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RedditIn this The Unseelie Crown book review I share my thoughts on the second book in the Maze of Shadows series by Kathryn Ann Kingsley. As usual I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum however, there may still be some small spoilers in this book review.
“Find a way to kidnap her, make her my prisoner, and torment her until she loves me back, of course.”
Kathryn Ann Kingsley, The Unseelie Crown
The Maze of Shadows series is an Adult Fantasy Romance series that I saw recommended on Tik Tok. It’s a slow burn that’s on Kindle Unlimited that got added to my TBR pretty quickly. I read the first book in less than a day and immediately moved on to the second book in the series.
Trigger Warnings
Since we don’t always get trigger warnings on books I like to give trigger warnings in my reviews. This can help people avoid certain triggers that could hurt their mental well being.
Possible Triggers in this book are:
- Alcohol
- Animal Death
- Assault
- Blood
- Bones
- Death
- Fire
- Kidnapping
- Occult
- Profanity
- Sexually Explicit Scenes
- Suicide
- Torture
- Violence
For a list of the triggers I look for you can check out this link here. This may or may not be a complete list of triggers for this book, I do my best to make sure I mark anything that could be a potential trigger but I may accidentally miss triggers.
Synopsis and Author
The gods of the fae are a cruel bunch and they’ve brought back Abigail. She has been reborn into a fae and now she’s hunted by both Seelie and Unseelie fae. What she doesn’t know is if she’s been brought back to stop Valroy and his quest for war or to join him as his queen.
Kathryn Ann Kingsley writes amazing stories about villains that you will fall for. The Maze of Shadows series is just this type of series that brings to life interesting and complex characters in a beautiful and terrifying world.
The Unseelie Crown Reading Experience
In The Unseelie Crown we are in Tir n’Aill once again but spending a large portion of time in the City of Dawn and seelie court. We see how the Seelie fae live and if the rumors about them are true.
Once again our point of views are Abigail, Valroy, and Anfar. We do get additional points of view from the Seelie Queen and other supporting characters as they search for Abigail or help her avoid the clutches of Valroy.
Once again I could not begin to guess where this story was going to go as Kathryn Ann Kingsley brought twists and turns that kept the story moving quickly. She also continues to grab you and pull you into the story with details that make you feel like you are right next to the characters you’ve grown to love.
Writing Style
The ebook version of this book is about 270 pages and 25 chapters. It took me about 5 hours to read through because once I picked it up I was unable to put it back down.
As I’ve mentioned before Kathryn Ann Kingsley knows exactly how to describe a world that sucks you in and brings you characters that are complex and beautiful even when they are supposed to be the villain.
I personally could not put this entire series down and The Unseelie Crown was no exception. It was easy to read, fantastic descriptions, and unpredictable.
The Unseelie Crown Book Review
The description of Abigail turned into fae is absolutely beautiful. Throughout the whole book we see her transform from her human self and mind into that of a fae. Pair this with an emotionally stunted Valroy and we have this amazing dynamic where we hope the Prince is going to figure out how to be better.
Anfar is the voice of reason as usual, but we really get to know our sea monster in this book and he’s complex, beautiful, and we really start to fall for him.
Perin once again makes my favorites list because he is a complete sweetheart who, while just wanting to live his life, will always step up to do the right thing. He’s also the first real friend in this land for Abigail.
In the last book Cruinn and Bayodan make the first appearance as they pledged their loyalties to Abigail and saved her life during an attack. In this book we really get to see these two in action and while Bayodan is growing on me, Cruinn has leveled up to my favorites list.
Uri and Puck are new characters in The Unseelie Crown and they immediately jumped up into my favorites list. Uri is an Elf that lives in the City of Dawn and steps up to help Abigail figure out her new powers.
Puck is a disgraced spy for the Seelie court and cursed to be in dog form only. Kathryn Ann Kingsley depicted this character spectacularly. You could actually understand what Puck was trying to say or how he felt with her writing and it was beautiful.
Queen Titania gives me bad vibes. I felt like I spent the whole book expecting her to pull something really shady or harm Abigail in some way.
I loved the world that was created for this series. In this book we get to see this world in the daytime more when the Seelie fae run around and the way the transitions are described makes everything beautiful.
The enemies to lovers, the villain love story, the character growth, and the world building are all excellently done. I love how Kathryn Ann Kingsley brings these characters to life in a way that you embrace them even if they aren’t necessarily morally good. I’m especially impressed with Valroy as a villain who doesn’t quite understand how things should actually work.
If you are a fan of Zodiac Academy or CN Crawford this is probably a series you would like as well.
Star Rating
Before I rate this book I want to give you a bit of background about what my rankings mean. I typically read books that I check out through the Libby app with my local library or through Kindle Unlimited.
I rarely buy ebooks unless they are cheaply priced or on sale. I also very rarely buy physical copies of books. I’m a bit of a minimalist so I have to absolutely adore a book to buy a physical copy that will be proudly displayed in my home.
So my ranking system is as follows:
- 5 Stars equals I am buying a physical copy of this book. I will read this book at least 10 more times, it is the best ever.
- 4 stars equals a great book. I might buy an ebook version when it’s on sale so that I can re-read it at least one more time.
- 3 stars equals a good book. I likely won’t read again but I appreciate the story.
- 2 stars equals “Meh.” I will not read this book again, it had a lot of problems and I did not care for it.
- 1 star equals a bad book. I barely finished this book and I will never recommend anyone waste valuable book reading time on this book.
- 0 stars is a did not finish book. I will never finish that book and it is banished.
The Unseelie Crown gets 5 stars from me. The character growth and dynamic is beautiful. These are complex characters who are brought to life in this beautiful and terrifying world. This story appeals to those who appreciate and can find the beauty in monsters and villains.
Likes:
- The dynamic between characters is fantastic.
- The world building sucks you in.
- Valroy is such a unique villain to me, and his growth is wonderful.
- I’m a sucker for slow burn romance.
Dislikes:
- There were scenes in this book that read like the details were more important than they were.
Final Thoughts on The Unseelie Crown
Kathryn Ann Kingsley writes about monsters and villains that you can’t help but to fall for. For all of the cruelty of Valroy, there is a beauty about him. You feel the way Abigail feels about her situations with him and it’s a wonderful story.
Added bonuses of world building skills that keep you sucked in and really put you into the story as someone who gets to watch right there next to the characters. I have not had such a mentally visual world like this in a long time.
Maze of Shadows Book Reviews
- The Unseelie Prince Book Review
- The Unseelie Throne Book Review
- The Unseelie King Book Review
Have you read The Unseelie Crown? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your favorite book boards.
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