Expected publication date March 17th 2020
A fierce gladiator queen must face off against her enemies in an epic battle in this next thrilling installment of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards series—an action-packed adventure full of magic, murderous machinations, courtly intrigue, and pulse-pounding romance.
Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona has survived the mass murder of the royal family, become a fearsome warrior trained by an elite gladiator troupe, and unleashed her ability to destroy magic. After surviving yet another assassination attempt orchestrated by the conniving king of Morta, Evie has had enough. It’s time to turn the tables and take the fight to her enemies.
There is no better opportunity to strike than during the Regalia Games, a time when warriors, nobles, and royals from all the kingdoms come together to compete in various sporting events. With the help of her loyal friends, Evie goes on the attack at the Regalia, but things don’t turn out the way she hopes. Soon, she is facing a terrifying new threat, and she will have to dig deep and learn even more about her growing magic if she has any chance of defeating her foes.
Because to secure her throne and ensure her kingdom’s survival, Evie must think like a true Bellonan: she must outsmart and outwit her enemies . . . and crush the king.
The final book in the Crown of Shards series is almost here, but thanks to Netgalley and Harper Voyager I was able to obtain the eArc and wow! I fell in love with the characters and world in ‘Kill the Queen’ so while I was excited to read this one, I forced myself to draw it out because I didn’t want it to end. Evie and her crew are back in a big way and there is action, intrigue, romance and a surprise around every corner!
Evie is continuing to shore up her power in Bellona and is determined to add allies in the war against King Maximus of Morta and his Bastard Brigade. She will be facing him in person for the first time at the Regalia Games, a competition between the various kingdoms that culminates in the Tournament of Champions where only one will emerge victorious. But Evie also has a hidden agenda: assassination. She knows that it is only a matter of time before the Mortans will move against both her personally and against her beloved kingdom…and she quickly finds out that Maximus will stop at nothing in his quest to destroy her.
Evie is aided by her friends and closest allies, those characters we have grown to love over the past few books including Sullivan, Paloma, Serilda and Cho among others. While Sullivan’s role seems to be slightly smaller in this book compared to the others (which is a shame!) he continues to support Evie in her efforts and reign, and never tries to diminish her power or strengths. They make a great couple and while we are left with the possibility of more books in this universe that will focus on some of the other characters, I hope we will get more Evie and Sully too. I’m also really hoping to find out more of Paloma’s backstory as we learn something in this book that I have suspected for a while but I need to know more!
All in all this was an excellent conclusion to the series, and this is one of the rare trilogies where each entry is as strong as the previous book. I would not recommend them to be read as standalones, I think that to get the full experience they must be read in order and I would definitely recommend them other fans of fantasy novels!