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the eARC. All opinions are my own
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Pacing was odd, perhaps a bit too fast to develop any significant emotional connection with the characters. Not slow burn enough for me but I did read all 228 pages in one sitting so eh. A good but of spelling mistakes on kindle version as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Murder
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I can't quite figure out what all of the Arthurian elements are doing. They're clearly intentional from the names down, but not consistent enough to tell a story. And there's enough here to be a story of its own without an Arthur here and a Guenivere there. I appreciated the growth arc and it's more a story about found family than there are answers to the big mysteries. Curious to see what book two will bring.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Body shaming, Vomit
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
**Thank you Emberly Ash and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for this eARC! All thoughts on this read are entirely my own!**
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph
Posted on: 12 January 2024
3 out of 5 stars.
So this was definitely A Read. It wasn’t bad, exactly, but I can definitely see how people either loved it or hated it- and I feel like I’m somewhere in between but leaning to liking it? I’m no stranger to DNFing ARCs, and clearly I didn’t do that, so I think part of me enjoyed this more than I thought??
Anyways, I digress. Let me actually review-
Crown of Earth and Sky is definitely a… love and smut first kind of book. The storyline kind of came second to the lust Arran and Veyka have for one another. It did get awkward in some places though, a little less than seamlessly sprinkled throughout the book in what feels like a way to appeal to romance readers. The descriptions also took away from the flow of the writing (Veyka’s breasts or her body are definitely mentioned a lot and it gets kind of overdone in some places) which already wasn’t too much my cup of tea, but it wasn’t terrible! There’s a few golden highlights that I have, a few choice quotes that snuck into my brain.
The storyline felt a little… odd though? The pacing is a little slow. The book focuses more on the relationship aspects. There wasn’t much going on during some points that I almost forgot what the overarching goal was (besides revenge- we never forget that, it’s also mentioned a lot). The plot just didn’t make too much sense to me at first, I think, because Veyka and Arran’s feelings for one another shadowed the plot points/interrupted moments too often for me to remember what just happened.
I think what saved this book for me was just all the strong women. I love a good angry character and Veyka wasn’t one of my favorites, but she has room to grow which is something that does slowly start to happen. There’s a little bit of sisterhood, a little bit of healing, and a lot of powerful women who can command a room with ease (Gwen is definitely one of my favorites). I’m just not a big fan of Veyka and Arran’s relationship until roughly the last 30-ish percent. It was borderline toxic how they just lusted over each other and hated each other when they weren’t having sex. It gets a bit better though, which is probably the other reason I stuck with it.
I will say though, Emberly Ash posts character portraits on her Instagram and I still can’t decide if these are AI or not? I’m still learning how to tell, but at least eye wise, they don’t look off or wonky how I’ve seen other AI creations look, which is the only reason I want to say they aren’t AI, but I’d love to know for sure if anybody else knows! I think it’s definitely an issue to bring up because we all should know by now how damaging AI art is to real artists- but this review isn’t meant to discuss that so I digress for now.
Overall, there’s nit picky bits that I really wish could’ve been done better. The characters are slowly growing a bit more, so I have a feeling this second book will have some redeeming qualities to it! I think it’s also a genre thing. I don’t read dark romance, just *barely* started reading spicy romance, so it’s all new territory I’m getting used to.
Maybe I’ll have some new thoughts come book two?
Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The Storygraph
Posted on: 12 January 2024
3 out of 5 stars.
So this was definitely A Read. It wasn’t bad, exactly, but I can definitely see how people either loved it or hated it- and I feel like I’m somewhere in between but leaning to liking it? I’m no stranger to DNFing ARCs, and clearly I didn’t do that, so I think part of me enjoyed this more than I thought??
Anyways, I digress. Let me actually review-
Crown of Earth and Sky is definitely a… love and smut first kind of book. The storyline kind of came second to the lust Arran and Veyka have for one another. It did get awkward in some places though, a little less than seamlessly sprinkled throughout the book in what feels like a way to appeal to romance readers. The descriptions also took away from the flow of the writing (Veyka’s breasts or her body are definitely mentioned a lot and it gets kind of overdone in some places) which already wasn’t too much my cup of tea, but it wasn’t terrible! There’s a few golden highlights that I have, a few choice quotes that snuck into my brain.
The storyline felt a little… odd though? The pacing is a little slow. The book focuses more on the relationship aspects. There wasn’t much going on during some points that I almost forgot what the overarching goal was (besides revenge- we never forget that, it’s also mentioned a lot). The plot just didn’t make too much sense to me at first, I think, because Veyka and Arran’s feelings for one another shadowed the plot points/interrupted moments too often for me to remember what just happened.
I think what saved this book for me was just all the strong women. I love a good angry character and Veyka wasn’t one of my favorites, but she has room to grow which is something that does slowly start to happen. There’s a little bit of sisterhood, a little bit of healing, and a lot of powerful women who can command a room with ease (Gwen is definitely one of my favorites). I’m just not a big fan of Veyka and Arran’s relationship until roughly the last 30-ish percent. It was borderline toxic how they just lusted over each other and hated each other when they weren’t having sex. It gets a bit better though, which is probably the other reason I stuck with it.
I will say though, Emberly Ash posts character portraits on her Instagram and I still can’t decide if these are AI or not? I’m still learning how to tell, but at least eye wise, they don’t look off or wonky how I’ve seen other AI creations look, which is the only reason I want to say they aren’t AI, but I’d love to know for sure if anybody else knows! I think it’s definitely an issue to bring up because we all should know by now how damaging AI art is to real artists- but this review isn’t meant to discuss that so I digress for now.
Overall, there’s nit picky bits that I really wish could’ve been done better. The characters are slowly growing a bit more, so I have a feeling this second book will have some redeeming qualities to it! I think it’s also a genre thing. I don’t read dark romance, just *barely* started reading spicy romance, so it’s all new territory I’m getting used to.
Maybe I’ll have some new thoughts come book two?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Alcohol
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Grief
Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia
I only mention the rape as moderate because it’s a light, on page scene that doesn’t go too into detail, but the reader does still know what happens. Not to mention it also happens to, I assume considering mentions later in the book, a minor.