Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Crimson Crown

by Cinda Williams Chima
New York : Hyperion, 2012.

See my reviews for the previous books in the series, The Demon King, The Exiled Queen and The Grey Wolf Throne. **Spoilers for these books follow - you've been warned!** In this final book in the Seven Realms series, Raisa is now queen and fighting to keep her fractious country united. Han, former streetlord turned wizard, has his sights set high: he wants nothing less than to marry Raisa, and he may take drastic action to make that happen.

I have very much enjoyed the time I spent with Raisa and Han in this series, and discovering the history of the Seven Realms and Raisa's queendom. It's very hard to separate this book out and talk about it separate from the series, but I can say that I like seeing the ways in which Chima develops some of her secondary characters so that you are not always sure if they were more good than bad, or if they would do the right thing in the end. It's a typical teen fantasy in some ways (good versus evil, the young taking on the elders and teaching them a better way, a kick butt heroine and a romance), but because I absolutely loved Raisa and, I admit, especially Han, I would consider revisiting the series someday, and I found this a fitting end to the story.