Thursday, April 30, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Crush the King by Jennifer Estep




Crush the King is the final book in Jennifer Estep's fantasy series, Crown of Shards, which began with 2018's "Kill the Queen" (Reviewed Here) and continued with last year's "Protect the Prince" (Reviewed Here).  Both are fun fantasy novels that don't get too dark or unpredictable, but they're executed well with a fun main heroine and side characters along the way, with some really fun moments at times.  I liked the first book more than the second because the second lost a little bit of the first's charm, but was still looking forward to the conclusion of the trilogy with this novel.

And Crush the King is closer to the first book than the second, with a plot that returns some of the charm and fun as it rushes to a conclusion.  It's a conclusion that is still fairly predictable, despite some moments of surprise, but manages to twist some of those expected plot turns in some interesting ways, and its main characters remain very fun.  Again, this is not a standout piece of fantasy, as demonstrated by the large number of plot threads that wind up going absolutely nowhere, but you could do worse for a solid enjoyable fantasy series than this trilogy.

Note: Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable below, but as neither book relies upon surprise, it's not really much of a big deal.


--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
Evie - now firmly entrenched as Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona - has survived every one of the countless attempts by the sinister king of Morta to assassinate her.  And after surviving an attack from a mercenary group belonging to a family known for their rich financial obligation which they feel puts them on the same level as Kings and Queens, Evie is tired of it all and wants to end the conflict for good.

Fortunately for Evie, a natural opportunity appears on the horizon: The Regalia Games, an olympic-like competition, complete with gladiator games and other competitions, between all the kingdoms in the world, hosted by that same banking family.  Evie's enemy is bound to attend, as well as all her allies and potential other allies she can rally to her cause.  But Evie prefers a more direct approach to kill her enemy if she can find it, and with her skilled and talented allies, she has the resources to pull it off.

But the Mortan King is also a powerful mage, perhaps powerful enough to overcome Evie's own immunity, and with his own ruthlessness he's just as likely to arrange for Evie's death at the games.  It will take not just Evie and her allies magical skills, but her wits and long planning for Evie to win the only contest that matters....and to Crush the King.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Okay fine, I used the same gimmick to end my plot summary as the official back copy, it's fitting for this often cheesy series).

Crush the King is the finale of the Crown of Shards trilogy, and like any finale, it mainly focuses on cleaning up plot threads from the prior two novels.  Evie finally comes face to face with her true enemy, the Mortan king Maximus, who is as monstrous as we were previously led to believe and then some.  Once again she has to use her magic in new and powerful ways, expanding upon her mastery from the prior two novels, and the main enemy from the prior novel, the evil Maeven, returns yet again, but this time serves as a target who Evie tries to manipulate (as begun in the last novel).   It will surprise absolutely no one who has gotten this far in the series to note that the Olympic Games-like competition that forms the setting for this novel features most prominently a gladiator contest, or that Evie might get involved in another such fight.  That's how this series works!

And it works because this series is fun and charming even as it is more or less predictable.  Evie is still a charming enjoyable heroine - not quite a brilliant schemer or a brilliant fighter but with enough moments of genius between the two to keep you on your toes and make her fun to read.  Her allies remain excellent and are expanded upon nicely - hell we even get a sex scene this time with the love interest around after coming close but not quite there in prior books - with one of their own dangling plot arcs here being resolved in nice if entirely predictable fashion.  And I'll say this, for all I keep harping on how predictable elements of this series are - and they are it's true - the book manages to take the expected final twist set up at the end of last book and spin it in a way I didn't quite anticipate, but which makes perfect and satisfying sense.

Again, this book works and is fun and enjoyable, but it's never really anything great or close to the level of being a must read, with a number of minor flaws that don't really matter too much in terms of robbing you of satisfaction unless you think about the book too hard.  In particular this novel sets up a number of plot threads that wind up going absolutely nowhere and having zero impact upon the plot, which instead follows the lines set up by the prior novels instead.  One of these plot threads is particularly hilarious in how it leads to nothing, given how blatantly obvious it is - it involves a newly introduced potential antagonist banker family, which is led by a man with his sister as his "advisor", and the novel makes who really holds the power in the family such an obvious secret that seems like it should have a big impact eventually on the plot.....only to lead to utterly nothing whatsoever.  Moreover a number of these elements feel like the book trying once again to reach its greatest hits a second time - for example, we get another Unger Dance Contest for no reason! - but these are fun at the very least even the second time, so whatever.

So yeah, Crush the King is fun and a solid capper to this trilogy, if more of the same.  If you enjoyed the first book, you'll enjoy this - if not, you won't, but since I enjoyed the first book, I can't exactly complain!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)