Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)

I really enjoyed the first Crown of Shards book a lot. I’m enjoying the second one, not quite as much, but still very worth the read. I have one complaint to make:

SPOILER ALERT!
I’m at the point where Everleigh has just removed the poison from King Heinrich and where she has realized also that the King’s son was the main object of the assassination attempt, not her. Here’s the part I think is stupid and a writing ploy vs. what someone would actually do. She decides not to tell him about the poison that was in him or his son being the main target of the assassination attempt. Really? Does that sound reasonable to anyone? So no putting him on his guard, no giving him the info he needs to make appropriate plans, no nothing. Silly. I don’t like writing like that and hope I don’t see more of it in this book. That said, however, I am enjoying the book.

This was very similar to the first book. The plot was interesting enough but the writing is honestly terrible. So repetitive–last book it was the repetition of the perfect Bellonan curtsey, and in this one, it’s “ashy heartbreak” and “cold rage” and “minty regret”, amongst others. The writer seems to fall upon the phrases she likes and overuses them endlessly with no change. Once you notice it, you can’t unsee it unfortunately, and it really does impact the enjoyment of the book.

However, that’s just the structure and mechanics. The character and plot development are both very ham-handed and abrupt. There isn’t enough build up for the events to make sense, including the love story. I will also say that that was the most awkward sex scene I’ve read in a good long while. As I think about why that might be, I think it’s because the book reads as YA because of the lack of maturity in the characters and the overly simple and writing, yet there are these uncomfortable moments where the writer clearly wants to show that this is NOT YA (the excessive use of f bombs, the graphic sex scene). So it feels as though the book is disjointed and dissonant.

And finally, because of the lack of subtlety and build up in the writing, the revelation of who the actual traitor is was very much not a surprise. It was so obvious that when Everleigh finally realized it, it was a bit of a “duh why didn’t you see this before?” moment. Sigh.

I really don’t think I’ll finish this series. There was a lot of potential and I tried to see that through in the second book but the poor quality of writing, mechanics and plot and character development, just makes it difficult to enjoy.

I truly enjoyed Jennifer Esteps’s Elemental Assassin’s series. But her Crown of Shards series blows me away! I knew when I read Kill the Queen that I had stumbled into a series that was going to be a keeper. Not the typical page after page of supposedly titillating sex scenes that leave me bored and skipping much of the book. Instead, I was delighted to find an actual plot that kept me riveted to the end of the book. Could the second book possibly sustain my interest? Yes. Oh definitely yes. The intrigue draws you in and holds you captive. Who is the real target? Is there a traitor playing a long endgame? Can you really BE a Winter Queen if you don’t know where to find the answer as to what a Winter Queen actually is? The hardest part? Waiting for book 3 in 2020. But this series is worth playing the long game to satisfy my desire to follow the Crown of Shards.

First I should say that I do like the storyline. It’s not as good as Elemental Assassin, but it’s still a good read, still enjoyable. I give it 3.5 stars (4 since I can’t do 3.5 so I’ll round up for this one) because of the storyline and the twists and turns it took in this book. There are some new characters that I liked quite a bit and hope to see more of, a particularly friendly Gargoyle.

That being said, Book 2 in the series was also a little disappointing for me as well. First because the constant use of a particularly modern swear word felt out of place in the world she created. I couldn’t find a single instance where I felt that word flowed with the rest of the dialog. I just don’t understand her need to use it so frequently. There were other things that seemed incongruent, such as garlic mashed potatoes and kiwi pastries (sounds silly, I know, but it’s a Kingdom in a fantasy, so you expect more exotic or unusual dishes, not something modern and ordinary like garlic mashed potatoes and kiwi pastries). There seemed to be a great deal of sliding from fantasy world to our world back to fantasy world in language, demeanor, foods and descriptive phrases. I was constantly wondering which world I was in, and although it was fantasy, I actually found myself trying to pinpoint a time period for the storyline, which in fantasy I don’t feel should apply since it’s not really in our world. (Note I say Fantasy, not Urban Fantasy, which this is not)

But, and this is a big but, I do like the story. I do like how the kingdoms involved are having such difficulty with one warlike kingdom that is trying to take over the world. I like the way avarice is front and center in the nobility, how it follows the usual guidelines for fantasy kingdoms with the upper and lower castes clashing and allies being hard to come by while war is always imminent And I even liked the typical love story between Everleigh and Sullivan. Mostly because I enjoy a good fairy tale, and this was based on an age old one (in my opinion, not stated by Jennifer) while taking on it’s own personality. So, while there were inconsistencies that I didn’t like, and she was overly descriptive again (I actually skipped whole pages to avoid them), I still found I enjoyed Jennifer’s writing style and storytelling ability. (I do admit to being a bit confused as to what category it’s supposed to be in, YA, Upper YA or Adult because the storyline is very youth oriented. I suppose the swear word alone would keep it from being YA?)

So, maybe I can’t give this 5 stars like I usually gave her Elemental Assassins series. I still recognize Jennifer’s particular style and enjoy it enough to be looking forward to Crush the King, Book 3.

In Kill The Queen, Evie avenged her family upon her evil cousin and seized the throne and in Protect The Prince we see her fight to keep it.

Her nobles are plotting and scheming and she must outmanoeuvre and simultaneously win them over as well as travel to the neighbouring kingdom of Andvari and reinstate trade and peace treaties while taking it one step further and convincing them to ally with Bellona against the threat of the Mortan king.

Sounds dramatic, right? And it was!
This book was quite the ride and I loved every single second of it.

My only complaint about the book (and the reason it’s four stars and not five) was the overly descriptive writing…
I can’t speak for other readers but I get rather bored after the fifth or sixth description of someone’s dress or tunic and I don’t particularly care to hear what colour the thread is every. Single. Time. And don’t get me started on the repetitive nature of how Evie interprets smells… (Which is one of her magical gifts.) I was on my knees by the end begging for mercy over peppery anger, lime truthfulness and jalapeno rage.

Ranting over the writing style aside, I loved this instalment and cannot wait to see how it ends in Crush The King!

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