#this cursed crown

[the-final-sentence]

Two halves of a whole, together no matter what.

Alexandra Overy, from This Cursed Crown

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: These Feathered Flames

Author: Alexandra Overy

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2021

Genres: fiction, fantasy, LGBT+, retelling

Blurb: When twin heirs are born in Tourin, their fates are decided at a young age. While Izaveta remained at court to learn the skills she’d need as the future queen, Asya was taken away to train with her aunt - the mysterious Firebird, who ensured magic remained balanced in the realm. But before Asya’s training is completed, the ancient power blooms inside her, which can mean only one thing: the queen is dead, and a new ruler must be crowned. As the princesses come to understand everything their roles entail, they’ll discover who they can trust, who they can love...and who killed their mother.

[astralbooks]

This Cursed Crown - Alexandra Overy

Read: 23/11/2022 - 29/11/2022

Rating: 4/5

Rep: sapphic main character, sapphic love interest, f/f relationship, deaf side character

CW: fire, burning, on-page death, fantasy violence, major injury, torture, magically-induced suicide attempts, references to physical and emotional abuse, mind control, death of a parent (in backstory)

This book picks up a few weeks on from where These Feathered Flames leaves off. Tourin has been left without a ruler following Izaveta’s disappearance, only Asya knows the truth of what happened on what was supposed to be the night of her sister’s coronation, and the political situation in the palace is looking dicier with each day that passes. Asya is faced with having to figure out a way to survive in this environment despite the vast majority of people there despising her, when all she really wants to do is find her sister. Meanwhile, Izaveta wakes up in a totally sealed room, with no idea how she’s even alive, let alone where she is or how she can hope to make it out of there.

Asya was my favourite of the two sisters throughout the first book, and I still loved her here, but surprisingly Izaveta nudged her off that top spot for me. Izaveta spends the first half of the book almost entirely isolated, so a lot of her chapters are dedicated to introspection and trying to figure her situation out. I really loved seeing inside her head, both in this and the second half! Many of the decisions she makes can be seen as heartless, but she always tries to do the best thing she possibly can. The choices she’s presented with often don’t have a clear right answer, and making these decisions isn’t easy for her. Adding to this is the fact that she’s come back to life just that little bit wrong, and she spends a lot of the book’s runtime grappling with this and trying to account for it. Izaveta here is not entirely the same as Izaveta as she once was.

Asya snaps and it’s glorious. Don’t continuously torment the person who can burn you alive with merely a thought if you aren’t prepared for her to burn you alive. Yes, there are consequences that are less than ideal, but they had it coming. Asya has never done anything wrong in her entire life.

When I finished the first book, I was expecting the relationship between Asya and Yuliana to be a lot more complicated going forwards than it ultimately ended up being. The rise of a bigger threat has given Yuliana’s brother a bit of perspective, and Asya forgave Yuliana for her part in everything pretty much immediately. Asya and Yuliana spend this book on the same page regarding their relationship, and I really enjoyed that! They both had more than enough going on, the last thing they needed was relationship drama on top of that, and I was glad that they got to spend the book confident in their feelings towards each other.

I really enjoyed the development of Nikov’s friendship with Asya during the first half of the book! He’s the only person at the palace that Asya can trust to care about Izaveta’s wellbeing, and they quickly join forces to hunt for any sort of clues that could lead them to her. Eventually Nikov and Izaveta are reunited, and their slow burn romance develops some very interesting new layers to it. He cares deeply for both sisters, one romantically and one platonically, and wants to do everything he can to help them and keep them safe. Whether it’s possible for him to do that is another matter entirely. There’s a lot more to him than initially appears.

Like in the first book, ultimately the emotional core of this book is the sisters and their relationship! They love each other so much, to the point that they’re probably willing to go too far and sacrifice too much for each other’s sake, and in Izaveta’s case without much regard for Asya’s opinion on the matter. Watching their relationship develop from this into something a lot healthier, without their closeness having to be sacrificed for it, was a joy. By the end of the book they’re closer to one another than they’ve ever been

I didn’t reread the first book before diving into this one, and that was a mistake. I remembered the broad strokes of the plot but there were a lot of details that ended up being a lot more significant than I was expecting them to be, and I had no memory of them. This undoubtedly limited my enjoyment of this book, which is a shame! I’ve probably learned nothing from this, but maybe don’t make the same mistake as me and make sure to have read book one recently before moving on to this one.

All in all, this was a solid conclusion to a strong duology that I’m sure fantasy lovers will enjoy!

Thank you to Edelweiss, Inkyard Press, and HarperCollins for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread    

This Cursed Crown

2nd half of YA Russian folklore inspired high fantasy duology

two sisters, the queen and the firebird, trying to claim their place and find each other after the events of book 1

court politics, survival, & dark magic

f/f & m/f

[mydearestblue]

a new reading thread for the tumblr crown enjoyement: this cursed crown by alexandra overy!!! less than ten minutes in and i already want to thear my heart out of my chest

[publishedtoday]

This Cursed Crown - Alexandra Overy (These Feathered Flames #2) 

Awakening to find herself trapped in a strange tower, Izaveta knows she must find her way back to the Tóurensi palace and claim the throne. But even with an unexpected ally’s help, she worries she might not be able to get news of her survival to her sister and escape this frozen land. Back at home, Asya enlists Nikov’s help to prove Izaveta is still alive, even as she finds herself forced to navigate the political world she always sought to avoid to save her queendom, her loved ones, and herself. But as the sisters work independently to reunite, a dangerous force lies in wait, trying to regain power in order to overthrow the monarchy…

[adhd-mess]

Izaveta // These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overly // Anti Hero & Karma by Taylor Swift

“Just as her mother had taught her, Izaveta had turned everyone into playing pieces in her own game. For better or worse, there was no turning back now. Even if she was no longer certain she knew the difference between fighting for the right reasons and fighting for power.”

“How was it that her sister had been taken to live with a monster, but somehow Izaveta had become one? A creature molded by her mother’s manipulations, by the constant betrayals of the court. Asya might have a monster beneath her skin, but Izaveta had one in her heart—in her very essence. So much a part of herself that she no longer knew how to separate one from the other.”

[adhd-mess]

Anti-hero is Izaveta from These Feathered Flames//This Cursed Crown