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A review by mollyadaza
Empress Crowned in Red by Ciannon Smart
5.0
I would reread this book in a heartbeat if it wasn't 750 pages
4.5 rounded up to 5. Yes I recommend (but recommend reading book 2 right after book 1 or you'll spend the first 100 pages confused)
Summary: Smart's mastery of imagery and world building kept me going through the slow burn (both romance AND plot). Iraya is the smart a$$ protagonist, brave to the point of reckless, we love to cheer for, while Jazmyne fights the internal struggles many relate to. I loved their character arcs, the self realization of both, and the connections they form with secondary characters. At times I was very confused (especially in the beginning, I really should've read the two books closer together) both due to the long prose (that were beautiful) and the complex world building. There were a few too many important secondary characters. I really wish this would've been a trilogy instead of a 750 page book.
Characters:
Iraya - Too perfect sometimes, hilarious others, always my favorite. She was witty, cunning, and an overall bad a$$ that kept me so invested in the story.
Jazmyne - At times she was whiny and annoying. I wanted to skip through her chapters to get back to Iraya in the first half of hte book, but Jazymne truly had the best character arc (in my opinion) so by the end, I wanted more of her.
Kirdan - I loved the conflict between Iraya and Kirdan. It gave their relationship more depth than "I think you're hot" because he truly had his own motivations and was so much more than many love interests in fantasy romance are (not that this is truly fantasy romance but has similar tropes/feels).
Other secondary characters - the deaths hit HARD, the betrayals harder. They were main characters in their own lives, each with selfish motivations and realistic reactions to the horrors of what their leaders must do to win the war. I could've done with a few less of them, however.
Plot
Here's where I took off the half star, it does drag at points. It's 750 pages, of course it's going to drag when you have chapter after chapter of political intrigue because they have to amass the armies and make alliances and develop as characters, however, I think a good 200 pages could've been cut without damaging the plot or character development. During the slow parts, I really just had to focus on the beauty of Smart's prose and the one liners that HIT.
The ending did feel a bit rushed, especially since the rest of the book was so long, and definitely had a "power of friendship" vibe that I knew was coming but kind of hoped wasn't.
World building
The world was both immersive and too much. I felt lost through many parts and had to scour back through the book to find small points that made things fit together. Part of this is a me-problem, as it's Jamaican-based fantasy so many words and titles were unfamiliar (that is not a critique of the book at all, but of my ability to adjust from primarily medieval based fantasy). I was a bit confused on distances between locations, and time skips between the dual POVs did not help as we'd jump back and forth.
4.5 rounded up to 5. Yes I recommend (but recommend reading book 2 right after book 1 or you'll spend the first 100 pages confused)
Summary: Smart's mastery of imagery and world building kept me going through the slow burn (both romance AND plot). Iraya is the smart a$$ protagonist, brave to the point of reckless, we love to cheer for, while Jazmyne fights the internal struggles many relate to. I loved their character arcs, the self realization of both, and the connections they form with secondary characters. At times I was very confused (especially in the beginning, I really should've read the two books closer together) both due to the long prose (that were beautiful) and the complex world building. There were a few too many important secondary characters. I really wish this would've been a trilogy instead of a 750 page book.
Characters:
Iraya - Too perfect sometimes, hilarious others, always my favorite. She was witty, cunning, and an overall bad a$$ that kept me so invested in the story.
Jazmyne - At times she was whiny and annoying. I wanted to skip through her chapters to get back to Iraya in the first half of hte book, but Jazymne truly had the best character arc (in my opinion) so by the end, I wanted more of her.
Kirdan - I loved the conflict between Iraya and Kirdan. It gave their relationship more depth than "I think you're hot" because he truly had his own motivations and was so much more than many love interests in fantasy romance are (not that this is truly fantasy romance but has similar tropes/feels).
Other secondary characters - the deaths hit HARD, the betrayals harder. They were main characters in their own lives, each with selfish motivations and realistic reactions to the horrors of what their leaders must do to win the war. I could've done with a few less of them, however.
Plot
Here's where I took off the half star, it does drag at points. It's 750 pages, of course it's going to drag when you have chapter after chapter of political intrigue because they have to amass the armies and make alliances and develop as characters, however, I think a good 200 pages could've been cut without damaging the plot or character development. During the slow parts, I really just had to focus on the beauty of Smart's prose and the one liners that HIT.
The ending did feel a bit rushed, especially since the rest of the book was so long, and definitely had a "power of friendship" vibe that I knew was coming but kind of hoped wasn't.
World building
The world was both immersive and too much. I felt lost through many parts and had to scour back through the book to find small points that made things fit together. Part of this is a me-problem, as it's Jamaican-based fantasy so many words and titles were unfamiliar (that is not a critique of the book at all, but of my ability to adjust from primarily medieval based fantasy). I was a bit confused on distances between locations, and time skips between the dual POVs did not help as we'd jump back and forth.