Two Twisted Crowns

Really great book and the perfect sequel to One Dark Window. I loved where the story went and I absolutely loved seeing more of Ione and Elm - I didn't really like Ione in the first book, but this one made me love her so much and understand her so much better. The characters are great, the story was beautiful and tense and it kept me on the edge of my seat for so long, waiting to see what was going to happen to these amazing characters.

tbh it was okay. decent ending to the first book but felt pretty slow + had to force myself a bit to finish.

One of my most anticipated releases for this year finally came out and I am so glad to say it absolutely delivers! 

Rachel Gillig's One Dark Window was one of my favourite books of 2022, it had an amazing ending which left you wanting more. Finally, the time has come when we can read the sequel to find out what happens to our main characters and boy, was the wait worth it. 

Two Twisted Crowns is as well-written as the first book with beautiful prose. It has stakes, eerie atmosphere, a lot of magic, and a lot of great character development/writing. I am happy so say that more characters get fleshed out in this book and you truly start to get to know them beyond just Elspeth and Ravyn. The bond between The Nightmare and Elspeth continues to be the best thing in the story, I can NOT get enough of them! I love them and they're easily my favourite thing about these books. I also really like the way the romance between the main leads was handled, as well. It felt more mature than what I usually experience in books that read a bit younger than adult. 

I loved the revelations and the ideas Rachel Gillig had for this story and its' ending, and I am heart-broken that this is the end. I will miss those characters and the world – especially Nightmare who is the best character (objectively, ofc!). However, I can also appreciate the story was not stretched out just to make it a trilogy. It really feels so complete and there's not much filler, which just adds to the quality of the books in my opinion. 

I do have one complaint though, which is the reason I can't in good conscience give this entry 5 stars. I absolutely couldn't stand the new POV for most of the book. I don't know what happened, but it reads very different from the rest of the book to me. It felt less mature in its' romance and not serious enough to match the rest of the story/atmosphere. Most of the chapters just read like your typical YA romance which just isn't my thing. In my opinion, the writing just wasn't on the same level and it was painful going through them. It felt the other chapters had stakes, and here we just followed a sad prince and his attempts at romance. The romance also started off-page so it was really hard for me to feel invested and root for them to end up together. I like seeing the journey the character take before they fall for each other, so it's definitely a personal preference.

I might sound too harsh, and i probably am, but trust me when I say I truly struggled to get through this POV. The only thing keeping me going was the fact I liked the female character in those chapters, and also faith in Rachel Gillig. As you can tell, it was so worth pulling through but I feel like this is something I ought to mention since it really made me struggle with reading the book at times. They get better closer to the end of the book though. I will say that I know I can be very nit-picky and there is a high chance it will not affect your enjoyment. 

The duology was more than worth going through and the ending made me feel geniuely happy that I gave this series a try. This one is definitely staying on my shelves! 

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This picks up right where One Dark Window ended. This was fantastic! One of my new favorite series, and I will read anything she writes.
I love the magic of the cards. It's different and new. And these characters are some new faves. They are all flawed and that made me love them even more.
Whether you're a person that likes character driven books or you're looking for a good plot, this would be great for you. It's so good!

Thank you to Net Galley and Orbit for an e-arc.

4.5 stars.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

This book was a perfect wrap-up to The Shepherd Duology. The magic system in this duology is super unique, I love the dark gothic fantasy setting, and the plot is so well written and captivating. I love the direction book 2 went and how the plot played out. The introduction of Ravyn's and Elm's POVs gave the story more complexity and allowed us to see deeper inside the two important characters, their backstories and struggles as well as their relationships with other people, especially between Elm and Ione. We also get more insight into the Nightmares backstory and his relationship with Elspeth which I loved seeing.

My only complaint is that I wish there was more of an emotional impact at the end of the story. It felt like there was too big of a time skip between the end of climax and the epilogue without all of the feels you get from emotional reunions and reconciliations and I desperately wished for that.

Other than that, this was a great book and I will definitely be rereading the series at least once a year.