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allieryanreads 's review for:
The Crown
by Kiera Cass
Spoilers abound in this review!
After reading some of the various reviews out there, I decided to throw in my 2 cents.
1) I loved Eadlyn's character growth. Reading this book from her perspective was drastically better. Despite my relief there, I have to admit perhaps the growth happened a little two quickly and unrealistically. I know it's a major thing when your mom has a heart attack, but it doesn't necessarily help you skip 12 steps on the maturing scale.
2) Hale - no surprises there for me. Ean was more of a surprise, but I did feel like it made sense in hindsight.
3) Marid - so wish Eadlyn's caught on to this sooner... Seemed very very obvious.
4) Lady Brice - her backstory was a good addition that added depth to Maxon and Eadlyn
5) the America x Maxon moments were great!
6) the constitutional monarchy bit seemed a little rushed. For those who don't know, a constitutional monarchy is where the royal family still exists but they are not the ones running things. The U.K. is an example. I'm fine with things going that way, but since we were in Eadlyn's perspective it would have been better to have more explanation as to why she decided to do that. There wasn't really any clear indication in her thinking.
And the biggest debate: the Selection!
I really do adore Kile, but I was picking up on the Eikko hints back in the Heir. From reading the Heir, it felt like Eikko was the one going to be the choice for me. It was subtle (just like how it was developing with Kile) but it was definitely there. For what I gather, it seems that a lot of didn't necessarily interrupt those interactions between Eadlyn and Eikko as hints of developing love. I just wanted to put the word out that the evidence was there in the Heir, she didn't suddenly start liking him in the Crown.
I don't understand why there has to be such a big debate about him not being among the selected... We knew from the beginning that Eadlyn was not bound/required to marry one of them... And yet she treated it like she was. Public favor did play a role here, but Eadlyn kept treating it as if she was breaking some sort of rule, when in all actuality there were already contingencies in place for if she didn't fall in love with one of the selected.
And as for Kile, in the end it seemed to develop more to the side of a familial love. While she clearly loved him (with the added factor of enjoying kissing)... She wasn't clearly in love with him. There was always something lacking. After she realized her feelings for Eikko, she never could put her heart into Kile and let those feelings develop further.
So in essence there was a moment there that Eadlyn had a choice of who to fall in love with and she chose Eikko. For me it worked, and I was a Eikko fan from the beginning (maybe because I lived in Sweden for a year and a half).
Could the book have been better? Yes - hence why I docked a star. It's a quick read (I finished within a day I received it)
My biggest complaint: the extra epilogue in the Barnes and Noble version should be made available to all. The story didn't feel complete with the events happening 6 years later. Having exclusive real content limited to one store seems like a poor marketing choice to me in the attempt at fairness. I didn't even know about the extra epilogue until after I had made my purchase elsewhere (but happenstance made it so I received a special edition from Barnes and Nobles as a gift that same day).
After reading some of the various reviews out there, I decided to throw in my 2 cents.
1) I loved Eadlyn's character growth. Reading this book from her perspective was drastically better. Despite my relief there, I have to admit perhaps the growth happened a little two quickly and unrealistically. I know it's a major thing when your mom has a heart attack, but it doesn't necessarily help you skip 12 steps on the maturing scale.
2) Hale - no surprises there for me. Ean was more of a surprise, but I did feel like it made sense in hindsight.
3) Marid - so wish Eadlyn's caught on to this sooner... Seemed very very obvious.
4) Lady Brice - her backstory was a good addition that added depth to Maxon and Eadlyn
5) the America x Maxon moments were great!
6) the constitutional monarchy bit seemed a little rushed. For those who don't know, a constitutional monarchy is where the royal family still exists but they are not the ones running things. The U.K. is an example. I'm fine with things going that way, but since we were in Eadlyn's perspective it would have been better to have more explanation as to why she decided to do that. There wasn't really any clear indication in her thinking.
And the biggest debate: the Selection!
I really do adore Kile, but I was picking up on the Eikko hints back in the Heir. From reading the Heir, it felt like Eikko was the one going to be the choice for me. It was subtle (just like how it was developing with Kile) but it was definitely there. For what I gather, it seems that a lot of didn't necessarily interrupt those interactions between Eadlyn and Eikko as hints of developing love. I just wanted to put the word out that the evidence was there in the Heir, she didn't suddenly start liking him in the Crown.
I don't understand why there has to be such a big debate about him not being among the selected... We knew from the beginning that Eadlyn was not bound/required to marry one of them... And yet she treated it like she was. Public favor did play a role here, but Eadlyn kept treating it as if she was breaking some sort of rule, when in all actuality there were already contingencies in place for if she didn't fall in love with one of the selected.
And as for Kile, in the end it seemed to develop more to the side of a familial love. While she clearly loved him (with the added factor of enjoying kissing)... She wasn't clearly in love with him. There was always something lacking. After she realized her feelings for Eikko, she never could put her heart into Kile and let those feelings develop further.
So in essence there was a moment there that Eadlyn had a choice of who to fall in love with and she chose Eikko. For me it worked, and I was a Eikko fan from the beginning (maybe because I lived in Sweden for a year and a half).
Could the book have been better? Yes - hence why I docked a star. It's a quick read (I finished within a day I received it)
My biggest complaint: the extra epilogue in the Barnes and Noble version should be made available to all. The story didn't feel complete with the events happening 6 years later. Having exclusive real content limited to one store seems like a poor marketing choice to me in the attempt at fairness. I didn't even know about the extra epilogue until after I had made my purchase elsewhere (but happenstance made it so I received a special edition from Barnes and Nobles as a gift that same day).