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A review by sadpendragon
Of Crowns and Legends by Chelsea Banning
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Of crowns and Legends is an interesting and rich Arthurian retelling that follows the story after Arthur's demise at Camlann, leaving behind him his wife Guinevere and twins.
The twins, a boy and a girl, Anwil and Ariadne, could not be more different from each other, apart from the love and loyalty they share for their loved ones. As soon as I read Anwil's POV I fell in love with him! I adore him and connected with his struggles of being a bookish introvert while having to carry the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. Ariadne is a stubborn and strong woman who only wants one thing: to be a knight and protect her kingdom. Sadly I connected with her POV less but I find it a good characterisation for a female character. Interestingly both are a superb twist on the Arthur Arhetype (stubborn knight and suffering under the weight of duty), making both of them very different from each other while holding a core part of their father(/Arthur archetype).
The strong point of this retelling is that it is rich in culture and diversity, you can tell the author put a lot of research into the world-building and the cultures of the people and the Fae. It was interesting to see a Camelot with so much knowledge and diversity (also hooray for lady knights!).
The plot itself though, felt a bit slow and the action parts didn't grip me as much. The writing was very detailed and I personally felt that it did overexplain, though this might add to experiencing the beauty of learning about the rich cultures and world-building. I personally just prefer more lyricism in writing. I think sometimes it was the reason why I didn't connect as much to other characters or emotional moments. There was also a lot of POVs but I understand it was needed for the author to tell the story they wanted to tell.
I'm rating this 3,5 but bumping it up to 4, I do plan to read the rest of the series and I want people who will appreciate this story to find it, because I think it is worth discovering. [This was my goodreads review, I’ve rated it 3,75 here]
Thank you to the author for gifting me with an ARC to review!
The twins, a boy and a girl, Anwil and Ariadne, could not be more different from each other, apart from the love and loyalty they share for their loved ones. As soon as I read Anwil's POV I fell in love with him! I adore him and connected with his struggles of being a bookish introvert while having to carry the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders. Ariadne is a stubborn and strong woman who only wants one thing: to be a knight and protect her kingdom. Sadly I connected with her POV less but I find it a good characterisation for a female character. Interestingly both are a superb twist on the Arthur Arhetype (stubborn knight and suffering under the weight of duty), making both of them very different from each other while holding a core part of their father(/Arthur archetype).
The strong point of this retelling is that it is rich in culture and diversity, you can tell the author put a lot of research into the world-building and the cultures of the people and the Fae. It was interesting to see a Camelot with so much knowledge and diversity (also hooray for lady knights!).
The plot itself though, felt a bit slow and the action parts didn't grip me as much. The writing was very detailed and I personally felt that it did overexplain, though this might add to experiencing the beauty of learning about the rich cultures and world-building. I personally just prefer more lyricism in writing. I think sometimes it was the reason why I didn't connect as much to other characters or emotional moments. There was also a lot of POVs but I understand it was needed for the author to tell the story they wanted to tell.
I'm rating this 3,5 but bumping it up to 4, I do plan to read the rest of the series and I want people who will appreciate this story to find it, because I think it is worth discovering. [This was my goodreads review, I’ve rated it 3,75 here]
Thank you to the author for gifting me with an ARC to review!