silverflight8 | Cinda Williams Chima: The Crimson Crown (Reply)

A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed— Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love.

Now, once again, the queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana’Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible. Tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells’ inner turmoil, Raisa’s best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she’s falling in love.

Navigating the cutthroat world of blueblood politics has never been more dangerous, and former streetlord Han Alister seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it?

A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series.

This is the culmination of three previous books, and a staggering amount of politicking, plotting, and revelations happen. Raisa is queen of the Fells now, but it's somewhat hollow; the Fells remain sharply divided. The flatlanders and city dwellers, the clanfolk in the mountains are in opposition. The thousand-year breaking between the wizards and the queen remains. And the conflict between clanfolk and wizards is flaring up.

The Crimson Crown really starts tying a lot of the previous threads together. Raisa ana'Marianna has come back from her self-imposed exile to Oden's Ford, and is newly coronated, but there are immediate problems as all the divisive factions attempt to use her inexperience and marriageable status to gain power. Reid Nightwalker, the eventual successor to the leader of the Demonai, is pushing for greater clan influence and a strike against wizards. Gavan Bayar and the Wizard Council are in flux; a new High Wizard, as well as other positions, must be filled. The wizards are angry at the clans' embargo on flashpieces - amulets and other jewelery essential to magic, that only the clans can make. Even Southbridge and Ragmarket is restless; there are wizard bodies being inexplicably dumped there. Han Alister, like Raisa, is grappling with politics. Hemmed in by agreements he's made in the past, and attempting impossible political positions, he spends a good quarter of the novel playing upon various parties' political alignments and sympathies to get what he wants.

The whole cast of characters from the previous novels shows up, coming in and out of the narrative when necessary: Amon Byrne, looking after the Grey Wolf line; Averill Demonai and Elena Cennestre, father and grandmother of Raisa, hovering between aiding Raisa and advancing the clans' interests; Micah and Fiona Bayar, similarly caught between their father's desires and their own ambition with the Wizard Council; Hayden Fire Dancer, helping his oldest friend Han; and scores besides - Cat, Magret, Jemson, Talia and Pearlie, Willo Watersong, Crow, Lucas, Gryphon, Mellony, Night Bird. Revelations about the Demon King, Alger Waterlow, begin to surface, and in some ways the book set thousands of years after the Demon King seems to parallel the current events. And the neighbouring southern states, still in the turmoil of civil war but threatening the Fells, are putting pressure on an already strained political situation.

Though the book ends on a satisfactory conclusion, there were so very many character plotlines and arcs to tie up that some of them didn't really get addressed. I imagine it was due to sheer length; similar to the previous books, this one is just short of 600 pages. Still, it's a great ending to the series - I just wish there were more! 9/10