The Crimson Crown is an absolutely brilliant conclusion to the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima. I've thoroughly enjoyed this series and my only continual criticism is that it isn't long enough.
Elements that irked me from book three, The Gray Wolf Throne, were swiftly remedied in this installment. It felt as if Chima had held off all the good bits for the final book, leaving the penultimate novel a little safe and uneventful. The character of Crow for instance, finally became an integral part of things and his mysterious past revealed, although admittedly with little fanfare.
Like its predecessors, The Crimson Crown is fast-moving, easy to read, easy to love and well thought out. The plot is relatively simple, but absolutely water-tight, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves without the slightest interruption to the suspension of disbelief. This is a great book to sit down with for a day-long reading session (I did 8 hours today).
Chima does tend to skimp a bit on any kind of conflict, even though there is quite a lot of potential for it (there being a war going on and all). There is some half-hearted murdering and an attempt at some hostage situations, but it gets nowhere gritty enough and is glossed over a little. Of course this may just be the author aiming at a more YA audience.
All of the characters are instantly loveable, if more than a little archetypal. Raisa and Han make the perfect protagonists, backed up with some great secondary characters like Cat and Fire Dancer.
But the best thing about this series as I have mentioned is how easy it is to read and enjoy. After being immersed in Bradley P. Beaulieu's Lays of Anuskaya, which requires constant attention, it was really nice to not have to do any extra thinking. Not that that's always desirable, just an observation of this series in general. Give it a go for engaging, entertaining and fast read!
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