Review: The Crown

The Crown by Kiera Cass
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Truly closer to a 2.5.

I have been a major evangelist for this series since I found out about it, and while I think everyone was of the understanding that the trilogy didn't need any extra sequels, there was no reason to believe that they'd be anything more than superfluous baggage. With how poorly this final volume turned out, though...

The final two books are about the princess daughter of our heroine from the first trilogy. Running a Selection of her own, she's narrowed it down to the final few suitors, and we get to see some of the political machinations that Princess Eadlyn is facing down.

The problems with this book are so, so many. For one, the actual Selection process takes a back seat to a lot of weird political posturing. There's an outside party trying to spin public opinion toward his attempt at claiming an engagement with Eadlyn that is unrealistic on its own, and we essentially fast-forward the whole Selection simply because of a somewhat convenient plot point that almost appears to exist because of the lack of ideas to make it work. The ending is also telegraphed from a mile away, there's a lot of forced agenda throughout (especially in a series that balanced the princess fantasy with a strong female character who forged her own path in a believable fashion), and it just feels like a mess. Considering how unnecessary these last two books were, it's hard not to wonder whether there weren't a lot of ideas left at all.

I'm still a really big fan of the first trilogy. The last couple books don't take away from the main story at all, but this just wasn't a good idea to start, and it appears that the final book kind of proves that. Just not enough here to defend.

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