The Crimson Crown Series

Wow. I just finished The Crimson Crown Series by Cinda Williams Chima, and I have to say, it kept me on the edge of my seat….most of the time. I am a sucker for a series that is riddled with magic and good world building which I found in this series. It is a young adult series that I have been wanting to read for a very long time, and I am glad I finally did.

I will say, now that I am 30, the young adult novels hit differently. I am not as enthralled by them as I was when I was younger. However, there are some series that still captivate me like they did when I was younger. This is one of them (as well as all of Sarah J. Maas’s series – I just can’t get enough of her universes!). The issue now is that I can easily predict more which makes the story less fun. Unfortunately, that was partly the case with this series in the beginning but around book 3, the predictability went down and I was surprised by a few details and events. Here is my review of each of the books:

Disclosure: Going forward there will be spoilers so please read carefully! Also, this is strictly my opinion and how I felt about the books. I am not compensated for any of my reviews.

The Demon King – book 1

The first installment of The Crimson Crown series did what every first book is meant to do: develop the world, characters, and plot. It nailed all of those. Because of this development it was a bit slow at times and predictable. The character development was detailed and shifted between 2 main characters from distinctly different background: Raisa (princess heir) and Han (street rat). It definitely started giving me Aladdin vibes when Raisa, under a pseudonym (Rebecca), secretly visits the small, down trodden, dirty village that Han is from. However, it is much more complex than Aladdin. Williams Chima built the world well by describing each place with specific details and did it from the character’s perspective. That part is important because it impacts how Raisa changes as a character and how she plans to rule the queendom. It also affects Han and how he reacts to different people from different areas of this universe.

This book also set the stage for the strain on each of the different groups of people under 1 queendom. It showed how pervasive racism can be. I know that the focus isn’t on racism or if that was Williams Chima’s goal, but it was clear to me that the way each group of people viewed each other regardless of the good they found in individuals from each group highlighted the pervasiveness of racism. Han basically grew up with the clans (a group of people in the book) and had many friends within them. He despised wizards and bluebloods (royalty or those of higher status) due to his strained history with them. The clans and wizards were highly prejudiced of each other and the second the clans found out Han was the descendant of the infamous Demon King (a wizard who lived a thousand years ago) and was very powerful, most of them immediately distrusted him and treated him like he was evil. It was clear to see that this would be a common theme throughout the books and it was. The wizards and clans hated each other and refused to work together so much so that they were inevitably tearing down their own country.

Book 1 ends on a cliffhanger of course. Raisa is forced to flee the castle because of a forced marriage to a wizard done in secret. Wizards are forbidden to marry into the Gray Wolf Line (the line of queens) due to the actions of the Demon King and the first queen of the Gray Wolf Line. Raisa’s mother, the queen and her High Wizard (basically like an advisor on the Wizard Council) planned this forced marriage and Raisa’s hand. Raisa places her trust in her best friend, Amon, who is part of her guard and she escapes into exile with him. All while this is happening, Han is on his way to train as a wizard after just finding out that he possesses these powers. It sets up book 2 well but throughout most of the book, I could tell that eventually Han and Raisa were going to end up meeting and being an integral part to each other’s lives.

The Exiled Queen – book 2

This book is where I found it difficult to get through. Not because there weren’t exciting milestones or important scenes, but because it was predictable. Again, this could be just due to my age and the fact that this is a young adult novel. Because the first book ended with Raisa in exile going to the same place as Han (just across the street from each other), it was very easy to predict that they would run into each other. Raisa was keeping her identity a secret so she kept her pseudonym, Rebecca. She tried to avoid the wizards at all costs because, Micah, the wizard she was being forced to marry, was across the street attending school to work on his powers. Raisa was focusing on training as a cadet/soldier and learning as much as she could from everyone she met so she would know her people.

Eventually, Han and Raisa ran into each other and Han asks her to tutor him in proper behavior. Because Han is from the streets, he does not have proper grammar or know how to behave with wizards or bluebloods. Raisa is an expert in this topic as she was raised among the royalty and wizards. Han knows that she is a blueblood but not that she is the princess heir. Inevitably, they fall in love even with all of the secrets. Han does not know Raisa’s true identity, and Raisa doesn’t know his. Raisa still knows him at the street rat that she met in his village in the first book, not as a descendant of the Demon King.

As with everything, it was easy for me to predict that Raisa could not stay in exile forever. She eventually was found out by Micah and his father. His father attempted to send assassins after her which Micah killed only to kidnap her himself and bring her back to the castle for the forced marriage. Eventually, she is able to escape Micah and his crew and flee toward home. At the same time, Amon goes to search for her with the help of Han. Because Han got a message to go back to the clans’ camps, he is leaving anyway and promises Amon to search along his way while Amon goes the opposite direction to search. The book basically ends with them all separated and trying to survive.

The Gray Wolf Throne – book 3

Here is where the predictability goes down. There were still some parts I was able to predict, but overall, this book kept me on my toes. We are still following Raisa and Han throughout the book and eventually Han is able to find her. However, she has fought off many assassins along the way and when Han finds her, she is under attack and he saves her life. Because she was on the brink of death, Han uses his wizard powers to heal her while risking his life in the process. He makes it to the clans’ camp where there are healers and they both are healed (eventually, Han’s process took a bit longer). After they are healed, Raisa finally tells him the truth about who she is to which Han feels betrayed and takes awhile to trust her again.

With Han and the clans, Raisa forms a plan to come back to the castle and her people. During her time away, her mother was forced to change the line of succession to her younger sister, Mellony. Raisa cannot allow this so she makes it a point to get back. Unfortunately, her mother is murdered and Mellony is announced as the princess heir unless Raisa comes back by the time of the queen’s funeral. Raisa makes a grand entrance at the funeral announcing that she is back from exile which shifts the princess heir title back to her. The rest of book focuses on Raisa starting to build back a queendom that is broken after her mother’s death and builds up to her coronation.

This book focuses on Raisa’s development throughout it. All of the other characters develop as well, but Raisa’s is most noteworthy. She is transformed from princess heir to queen throughout the book and her experiences in exile are imperative for that. She knows more about her people and what they need more than any other queen. And she is very aware of their threats from the south that will tear her queendom apart even more than the prejudices that they hold.

The Crimson Crown – book 4

This book was my favorite. The predictability was gone here (except for 1 thing). This book highlighted how broken the queendom is and how much work Raisa has to do even with the threat of the armies to the south. She diligently works to unite her queendom and overcome the prejudices. She has plans to have each of the people work together. She makes this clear to the clans and wizards who despise each other and each have their own agendas with the throne. Everywhere she looks, people are bickering or fighting and she needs to mediate. Additionally, the threats on her life have not stopped so she is still under constant surveillance.

Even more, there are killings in the village that Han is from. Someone is killing wizards and trying to frame Han by leaving his amulet and his emblem in blood at each of the crime scenes. This is a strong part of the plot that carries from the beginning to the end. The clans are eager to blame the wizards and the wizards eager to blame the clans. Raisa doesn’t believe it is either of them and thinks it is the King to the south and his armies killing the wizards to get hold of their amulets. Unfortunately, they are all wrong. This was the biggest twist and I didn’t see it coming. I knew that Han was not behind these murders because, since he was a street rat, he would know better than to leave clues of his being there at the crime. I knew he was being set up and thought I knew who it was but I was completely wrong! I could not believe who it was. It ended up being someone who extremely distrusts the wizards and would do whatever it takes to see the world rid of them and it would give him what he needed to be with Raisa for good. The person who did that is the one spoiler I will not give away. It did catch me by surprise at the end.

Eventually, the armies in the south come into Raisa’s lands with the help of her general who she was planning to fire due to his outdated and prejudiced approach to soldiers. He knew this was going to happen to him so he went to the king in the south and they trapped Raisa and a small group of guards in the castle. Han was off in the mountains dealing with the wizards and trying to find a bargaining piece to bring the clans and the wizards together to save their people, Raisa, and the queendom. He eventually does and Raisa is able to reclaim her castle and queendom. It ends with Han and Raisa marrying to the dismay of the clans and wizards but leaves them open with possibilities for the future that they plan to build. Overall, this ending did the series justice and was captivating until the end.

Overall

I highly recommend this series. Even though it was predictable, it was captivating and the world building was done so well. I would reread this. I loved the character development too. For me, if it doesn’t have god world building or good character development, I check out. The predictability bothered me a little bit but it was redeemed because of the development throughout each book. Williams Chima does a great job of doing her characters justice and making the reader relate and root for them. Overall, 3.5/5.