Cocktails and Books
Written on Dec 2, 2016
"Gorgeous and richly imagined."-Sara Raasch, New York Times bestselling author of the Snow Like Ashes series
"Teeming with hidden magic and fiery romance."-Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
Perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone and Red Queen, The Crown's Game is a thrilling and atmospheric historical fantasy set in Imperial Russia about two teenagers who must compete for the right to become the Imperial Enchanter-or die in the process-from debut author Evelyn Skye.
Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters-the only two in Russia-and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side. And so he initiates the Crown's Game, an ancient duel of magical skill-the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar's most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death. Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg.
But can she kill another enchanter-even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has? For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown's Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with-beautiful, whip smart, imaginative-and he can't stop thinking about her. And when Pasha, Nikolai's best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love ...or be killed himself. As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear...the Crown's Game is not one to lose.
- ISBN10 0062422588
- ISBN13 9780062422583
- Publish Date 30 June 2016 (first published 17 May 2016)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 15 October 2021
- Publish Country US
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
- Imprint Balzer and Bray
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 416
- Language English
Reviews
Briana @ Pages Unbound
Written on Jun 19, 2016
Possibly one of the most difficult things for an author to achieve is making readers care about their characters, and it's certainly something Skye struggles with. Of course I feel bad that Vika or Nikolai is destined to die, but it's the type of "feeling bad" I'd have for any person in a sad situation. I did not care about them, or any of the characters, as individuals. I'm not entirely sure what Skye could have done to fix this, though I think showing readers more of what was at stake for the characters might have helped. Of course nobody wants to die, but beyond that, what matters to these characters? What do they lose if they die? If Skye had shown me more of what makes the characters tick or what they wanted to achieve in life, or shown me who would have been absolutely devastated if they lost and died, I might have cared more. I needed to feel there would be some emptiness or unfulfilled potential if one of these characters died.
The plot was somewhat more exciting than the characters, but some of it doesn't quite make sense, and the pacing is off. There are really two strains of plot going on, and Skye didn't quite reconcile them. The book wants to be dire and epic and deep, but it gets sidetracked by frivolous magic and flights of fancy. And, honestly, if the book had simply embraced frivolity, I think I could have really enjoyed it.
[Slight spoilers this paragraph.] Ostensibly Vika and Nikolai are dueling to the death. Their goal: impress the tsar with their magic and show him they have what it takes to be a royal advisor and also lead a upcoming war. What do they with their magic instead? Decorate St. Petersburg. Now, the book goes out of its way to assure readers that Vika and Nikolai are performing stunning, complex, difficult magic, that it takes enormous strength and power and concentration to do something like paint all the houses on a square or make a water fountain in a river. So, sure, I'll buy that. However. this takes place in a world where 1) few people believe in or know anything about magic and 2) the tsar started the Crown's Game because he fears a looming war. So 1) probably no one knows whether painting some houses complex magic or not and 2) it definitely doesn't have an immediate use in war. Of course, the book also has to come up with lots of convoluted to help the plot make sense (i.e. no one believes in magic, so the competitors can't do anything too dangerous or scary). However, this is still stupid because they could have just gone somewhere more isolated, and I think there's still a way to demonstrate you have warlike abilities that would be more effective than making magical puff pastries. The enchanters' training exercises that nobody saw were more to the point than the things they choose to do during the actual competition.
In terms of pacing, the book starts out slowly then goes on a mad dash at the end, complete with the classic "overdone drama between two characters motivated by a seemingly insignificant "event." I was not really a fan. The book then ends suddenly and kind of assumes readers will be on board for the next one, but I don't think I will be.
Usually I give 2 stars to books I actively dislike, but I'm giving 2 here instead of 3 mostly because I was just so bored the entire time I was reading it. I also considered DNF-ing several times, which is also a criterion I use to give lower ratings. There's a lot of potential in The Crown's Game, but it has a bit of an identity crisis over whether it's wants to be a book about beautiful magic or a book about war and danger and deceit. I would have loved a more frivolous take on this, I think, a book that just gloried in aesthetic magic and making St. Petersburg beautiful. I didn't really buy all the dire additions to the plot, however. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2016, so I'm quite sad I felt so let down.
cornerfolds
Written on Jun 6, 2016
This book caught my attention pretty much as soon as I saw it. The cover is clearly gorgeous and the description promises magic, adventure, and romance! The entire premise sounds amazing and I just KNEW I would love it! Then I read it and it turned out to be too good to be true.
Vika Andreyeva and Nikolai Karimov are the main characters of this story. They're enemies by nature, both having to compete to become the Imperial Enchanter for the Tsar. When only one can win, while the other must die, these characters have nothing else to do than fight to the death. At least, that's the logical course of action in this case, but that is not what these two do. Nope. They make each other gifts and dance and flirt and, obviously, obsess over each other and "fall in love." Because that makes sense.
I didn't particularly care for either of these characters. Vika's actions were confusing from the very beginning. I never quite understood her motivations and didn't find her to be endearing in any way. At least I did enjoy Nikolai at some points throughout this book, although not often. He was the typical tortured love interest who sacrifices for a woman he doesn't even really know. But most of all, they weren't really people I felt like I ever got to know. They were both flat and boring and unsympathetic.
The romance is the worst thing about this book because it did not make sense AT ALL. Not only were these characters enemies and knew that only one could live through the game, but they also did not know each other. At all. They met for like, 3 seconds before they were already feeling electricity or whatever. I didn't buy it. And of course there had to be a love triangle in this book or it wouldn't be a debut YA novel, right? Meet Pasha, the best friend who's just kind of there as a plot device to move the story along. He also happens to be in love with Vika. Oh, and he's spent even less time with her than Nikolai. The whole thing was just impossible to believe.
Like I said, this book promised magic and lots of it, and it did deliver on that one. There was a lot of really cool magic from start to finish! Unfortunately, the magical aspects didn't make much sense either and neither did the game everything revolved around. I feel like the entire premise of the Crown's Game could've been a fantastic book had it been better executed. As it is now, things were vastly under explained in favor of romance that just didn't work and really should have been left out.
The saving grace of this book was its world building. Have I ever been to Russia? Nope. Did I feel like I was in Russia while reading this book? Yes, I did. I'm not sure how accurate the descriptions were, of course, but I did feel like I could have stepped directly into this book because Evelyn Skye did such a fantastic job of painting the settings for me.
The Crown's Game had so much promise and potential! I wanted it to be incredible, but instead the author wrote a romance novel with some magical elements that didn't quite tie together crammed in to make it more interesting. The world building was really well done, but it wasn't enough to save this one for me. I didn't completely hate it, but I certainly did not like it enough to read the second in this series.
tweetybugshouse
Written on May 24, 2016
nightingalereads
Written on Mar 4, 2016
I had greatly anticipated this book, which makes it all the more sad for me to admit that I started skimming only 100 pages in. While I didn't hate the characters, they were all as flat as a pancake. I didn't form any emotional attachment to them whatsoever, except for a faint sympathy for Nikolai and a vague fondness for Pasha. Vika was mostly just annoying. Plot-wise, I remained very distant and detached throughout the entire story. It was not as exciting or engaging as I'd hoped, but maybe that's my own fault for letting my expectations run away with me. I also thought the explanations behind the magic and history of the "Crown's Game" lacked some serious development. Not only that, but the logic behind the world-building just seemed awfully convenient at times, like it was thrown in solely to serve the plot. Overall, this book fell flat for me. Lots of other reviews seem to be positive, though, so I'm probably going to be in the minority on this one. :)
shannonmiz
Written on Feb 15, 2016
Goodness, where to begin? Well, I knew I needed to read this book because Russia. And also, magical duel. And of course romance. So, there you have it. Enjoy the book!
So, I will first say that it did start off a little slow for me, mostly because I had some trouble keeping track of/connecting to everyone, and the different settings and such. BUT. This is brief, and I feel like it needs to be mentioned, because I'd hate to see someone miss out on the awesomeness because they struggled with the first bit. Because this did not last long for me. After like, 10-15% I was completely, 100% invested. And then it blew my mind.
I know you all can read the synopsis, so I am just going to assume that you did. Great. So Vika, Vika is the lovely specimen we begin with. Can you tell that I adore her? I mean, she's been hanging out on an island her whole life with dear old dad, and her bestie is this cool older lady from the bakery named Ludmilla. She is under the impression that she's the only enchanter in Russia. She is wrong.
Because there's Nikolai, who's kind of equally fabulous- though I wasn't sure at first. He's our other enchanter, and lives with this rotten woman named Galina, and Renata, a servant who definitely has a pretty serious case of the feelings for him. He is best friends with the tsesarevich, Pasha, and they like shenanigans. And frankly, I am going to be on board with anyone who enjoys a good shenanigan. It's almost comical to watch Pasha fight with his sister Yuliana (such a pretty name, by the by), who basically wants to play tsar herself. She is into it. So of course, this group is living in Saint Petersburg, blissfully unaware of Vika and The Crown's Game.
So, if you're keeping track, the characters are obviously a huge win! Even the more villainous ones are great- they're all incredibly well developed, and all have their own distinct voices and personalities, and I loved it.
The next piece is The Game. I like games, if you hadn't noticed ;) But in seriousness, this is pretty unique. I mean, in a sense, there is a slight similarity to The Hunger Games because only one of them is left alive, but only one of them dies too! And it's a game about magic!! The things they can do are so fun. And then reading about both enchanters trying to figure out the other's motives- both in and out of the game was pretty fabulous!
There's all kinds of behind the scenes political messiness as well, along with family drama all over the place. And some of it may just blow your mind when it comes to light.
Still keeping track? Great. Plot also equals win.
The world building... can I just say exquisite? First, I loved how it is based on actual Saint Petersburg. And yes, there are absolutely parts that end up being fictional, but for the most part? I have walked the streets where these characters walked- and even more exciting, did their magic! (You can read about that here.) But Evelyn did an amazing job making Saint Petersburg come to life, but also makes it feel like there absolutely could be a source of magic. It was done so well- even addressing people being skeptical of magic, which, let's face it, would absolutely be true!
So the world-building? Definitely on point.
This is not all, no! There are swoons. There are feels. There are complicated relationships- and I don't just mean romantic ones. Basically, this book has a little of everything, and I need more now.
Bottom Line: Even with a slower start, I simply cannot deny how much I loved this book. The characters jumped out of the page, the world-building was remarkable, and the story itself had me hooked. I can't wait until I get the chance to venture back into this world in the sequel!