The Crown's Game (Crown's Game, 1)

Read this review and more on <a href="http://www.fangsandfurbooks.com">Fangs and Fur</a>.“The island, her thoughts whispered, and the wind obeyed, whisking her like champagne raindrops over Nevsky Prospect . . .”I pre-ordered The Crown’s Game long before its release and I’m so very glad I did! I have a fascination with Russian culture and this book has it in spades. While it takes place in an alternate (magical) Russia, the setting, the language, the food, and the history are all the same. The imagery used is incredible. I can see the birch forest on Ovchinin Island, the buildings along the Nevsky Prospect, and watch the magical marionette ballet in my head. I love all the food descriptions! I swear Evelyn was inside my head while she was writing this book because food descriptions make me so happy! The oreshki cookies, the buckwheat kasha with mushrooms and butter, the magical floating cream puffs, I’m in love, and so very hungry! The descriptions alone make me eager to see what other books Evelyn Skye has in store for us!“. . . Vika was like a jinni whose bottle was too small to contain her. One day, I’ll create a world where there are no bottles at all, she thought.”Vika and Nikolai are such a pair. Nikolai, an orphan raised in the city by a woman of means, and Vika, the daughter of a baron raised in the country in a simpler style. They complement each other brilliantly; their different backgrounds giving them different insights into the same situation. Their magic takes on very different forms, but as the story develops we see that they are complimentary none-the-less. I enjoyed watching them struggle; their emotions and passion for each other growing even as their will to live struggled in opposition to those passions. Renata and Ludmila are great secondary characters. Ludmila is filled with humor that takes some of the seriousness out of the game and all the stress it’s putting on Vika. Renata is far too serious, but her helpful, sober nature is a good foil for Ludmila’s carefree attitude. I wish I could have developed more of a connection to Pasha and his sister Yuliana. While they were active in this book, it is only at the end that we get a good look at their true character. I’m hoping to see and hear more from them in the next book. I look forward to seeing more growth and dimension to all of these characters in book two. The Crown’s Game was like an introduction, I hope to develop a deeper relationship with them in book 2!“Like the puppets, she and her opponent had never had a choice: their destiny was a pas de deux, a splendor and a torment fated for the two of them.”The plot was vastly different than I expected it to be. This is not a violent magical battle to the death, though it might seem that way. The magical battle is more tempered, subtle, artistic, and beautiful. It’s as if you are watching a ballet; while the bad guy is making his entrance you can’t help but admire the beauty and skill of his dancing. The romance is also very different. There is an instant connection, but it does not continue in a predictable manner. Instead you are often left wondering what is to become of them and their feelings. While the Tsar is the perpetrator of this terrible game pitting Vika and Nikolai against each other, none of them is the character that most scares me. Aizhana is terribly creepy! I won’t give anything away, but I’m hoping she plays a huge part in book 2! The ending, wow that ending. It was brilliant. It was painful, and emotional, and truly exciting. It wasn’t the kind of cliffhanger that makes you hate the author, but it will make you curse the year long wait for book 2 and keep you pondering theories!!“For even she knew there was only so much one could do to protect a winter moth drawn to an icy flame.”If you love Russian culture, magic, incredible imagery, and impossible decisions, this is definitely the book for you!

Vika Andreyeva has lived her whole life on Ovchinin Island with her father, Sergei. She has been training her whole life to be the Royal Enchanter. Not knowing that there was another enchanter out there, Vika and Sergei are surprised to receive a summons from the Tsar to take the oath for the Crown's Game.Nikolai Karimov was taken from the Kazakh Steppe when he was seven by a noblewoman named Galina to train to be the next Royal Enchanter, but unlike Vika and Sergei, Galina and Nikolai know that there is another enchanter. So rather than just training to be the best that he can be, Nikolai is more so trained to defeat his opponent.The three main characters in this book are Vika, Nikolai, and Pasha, the crown prince of Russia. This story is told from all three of their POVs, plus a few other people. With all the different POVs in this book and all the changes in narrator throughout the book, I felt like it was a little hard to connect with some of the characters on a really deep level. But all the POV changes makes for short chapters which makes for an easy time finding a good stopping point!Vika has been raised in the woods of Ovchinin Island all her life. Being kind of an outcast in the village, she really only spends time with her father. Being raised the way she was, she doesn't really have the manners of the more noble people of St. Petersburg and this can be seen when she first meets the Tsar when she takes her oath. Vika is smart, she's tough, and she can hold her own in this challenge!Nikolai was born to a faith healer who died during childbirth on the Kazakh Steppe. He was raised by the village he was born in, but they weren't sure what to make of him and his magic. So he was taken to St. Petersburg to train for the Crown's Game at age seven. He has had to work for everything that he has and he tries really hard to fit into his upperclass household with no help from Galina. He is really sweet and hardworking and I don't even know, but I loved him.Pasha, the crown prince of Russia, pretty much has his head in the clouds all the time. He does his best to shirk his duties as the tsesarevich in favor of going on new adventures with Nikolai, who is his best friend. He doesn't really seem like Tsar material, but I think that he just has his own way of showing how much he cares about Russia and maybe just needs to grow up a little bit. He is a fun character and always seems to be up for some mischief.The synopsis makes this book out to have a love triangle, but I really don't see it that way. While two different boys do have feelings for Vika, I think in order for it to be a love triangle she has to return the affections of both boys to an extent and that is not what I saw happening. It is pretty clear who she wants to end up with.But she's a smart girl and knows that it's not practical for her right now to get into anything. There really isn't anything steamy about the romance, but it is definitely cute. The steamiest the romance gets in this book is basically some intense magical dancing.The world building in this book is fantastic! I love knowing that if I were to visit St. Petersburg right now I would be seeing most of the places in this book just as they're supposed to be. Not just places that this book is based on, places that actually are in this book! That's so cool and it makes me wanna to on a trip to see it!I loved the descriptions of the places and especially all the food in this story! I want to try ALL of the goodies from the amazing bakery in this book! The bread, the pastry swan things, the cream puffs, the truffles, just all of it!The magic was fun to read about in this book! Vika and Nikolai both were impressive enchanters. Vika's magic seemed to be more elemental, more influential with things that are living and breathing. Nikolai on the other hand, his magic was more mechanical. He was good at building and creating.When you meet Vika and Nikolai in the beginning of the book, I think I was more impressed by what they were doing to practice their magic than by what they ended up actually doing in the Game. The things they were doing for practice seemed far more practical for the position they were trying to get than what was expected of them in the Game. But more on that slight disappointment a little bit later.Seeing what each enchanter could do was fun, seeing the creativity of each of them with their moves. I think my favorite thing was the magic surrounding the masquerade ball that takes place! Or the magic surrounding the fantastic bakery that pops up!This book reminded me a lot of the book The Night Circus, except, you know, infinitely better. BUT like in The Night Circus, I found the duel to be not nearly as epic as it is made out to be. For one thing, when they take the oath, the Tsar suggests they use their turns to do something impressive for the tsesarevich because it is his birthday.Okay, so you have these two incredibly powerful enchanters that you are forcing to fight to the death and what you want to base this life and death decision on is who can basically do the best party tricks to impress Pasha? Really?Seeing as the entire purpose of the Royal Enchanter is to be a close adviser to the Tsar in times of conflict and war, you'd think it would be more important to know that they have the power and ability to protect Russia in a crisis rather than see who can make St. Petersburg the prettiest.Also, it didn't even seem like the Tsar was paying any attention at all to the duel so how would he expect to choose a winner after he had "seen" what all they could do?Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! While I thought that the many POVs made it hard to connect with some characters and that the duel left a lot to be desired, I think the good outweighs the disappointment in this one! The characters are great, the magic is fun, the world is amazing! If you are a fan of The Night Circus, you better read this one!

Lo compré para hacer un regalo y a la niña le encantó. Ya conocía la saga.

Thoroughly enjoyable tale of magic, romance and history. Expertly crafted and executed. I enjoyed all three main characters and found myself routing for all three knowing that they can't all won, certainly not in book one!

This book is so magical! It's not perfect, some aspects could have been developed in a better way, but I truly enjoyed it anyway!

Even after finishing this book I’m unsure as to what I should feel about it. For me it was rather slow and it was as if there were no omg moments. The only thing that kept me gripped was the historical element to it. I don’t know if I’ll give book two a try or not.

Digamos que está más o menos; es un libro ameno para entretenerse cuando no hay nada mejor que hacer, pero no es una historia que no puedas dejar de leer...