The Liar's Crown is the first in a new YA fantasy series. The main character, Meren, is the decoy princess. Born second, her life's job is to be the placeholder for the future queen whenever the heir might be in danger. Upon hearing of the death of her grandmother (the queen), she runs to the palace to check in on her sister. Posing as her sister at an event before her coronation, Meren is kidnapped by the Shadowraith in place of the new queen. Will she escape? What of King Eidolon - the kingdom's longtime rival - who's on his way to propose to the new queen?

I enjoyed the book, and flew through it wanting to learn the fate of the main characters. I thought the idea was clever, and I very much enjoyed how some of the twists tied the stories of our two protagonists together even more.

Pros:
- Characters - The Liar's Crown includes a wonderful cast of characters, all of who where interesting. The author did a great job of creating side characters who were unique and intriguing in their own right.
- Magic system - I quite enjoyed the magic system. It was clever and one I don't really see.
- Pacing - I thought the book flowed nicely, (My only qualm was that I thought the journey at the beginning took a bit too long - but I think this comes down to personal preference.) Just an FYI, the scenes are broken down by chapter in this book. I like this, but I know some people get annoyed, so I wanted to share.
- The cover! - I know this is not related to the contents of the book, but the cover on this is absolutely stunning! It can't not be said.

Cons:
- Meren's interest in Reven - This has an enemies-to-lovers plot, but I felt that she gave over to her attraction too quickly. She had just been kidnapped, and very quickly Meren talks about how she's attracted to her kidnapper. It kind of threw some of the romance off for me a bit. I'd have liked for her to slowly give over to her attraction - and there's a great key moment in the first 25% of the book that would have been perfect.

If you're looking for a fun, courtly YA fantasy with an enemies-to-lovers story, this is a great book for you! The plot is engaging, the characters interesting, and the world fun. (The naming of the different kingdoms is very clever.) I'm interested to see how things turn out for Meren and the Shadowraith!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Meren has lived her entire life in the shadow of her twin sister, waiting for the moment when she might need to step in front of danger to sacrifice herself. Now the shadows have come for her, and she must sacrifice everything she thought she understood about the world around her. Buckle up folks, you're in for quite the ride. 

In a word, this teen fantasy romance is simply mind-blowing. I have been a long-time fan of Abigail Owen's adult dragon romance series, so I was excited to step into another world with her. I'll admit I had a few hesitations in the beginning, wondering if this young adult novel would skew too young for me, or if the evocative cover art would potentially hold too much promise of what would lie within. I'm happy to say I was proven wrong on both accounts. Readers of all ages can appreciate this story, and the dramatic juxtaposition of flowers against skull on the cover simply hints at the wondrous magic in which you're about to find yourself entranced. Ms. Owen is a master world-builder, and it's hard to articulate just how refreshing it was to be immersed in a fantastical land unlike any I've ever come across before. 

From the powers of our characters, to the monsters of the various landscapes they traverse, everything was a constant surprise from one page to the next. As the novel progressed I couldn't help but feel as though I had entered somebody's dream world where fantasy and nightmare blend together to create something entirely unique. The rules of this world aren't terribly difficult to understand, but in hindsight I wish I had paid a bit more attention at the beginning when the details were first being discussed. We're provided with something of an info dump early on in the book, so something I'd recommend is maybe jotting down a few notes for reference later so you fully understand the differences between things like Vexillium, Imperium, hyloraes, enfernaes, etc. Some fantastical elements were explained more fully than others, and I get the sense we've been teased with the mention of some things we might not see until later on. 

Meren is the standout lead character of our novel. A second-born twin princess whose identity has been hidden from the world, save for a chosen few who can be trusted, she's expected to stand in for her sister whenever the possibility of danger arises. It's on the eve of her sister Tabra's coronation as Queen when a man composed of shadows mistakenly kidnaps Meren, thinking she's the highborn princess whose powers can change the fate of their world. The dynamic between Meren and this Shadowraith was electric, with an obvious animosity towards each other slowly developing to respect, and ultimately something even more powerful. While she might be totally out of her element by being kidnapped across lands unknown to her, Meren isn't afraid to stand up against him. She refuses to go down quietly, and the frustrations evoked by both her and the Shadowraith when they repeatedly throw verbal barbs at each other was positively delicious. It was the perfect blend of comedy, fearlessness, foreplay and even emotional vulnerability. Their combined presence on the page quickly became the foundation of the story going forward, and you never wanted to see the two of them apart. 

Perhaps the most enigmatic feature of the book was witnessing Meren come into her own by stepping out of the shadows she was forced to hide behind. She's always been something of a rebel. When she was told to never use her powers, Meren would often sneak away to practice transforming sand into glass. Ordered to live hidden away in a small house, she found ways to escape into the wide-open vastness of the desert. And yet, these few instances of rebellion were hidden from her keepers, and she'd always walked the line set before her. It was never out of subservience, but rather out of true love and protection for her sister that she continued to do what was expected. When the Shadowraith takes her away from all she's known, Meren is rightfully pissed, but in a way it also allows her to finally explore what it means to be her own person. As the Shadowraith shows her how a fight against evil is forming in the distance, Meren once again steps up to protect those she loves. Whereas before she played the role of delicate princess to save her sister, she now realizes she'll need to up her game by becoming a badass in her own right. Wielding her power over sand to create pretty glass flowers has now evolved into forming waves of glass spears in battle. She no longer blindly listens to the orders others bestow upon her, but rather she becomes part of the conversation to try and find a solution in saving their world against a power-hungry evil King. As her distance from the palace grows, Meren more fully transforms from a girl into a woman, and it's quite the captivating journey.  

In perusing a few other reviews of this work online, an unexpectedly common theme is a few readers mentioning they felt that Meren and the Shadowraith fell for each other too quickly, and that it was a love at first sight scenario. I suppose I can't 100% agree with this assessment. Meren is clearly confused about how she feels towards this stranger. On the one hand, there is a clear presence of animosity following his kidnapping of her, and he has several instances of eye-roll happening at her consistent back-talk. And yet, Meren can clearly see something good within him that slowly causes her to lower her defenses the more time they spend together. If anything, I would say it was a slow burn rather than a situation of love at first sight. Meren certainly feels an attraction at first sight of the Shadowraith's distinctively dashing profile in the darkened streets of her hometown, and she's not sure how to act in front of someone who makes the butterflies take flight within her. However, there also appears to be some other kind of connection simmering between them that I think has only just been teased to us in this first novel. There's something drawing these two together, and it extends beyond simple attraction or even love, but perhaps there is a fantastical element at play here too. I certainly can't wait to find out more about what it might be. 

This novel also presents us with the formation of a mini unrequited love triangle. The relationship between Meren and her Shadowraith takes front and center, but we also see instances of Meren's only childhood friend, Cain, wanting to express intimacy with this unknown princess. I will say this was the only feature of the book which reminded me of another series, as it felt very reminiscent of the love triangle present in the Hunger Games series. Similar to how the heroine of that series always viewed her longtime male friend as something of a brother, Meren too has looked to Cain with brotherly affection that is a special kind of love all it's own. There may have once been a time when the concept of a future with Cain seemed like a great prospect, but it's only upon meeting the Shadowraith that she realizes how much more there is to feel towards a potential partner. I'm typically not a fan of love triangles, and thankfully this feature wasn't a primary focus of the novel. However, we definitely see the hostility level growing between Cain and the man of shadows, and I have a feeling this conflict could possibly become a more prominent discussion point for the next book. That being said, these characters certainly have a few more life-and-death priorities to deal with, including a power hungry king with his focus on the crown, so hopefully they choose to focus their energy on resolving those matters first!

Sometimes the first book in a series is so good you can't wait to get started on book two. Then there are the premier books that are so fantastically amazing you're almost angry you don't have the next book in front of you right now! The Liar's Crown definitely falls within the latter category. This novel sort of ends on a smidge of a cliffhanger, but the epilogue gives enough of a solid stopping point where you don't literally feel like you're dangling off a cliff. Instead you're just eager to see what our characters will get up to next. It's very important to know going into this read that this is the start of a series, a fact I didn't remember when I started. Meren and the Shadowraith take up the majority of the plot focus, so I was initially disappointed that we didn't see more scenes involving her sister or the evil king. Abigail Owen has always succeeded in creating a dubious villain you hate to hate, and I sort of felt like I was missing out in this one. Now that I know there's two more books to come, and considering how this first one ended I realize the author was simply laying the groundwork for us to dive deeper into this world of characters going forward.

The Liars Crown is a supremely good time. Fans of ACOTAR and Shadow and Bone will easily find footing in this intriguing world filled with morally grey characters and epic battles.

In the Dominion of Aryd the royal line holds a secret....the bloodline is blessed with twins. One twin to rule and one to live in the shadows, waiting, learning, and watching. Meren is that twin. She is raised as a placeholder for her sister, a secret being that accrues all the danger and none of the reward. Despite being hidden away and serving as a stand in for her sister in dangerous situations, Maren loves her sister and people fiercely. When she is kidnapped by a dark and mysterious stranger while playing the Princess she has no choice but to lean into the ruse, keeping her kingdom and secrets safe. Who is this mysterious kidnapper? Where is he taking Maren and why? You get to unravel these answers withing this story at a breakneck speed that will keep you up to the wee hours.

Owen's does a really clever thing here. The story is familiar, almost nostalgic in its cadence. Does swirling dark shadow magic sound familiar to anyone?! This familiarity tricked me into thinking I knew exactly where the story was going leaving the door open for me to be pleasantly surprised with some of the fresh twists and turns. Meren is a character that is easy to root for. She's witty, smart, and intrinsically flawed in ways that are oh so relatable. The Love interest is fascinating, a truly interesting take on a morally grey character. There's some spice here but it isn't the core of the story and I felt that it was written in a clever not cringy way. The magic system,world building,and political intrigue are all fascinating without being so complicated that notes are required. For me this all came together to create an effortless read that was a pleasure to devour.

These characters will easily live in my head while I desperately wait for the next installment.

Thank You to Netgally and the Publisher for the Review Copy.

The Liar's Crown was the first fantasy book I've read in a while, and I wasn't disappointed. It reminded me why I loved this genre so much. The story follows Meren, the second-born twin princess of Aryd, who has lived in secret as her sister Tabra's body double. Meren gets kidnapped, mistaken for her sister, and that's how her journey begins.

The plot was fast-paced and well-written, with some exciting twists that kept me entertained the whole time. The world-building was intriguing but definitely a little confusing at first because of all the new words being thrown at us at once, but all the confusion slowly cleared out as I was reading. Sometimes the story felt like too much was happening at the same time, though.

I enjoyed both of the main characters. Maren was strong, brave, and opinionated. I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about her. I found her powers really interesting. I've never read about a character who could control sand and make it into the glass before, so that's a bonus. Reven was your typical tall, dark, mysterious, and handsome fantasy MMC, slightly morally gray but secretly good, but it worked really well for him.

The romance aspect and Meren and Reven's relationship were definitely the best parts of the book. Their chemistry was INSANE. The banter was absolutely amazing and the sexual tension was on point. They had some wholesome moments too, and I can't wait to see more of them in the next book. One thing I disliked was how fast they went from enemies to lovers. The romance felt rushed at times, but somehow the quick progression of the relationship worked for them.

Overall 4.25 stars. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. Fingers crossed we get to see Reven's POV.

Twin princesses run in the family. The older twin eventually becomes queen while the younger one is the spare, the one who keeps the older one safe. Meren is a younger twin and lives away from the palace while her sister trains to be queen. When their grandmother, the queen dies, older sister Tabra is to be crowned. Meren will continue to be the backup to her sister. That's the plan until fate intervenes and she is kidnapped by the Shadowraith. He has his reasons, believing her to be Tabra for much of the book. Meanwhile back at home, the evil Eidolon is "courting" Tabra and the plan is for them to be married soon.

This started out well and I was intrigued by Meren's experiences growing up apart from the palace and yet a spare for her sister. The mystery of her kidnapper was also a good point of interest and finding out more made it worth continuing to read. I was fully engaged but somewhere before the halfway point, it got bogged down by complicated worldbuilding that didn't seem to fit into the plot as well as it could. The magical elements were the most let down here. Meren has magic but she hasn't learned to do much more than make glass figures before she is kidnapped. But with minimal experience, she is suddenly performing major magic and it doesn't seem very logical to me. In the midst of the magic and worldbuilding and all that, there is a romance blooming and even that seems to speed ahead and become a focus at some points in the story where there wasn't time for it. It's like when you watch an action romance movie and they stop the action so the romance can progress. The shadow element left me scratching my head quite a bit. Maybe that's the point but it felt like there were inconsistencies in how they worked later in the story.

The end was the most interesting part of the second half of the book and left me invested enough to want to find out what happens next. I hope the second book is able to maintain a story that makes sense and is not bogged down with stops in the action to progress the romance. It's not that I didn't like the book but my interest definitely waxed and waned.

Overall, I give this 2.5 stars and look forward to seeing how the next part plays out. Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Teen for giving me this advanced reader copy. I am providing this review voluntarily.

Royal twins with a secret, a handsome shadow wielder, dangerous monsters, a unique magic system…Sign me up!

This first book in the Dominions series follows Meren, the second born royal twin, who is immediately hidden away from birth. Her sole purpose is to stand in for her sister, the future queen, when danger is near. When Meren is stolen away by a man made of shadow, her whole world changes as she fights to get back to her sister—before it’s too late.

From the very beginning of this book, I was hooked! I loved the banter between Meren and Reven. They had great chemistry and I love a good enemies to lovers trope mixed in with “touch her and you die.”

The world is very unique with a complex magic system. Both took me a little bit to understand, but it was refreshing to have something different than other fantasy books I’ve read.

I really loved this book and can’t wait to see what happens in book 2!

Thank you so much to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the e-arc!


**My review will also be published on Instagram by the pub date: August 30th!

This is a young adult fantasy that will be part of the series. Meren is the second born twin in the line of queens who is tasked with protecting her sister. Gives another meaning to heir and spare.

She is kidnapped in place of her sister and from there the story begins with her falling for her kidnapper. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Owen's The Liar's Crown is well-written, full of detailed world building, and enjoyable, multifaceted main and supporting characters.
The book was a bit slow in the pacing to start, but I can see why it was necessary in order to allow for Meren to develop a proper relationship with her Shadowraith kidnapper. There were bits and pieces I truly enjoyed about this book, and I cannot wait to read the sequel, but I do hope Meren steps into the fighter she has been trained to be, and becomes more comfortable with her magical abilities.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unique story line and interesting premise. I enjoyed Reven and Meren and hope they can find their way.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this YA fantasy! It was fast paced and well written, with some exciting twists! The magic was interesting and the world building was intriguing and magical! I really liked the main character Meren and how much she loves her sister and her people, even though she doesn’t get to have a life of her own life! Reven is also a great character, who despite being born from evil, is still is good man and tries to save people in need. I love his chemistry with Meren! I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book after that ending!

The gorgeous cover and interesting blurb were what drew me to this book, but unfortunately what was inside didn't work for me.

I could tell by the writing style that something would inevitably annoy me when I opened it, but I wanted to give it a chance. After all, I can ignore just about anything if I like and/or can connect to the characters.

WELL, ABOUT THAT...The characters...I don't even know where to start with them.

Let's do Meren first, since she's the main character. Meren is the twin sister to the future queen, raised in secret and trained to sacrifice herself for her sister, whenever a dangerous situation should arise.

Problem is, we don't even get to see Meren in action, because she gets kidnapped before she can fulfil her duty. We can argue that her getting kidnapped was her fulfilling her duty, but as the book goes on it's very clear that her sister is the one who's in more danger.

And Meren didn't even fight, she was too distracted and forgot everything she learned. This happened continuously, and the reason for her distractions IS A MAN!

Reven is that man, and the very first time she encounters him in the dark, she falls for him. DONT TRY TO TELL ME SHE DOESN'T!!! She sees his midnight black hair and turquoise eyes, he speaks three words to her (his voice sounds like velvet and iron by the way, very important) and she's done for.

She thinks he sees her, the real her. The same thing happens in another scene which was even worse, but before I get to that one, I have to mention Cain.

Cain is the other potential love interest, who has no real chance at all, never did. Meren does mention him in the first two chapters, but we don't see him till chapter three, and by then she's already had her first encounter with Reven.

He's the typical best friend who has feelings for her, but aside from that I don't really see why he was even necessary to the story? I wanted to root for him, even if it was futile. He does eventually come back into the story, but I can't see any romance happening.

And everything about his family also felt like background fillers, we never learned anything about them, or for example why Meren and his sister hate each other so much.

I don't hate Pella at all, but I felt like I was supposed to with the way she was described. She's like a clichéd mean girl, but I found her back and forth with Meren cringy (mostly Meren's fault!). Again, it would've helped if we knew the context of their rivalry.

Back to Reven now and this other scene. So in that scene, Meren yet again feels like he sees the real her and wants her. At that point I just felt like closing the book in embarrassment. This NEVER happens to me with fantasy books, if it does it's with contemporary romances because some of the lines there are really not to my taste.

But yeah this is literally their second meeting, they haven't had a proper conversation and she's already one foot into the romance...girl...calm down.

It felt like they were pushed, or forced together too fast and I didn't like it. The romance didn't get any better from then on, just faster. There was no build up, no chemistry, just, whatever that was.

Reven was also one of those characters that's supposed to be evil, a monster, made of darkness etc etc, he pushes Meren away (but at the same time not really) and we didn't get anything like that. He's honestly nice? Although he does get jealous and possessive but that's to be expected.

It's just that I so rarely see characters described as monsters actually be monsters, and I get a bit more disappointed each time.

Meren's relationship with her sister is also one I didn't buy. No relationships were believable in this book. Maybe the book could've been a bit longer in order to explore their relationship (and Meren and Cain's too)?

This next thing is mostly contained to a few beginning chapters, and that's the descriptions of the "wandering desert peoples". Those descriptions made me slightly uncomfortable, and when I went to check if anyone else noticed it, I only saw one other person say it. If I didn't see it, I would've thought it was just me.

Luckily, this didn't continue for the rest of the book, but I'm very curious to see if anyone else will feel that way later on when more people read it.

So the plot, up until Meren gets kidnapped it feels like one book, and after she gets kidnapped it feels like a completely different one. But the plot wasn't nearly as bad as the romance. It wasn't bad at all actually, and it was better in the second half than in the first.

The plot might technically be my favourite thing next to the magic system? I don't know how the magic works, but do I care? No. I think the concept is unique, but could use more development.

I don't know if I'll be reading the sequel. The ending is a cliffhanger and was supposed to make me want to continue, except I'm not getting that feeling at all. I won't lose any sleep if I don't read the next book.

Lastly, are YA books supposed to have steamy scenes? The Liar's Crown has one, so I'm not sure how YA it really is. Maybe upper/older YA? Or YA bordering NA, something like that.

Anywayyyy, just because this didn't work for me, doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a chance. If it sounds good to you go ahead and read it.

2.5

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This was an interesting one! A princess who is in hiding, takes over her twins spot, realizes she doesn't really have what it takes to rule, but is ok falling in love with the wrong person. This was a great and exciting read! I really quite enjoyed it overall.

I received an ARC from NetGallery for my honest opinion.

I give this book 3.5 stars. The story itself is intriguing. It's a different type of magical world and the plot is different from books I've read. There is action and romance. The romance doesn't overplay the action in the book.

I had trouble remembering the names for her magic system and I had to keep looking it up with the search function. The magic system is explained but is thrown in not often that I kept forgetting what was what.
The book does have spice and I was not expecting that when reading since most YA are fade to black or just "handsy."
The main character is great she has development, relatable can delve into her story. I feel like her love interest is kind of forced upon the reader and that it's the "expected" love interest. Their banter, to me isn't great, at the beginning so it makes it seem like out of nowhere but does get better as the book goes on.
Overall, with the ending I'm curious to see how book 2 goes since the book does get better toward the end.

It took a long time to get "into" this book. Meren lives in a small town with her grandmother and she is living a protected life because she is a twin and her twin sister, Tabra is in line to be the next queen of their dominion. Meren's job is to be able to impersonate Tabra when she is queen so that Meren can save Tabra from harm. All of the various special powers for different people and, the nature of the dominions were not very clear. Reven is the hero who can help her, but he has a rival in Cain, but his motive are not clear. My reasonable self questions why, if everyone knows the evil king kills all of his queens, anyone would ever agree to a marriage with him. I certainly would not recommend it to middle school readers because of the sexual nature. I received an ARC, and my opinions are my own.

Ramona Thompson

I am not normally a fan of young adult reads, but as THE LIAR'S CROWN is by Abigail Owen, one of my go-to writers, I thought I would give it a try. I am glad I did as I enjoyed this crazy world Ms. Owen has developed.

Reviewed for Fresh Fiction by Annetta Sweetko

Complete review: https://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=79263

As the second born twin, Meren's only purpose is to die in her sister's place should the need arise. Her sister Tabra is to be the next Queen.
Meren also changes places with her sister if the situation feels dangerous. With evil King Eidolon arriving, every situation could be dangerous. He has been known to kill a Queen in the past.
With that in mind, Meren decides to step in the night before the coronation. Eidolon will not get her sister.
When Meren is kidnapped, she is sure it must be Eidolon. She soon finds out that it is the feared Shadowraith. It is said that he is responsible for all the people that have gone missing lately. She needs get back and save the Tabra, but first she has to figure out how to save herself.

I thought this was ok. The romance was a bit overdone in places. I really liked Meren. She can play the part of a queen, but she is really down to earth, and good with a knife. I also enjoyed the different places. I'm interested to see why they are changing so drastically and if Meren can fix it. They all sound very interesting with the different creatures.

I'm intrigued enough to continue the series.

DNF'd at 34%

The prologue of this book had me practically salivating. Unfortunately, the main story didn't live up to the potential.

My biggest issue with The Liar's Crown is the lack of world-building. Instead of using events as an opportunity to provide explanations (for Enora's hostilities, the existence of monsters, the need for a sanctuary), we're expected to just swallow Reven's "Later" and move on.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in this series. The story itself was on that was full of adventure, great characters, action, suspense, enemies, secrets, threats, revenge and funny moments. There are so many layers of threats when it comes to this series that you won't know which one will present itself at any given time. It also has a slow-burn romance that will have you on the edge of your seat waiting for things to happen between the two main characters. I wanted them to get to it, but I loved the anticipation. The one thing I disliked about this story was that I felt that the main character put herself down or thought herself so worthless when it came between her and her sister. I hope that in the next book she believes in herself and see herself as equal and worthy. I don't want to give anything away, but I think that any person who enjoys a good paranormal romance will enjoy this story. I'm excited to know what happens next, especially with that cliffhanger ending.

The description of this book really intrigued me. The idea of the secret princess who is essentially the stunt double for the future queen? Never heard of this story line and it pulled me in from the beginning.

Let me preface by saying that this wasn’t a bad book. I loved the world, the beginning of the plot and the magic system. It really sucked you in, in the beginning of the book. Super epic prologue and everything. I was so excited until Meren (our main character) gets kidnapped and it just completely does a 180 on the direction of the story.

The current queen died which forced the eldest sister to ascend the throne. Through tradition, the younger twin sister Meren pretends to be her. It was a way to protect the royal bloodline. But while impersonating her, Meren gets kidnapped because the kidnapper thought she was the queen.

Then it seems that the plot just changed direction and I felt that the reason I went into this no longer was there.

A lot of action scenes in the woods of them fighting to save themselves from monsters that to me just didn’t make sense in the plot. Meren, when she got kidnapped, didn’t really show much resistance. The plot really slowed down and you don’t really see her back at the kingdom.

I really wanted to love this book because the beginning delivered a powerful punch. I wanted more of what was happening in the actual castle and Meren interacting with her sister.

Amazing. Perfect. Stunning. Heartbreaking. These are just a few of the adjectives I can use to describe The Liar’s Crown. I’m so happy I had the chance to read the ARC, this is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone loving New Adult books.
In the beginning, the story is a bit confusing between the worldbuilding and the magic system, but it’s also quite fast-paced and it doesn’t feel dragged out at all.
Our protagonist is Meren, the spare, but not in the way one would think: she is destined to take the throne on certain occasions so as to keep her sister, the actual heir, safe from the threat of another ruler.
Well, one could say she does accomplish her mission. In a way. Perhaps not completely.
She is, in fact, kidnapped just before the coronation ceremony, but not by the right monster… Who, might I add, doesn’t look like a monster at all, and Meren knows this all too well despite all her tentatives to lie to herself. We’ve all been there girl, we’ve all been there.
Once again, weirdly enough, I’ve fallen in love with the heroine, adoring both her internal struggles as well as her actions. Everything, from beginning to end, didn’t picture her as the stupid girl who acts out because she thinks she knows better. Perhaps it’s because it’s a New Adult and not a Young Adult, who knows. But I love her and her sass.
Another one who loves her sass is our male lead, Reven, whom you’ll undoubtedly fall in love with. The whole atmosphere between the two of them reminded me of Captain Swan fanfictions when Killian has… magic. Nope, not going into heavy detail, otherwise I’ll spoil you the plot twist. Just let me tell you this: Reven is amazing, I love him.
Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, I’d-love-to-kiss-er-kill-you, only one tree, an amazing yet not omnipotent heroine who would do anything for her sister and her people, a very much morally grey hero, an unique magical system… What more could you ask for? (I would love the sequel, thank you very much!)
Oh, before I forget: I absolutely love the harpy eagle. If you know, you know.

—

Fantastico. Perfetto. Stupendo. Straziante. Questi sono solo pochi degli aggettivi che posso usare per descrivere The Liar’s Crown. Sono così felice di aver avuto la possibilità di leggere l’ARC, questo è decisamente un libro che consiglierei a tutti gli amanti dei New Adult.
All’inizio, la storia è un po’ confusionaria, tra il worldbuilding e il sistema magico, ma è anche piuttosto rapido e per niente tirato per le lunghe.
La nostra protagonista è Meren, il rimpiazzo, ma non nel modo in cui è inteso di solito: è desinata a prendere posto sul trono in certe occasioni così da tenere sua sorella, la vera erede, al sicuro dalla minaccia di un altro regnante.
Beh, si potrebbe dire che porta a termine la propria missione. In un certo senso. Forse non completamente.
Difatti, viene rapita proprio prima della cerimonia di incoronazione, ma non dal mostro giusto… Che, devo aggiungere, non sembra affatto un mostro, e Meren lo sa benissimo nonostante tutti i suoi tentativi di mentire a se stessa. Ci siamo passate tutte ragazza, ci siamo passate tutte.
Ancora una volta, stranamente, mi sono innamorata dell’eroina, adorando sia la sua lotta interna che le sue azioni. Tuto, dall’inizio alla fine, non l’ha dipinta come la ragazzina stupida che fa i capricci perchè pensa di sapere tutto lei. Forse è perché si tratta di un New Adult e non di uno Young Adult, chissà. Ma la amo e amo la sua insolenza.
Un’altra persona che ama la sua sfacciataggine è il nostro protagonista maschile, Reven, di cui vi innamorerete senza dubbio. L’atmosfera che si crea fra loro due mi ha ricordato le fanfiction Captain Swan in cui Killian possiede… la magia. Nope, non scenderò nei dettagli, altrimenti vi farò spoiler dei plot twist. Lasciate solo che vi dica questo: Reven è fantastico, e lo amo.
Enemies to lovers, forzata vicinanza, vorrei-baciarti-er-ucciderti, un solo albero, un’eroina fantastica seppur non onnipotente che farebbe di tutto per sua sorella e la propria gente, un eroe davvero, davvero moralmente grigio, un sistema di magia unico… Che altro potete chiedere di più? (Io vorrei il sequel, grazie tante!)
Oh, prima che me ne dimentichi: amo incondizionatamente l’aquila arpia. Se lo sapete, sapete.