A review by raeneshine
The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

2.0

This, to me, was a more watered-down version of [b:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059]. It's been quite some time since I've read this but a few things stick out in my memory:

- romance was not believable and happened too quickly for virtually every character
- I get the feeling I was supposed to dislike Yuliana by the way the narration was written, but she was the only character I actually enjoyed. She's strong-willed, actually has a backbone, and got stuff done that her brother couldn't
- speaking of, the one time I actually liked Pasha because he actually acted like a king, turns out it was because Yuliana made him :|
-

Spoiler

why the hell did Aizhana have everyone sit down so she could tell them her backstory? you're really telling me that people would willingly sit down to listen to a zombie without at least one person trying to flee? info-dumping at its finest

Idk maybe I was just too annoyed that their "duel" wasn't an actual fight

Spoiler

(until the end, I guess)

but comparing magical exhibitions. It was a bit of a letdown right off the bat and made me wary about the rest of the book.

Spoiler

I will say I was impressed that Nikolai died at the end because I thought the author would just find a way to circumvent it...but based on the sequel, I'm guessing it was for the sequel hook