Rating: 4 stars
Enchanting.
Goodreads summary: Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.
And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.
Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?
For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip-smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.
And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love…or be killed himself.
As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear—the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.
In the beginning, I admit that I found the story to be a bit slow (minus the setting descriptions - no complaints there), but it definitely started to pick up when the Game began and as seemingly steadfast relationships were challenged. I can’t say that I found the Game itself to be particularly interesting... the idea was cool, but the reality didn’t grip me as I had anticipated. With the Game being such an integral part of the story, you would think that my indifference would affect my overall enjoyment of the story... I found this not to be the case at all. I absolutely loved the writing, setting, and overall mood of the story - which ultimately made this a 4 star read for me!
I don’t know what it is about imperial Russia in stories, but it definitely seems to help set up a sort of mystical and enchanting atmosphere in a book... that I’m honestly a little obsessed with. Of course, the fairy tale-esque writing style and vivid sensory details helped too. I seriously cannot get over the details put into the setting descriptions. It was just so beautiful, colorful, and arresting, that I felt like I had been transported from the comfort of my bed to 19th century St. Petersburg.
The characters were fun, interesting, and not two dimensional. I loved how strong the female characters were, and how they exuded their strength in different ways, unique to who they were as people. A huge pet peeve of mine in many YA novels is when female characters are only viewed as strong based on their physical capabilities and a forceful/aggressive nature. Strength can be shown in many different ways, some of which are pretty understated. I think the author nailed depicting different kinds of powerful women, and I enjoyed how she didn’t try to elevate the readers’ opinion of one at the expense of the others.
Now onto the romance... it was sweet, and at times pretty magical. I actually had a hard time choosing between Nikolai and Pasha. About midway, I was team Pasha because as much as I love the brooding, intense love interest trope, I feel like there is not enough love for the bubbly, puppy-like, good guy. However, this didn’t last too long because when Nikolai confessed his love, I thought, “dammit, I think I love you too”. I can’t really complain though because it means I am not gonna be disappointed either way when the time comes for Vika to choose in the next book - which I definitely will be reading as it seems to have the one thing I may love even more than magical descriptions: political intrigue.
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