Treason's Crown Review
A king in need of a bride.
A rebel leader in his dungeon.
A farmer’s daughter with a choice.
This isn’t a fairy tale.
The last thing Riette expects on a snowy winter’s evening is Meirdre’s royal guard appearing on her doorstep. Their purpose? The king needs a bride, and tradition dictates the position is hers to accept. Desperate to secure her parents’ future, she agrees to the marriage and is whisked away to Lochfeld Castle, all too aware her childhood friend is there as well—imprisoned as a rebel in the dungeons below.
Leaving him to hang isn’t an option, even as her nuptials and his execution grow closer. No matter what secrets the castle holds—mysteries she alone can see—or how desperate King Laurent is to marry an unknown peasant girl, the glittering crown in her future is nothing more than a distraction from her new mission: she’ll free Thomas or die trying.
But what happens when succeeding at either means the downfall of Meirdre?
It’s rare that I have the ability to sit and read an entire book in an afternoon anymore, partially because I’m almost always guaranteed to get interrupted, and partially because I just don’t have large chunks of time in which to spend on my favorite activity, and partially because most books just take me longer to get through because I tend to enjoy massive door-stopping tomes.
However, when I do get the chance to read uninterrupted, it is always a treat.
I sat down to read Treason’s Crown fairly certain it would take me a few days to get through. When books are on my kindle, I don’t know how long they’ll be until I start reading them (which can be both a downside and an upside at the same time). But this short novel grabbed me and sucked me into the story immediately and refused to let me go. I absolutely devoured it in a couple of blissfully uninterrupted hours and thoroughly enjoyed the time I got to spend in the fictional kingdom of Meirdre.
I don’t want to give away spoilers, but I do want to talk about a few of my favorite things in this story. So here we go -
Five Good Reasons to read Treason’s Crown:
Riette. The story is told in first-person from Riette’s point of view and I loved hanging out with her. If you know me at all, you know that it takes rather a lot for a 1st-person book to win me over. I don’t automatically put them back on the shelf like I used to when I was in jr. high and high school (and even college), but it’s not usually my favorite. Especially if the POV character is a girl. This is often because I find the main character to be whiny or obnoxious or just unrelatable in general. Not so with Riette. I liked her from moment one. Unlike many female protagonists, she is kind of no-nonsense and practical, and I really loved that about her. She doesn’t spend hours moaning about “woe is me” and she’s sensible enough to keep her mouth shut and her face expressionless when she’s in the presence of those powerful enough to have her imprisoned or killed if she shows any hint of disagreeing with them. She owns up to the mistakes she makes and doesn’t absolutely loathe herself or wallow in “what ifs” when she messes up. So... we get along swell and I really liked her a lot.
The fantasy elements. These are actually somewhat understated for a fantasy novel, but there are enough of them to pique my interest and I could happily spend much more time exploring this world. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but there is a tinge of magic in this world and it was quite intriguing and unique. It was explained briefly as being a special ability gifted from God and I thought that was really cool.
The world. Mostly, the world is described as a fairly typical (I mean that in the best way possible, as in, it should feel homey and familiar to fans of fantasy fiction everywhere) medieval kingdom, though guns are mentioned, so I’m not entirely certain what stage of development the world has attained. There are poor villages, larger towns and cities, kingdoms with kings and castles and lords and ladies and dank dungeons. People travel via coach and carriage and horseback. I loved how real the world felt even in such a short book (short by my standards, mind).
Father Gerrit. A side character who absolutely stole my heart. I really loved this character and what he adds to the story. His role as priest, friend, confidant, and mentor was brilliantly woven together and he stepped off the page as a very real person despite not getting much page-time.
King Laurent. I know I probably am supposed to hate him, but I kind of... sort of... I mean, is it awful that I kind of loved him? I mean, he’s depicted throughout the story from Riette’s perspective as the villain, but it seemed to me that she never really gave him a chance to be anything else. He is clearly a man who has abused his power, and yet, in the glimmers where we get to see him he seems to honestly care about his kingdom and the people who live in it. And I just really felt sorry for him, it seemed that if he’d been anything other than a king and didn’t have a throne to protect or the power to execute people, he might have turned out to be a rather nice guy. If nothing else, he was a brilliantly written sympathetic villain. I don’t know. But based on the glimpses of humanity in him throughout the story, I have hopes that maybe he could be redeemed.
This story is a page-turner. I can always tell how much I’m enjoying a story by how quickly I read it, and this was no exception.
Cons... I should probably mention some cons... um...
It was over too quickly. (I know some people see the “it was too short” comment as a criticism, but I only ever mean it as a compliment).
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys medieval fantasy with very little magic.
Five out of five dragon eggs with zero reservations.
I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the author. This review and these thoughts are my own, honest reaction to reading the story.