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Sunday, April 12, 2020

REVIEW⇢ CRUSH THE KING (CROWN OF SHARDS #3) --PLUS SERIES RATING


BY JENNIFER ESTEP




    SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
    The Crown of Shards series focuses on Everleigh Blair, a member of the royal family who is distantly in line for the throne of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. But when the unthinkable happens, Evie finds herself fighting for her life—both inside and outside the gladiator arena.
    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.


    BOOK TAGS

     FANTASTICAL WITH A MIX OF CONTEMPORARY
     MAGIC SYSTEM
     SEX, LANGUAGE & VIOLENCE
     EVEN MORE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

      BOOK DETAILS⇣

      AUDIO PERFORMED BY LAUREN FORTGANG
      SOURCE LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)
      AUDIOBOOK LENGTH 13 HOURS, 59 MINUTES


      MY THOUGHTS⇣


      I loved the first book and rated it 5 stars.  I liked the second book and rated it 4¼ stars and this one just kept that downhill momentum with a rating of 3¼ stars.  My quick thoughts on each...

      Kill The Queen:  One of the best covers ever for a fantasy.  Loved the adultness of it...the bad-ass heroine with a bad-ass storyline to boot and I also loved Sullivan.  Couldn't wait for book #2.

      Protect The Prince:  The Gargoyles were fantastic.  Not enough Sullivan...not enough bad-assery, way too many assassination attempts...we get it...she's a mutt with her pittance of magic...but since she can drain others magic...she can't be killed.  I liked her better when she wasn't such a special snowflake.  Oh, and the cover basically sucks.

      Crush The King:  Wanted it to be more than it actually was, Way too repetitive with the multitude of assassination attempts...again.  Very little Sully...basically, he was just her consort (or f*ckboy).  I didn't like how he was relegated to the background.  It was an okay ending, which was a disappointment overall because I really loved the first book and felt that it could have been so much more.  This cover is better than book #2, but still kind of blah...other than the color.

      Overall:  I think this series could have been scaled down to two books easily, with fewer assassination attempts and if she could have stopped repeating certain phrases over and over again (i.e. is hot spicy Jalapeno scent, or she plays the long game, and the list goes on)it was maddening.


      BREAKDOWN⇣

      Plot 3/5
      Characters 4/5
      The Feels 2/5
      Pacing 3/5
      Addictiveness 3/5
      Theme or Tone 3/5
      Flow (Writing Style) 3.5/5
      Steaminess/Story Ratio⇢ 5/95
      Originality 3/5
      Ending 3.5/5






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