Thank you so much to Orbit for the arc, all opinions are my own.

I struggled a bit with the first book, being more poetic and drawn out, and this one followed suit. It just isn't keeping my interest unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC!

3.5 Stars-

I loved the first book in this series so much, and it ended with such a cliffhanger so I knew I had to read this one! I loved the continued world building very much, but I personally struggled to get through this book. I’m hopeful it’s a bridge to something way more in book 3!

I’m such a sucker for fantastical creatures. The aughiskies were so neat! I loved the banter between them and Fia, but it felt a bit overdone later on until she finally took time to learn Pond Scum’s name and backstory.

I have such a love for Irish culture and the incorporation of Irish mythology/fairy tales keeps me coming back to this series.

Lyra said that this is the bridge between book 1 and book 2 and in her we trust. There are some things that worked, some that didn’t but I’m eager to see where the story goes!

Thank you so much to Orbit Books for my ARC ❤️

3.5/5

I went into this sequel expecting a duology, and this may have impacted the overall reading experience. Regardless, the main issue with this sequel was pacing. While the first book benefitted from slow descriptions of scenery and folklore to create an enchanting world and build a relationship, the first third of this sequel dragged. The heavy reliance in book one on the main romantic relationship meant that in the sequel I was not invested in the characterization of Fia's female friendships, which did not feel as deep as they are presented on the page. I was interested by the question of compatibility/foundations of the relationship between Fia and Irian, which turns the typical plot of a fantasy romance on its head. However, the lack of additional compelling relationships to further their character development made the eventual resolution of this plotline feel unearned, and the story overall lost my interest. Once again, the most intriguing parts of the book occur in the final act when Eala and Fia's competing interests come to a head, and once again this is cut short. I'm hoping that this is set up for a more engaging book three plot, and would continue the series to find out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the ARC.

This book was even better than the first one! I know most first books in series are setting up the world and characters for the future, but I was not expecting to love this one as much as I did! I loved the action that was in this story and how the romance was put through tests. I think it felt realistic for me that way.

This book was long and drawn out, and I struggled to get to te end. The first book already bothered me, and the second one, while I can see what the author was trying for, fell really flat for me. 2⭐, but barely.

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Once again, Lyra Selene sweeps the reader into an enchanted world of intoxicating romance, cursed relics, and dangerous tournaments.

I love how her stories are filled with such visual and lyrical writing while her characterizations are packed full of emotional depth.

This time around we’re taken to the gorgeous but dangerous setting of the Silver Isle, a snowy island at the edge of the fae world where Irian and Fia hope to find sanctuary. Instead, they end up competing in the Tournament of Kings for an ancient relic of great power.

The world continues to fascinate me along with its beautiful lore. Irian and Fia definitely have their challenges in this story as they face conflicting goals. Their relationship is so romantic and raw at times—I ate it up. My heart broke a few times as they tried to navigate through a world of cunning fae and dangerous intrigue.

I definitely recommend this series, especially if you enjoy lush worlds that have Celtic and fairytale vibes along with a sensuous romance. 🔥 I’m ready for more!

Beautiful, breathtaking enticing and wonderful in glad to have read this and miss the way reading this for the first time made me feel, thankyou for this chance and this world

Such a beautiful sequel to A Feather So Black. So atmospheric, just as the first, and the characters are luscious and full and deep. Lyra is a must read author.

I read the first one and didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I went into this one with higher hopes, but have put it down for now. I would love to get back to it one day, but I soft dnf’d at around 20%.

I'm frustrated.
A Feather So Black was BEAUTIFUL. It was filled with stories and mystery and cheeky sprites. It was a comforting yet dark tale of love and loyalty. I adore it still.
This sequel, by comparison, is a mess. Fia is awful. She is rude and quick to fight with her HUSBAND Irian over literally everything. Girl, I don't care a bit about all those treasures and frankly think it's greedy of you to need more than two to make yourself happy. She barely speaks to her husband about anything that matters, but she's quick to jump to everyone else's defense, especially when it makes zero sense to do so. The random tournament trope (which despite being fair she somehow also resents) and the love SQUARE that pops up because we didn't already have enough love interests for our FMC. But also ROGAN I loved him in AFSB, and he was basically a robot this entire book.
Here's the thing: Irian is not Tamlin. Fia is acting completely irrationally every step of the way, and he's trying to help her survive while she makes the stupidest choices imaginable. She treats him like garbage, and I hope he lives his best life away from her by the end of the next book bc he deserves better.
Ignoring her primary goal of fighting her sister (which a character in this book very appropriately questions why Fia even cares about), this whole book has little character growth. There's no plot progression aside from the self-contained conflicts on this island. This book lacks MAGIC both figuratively and literally as her magic is nulled for most of this book. Like the first, too much happens at the end too fast, and it only made me more frustrated.
⭐⭐⭐ Borrowing a whole star from the first book because it had them to spare and is the reason I will remain excited to read the third and last book in this series.

While the first book was good, this one just didn't live up to my expectations. The relationship between the two main characters that built up and progressed throughout the first book, was really bad throughout the first half of this book. Instead of communicating and healing together, frustrations were taken out on each other and there was a lot of conflict. It was really disappointing. I had hoped that after going through what they did, they would have come out stronger, but instead, it was really annoying to see that. However, in the second half of the book, things did get a lot better and more things are understood as to why that was happening between them. Of course, due to all of the arguing and fighting between the two main characters, I ended up having to put the book down so much and I grew bored often. If there's one thing that I hate the most in a book that will cause me to DNF, its the miscommunication trope. And I was pretty close to doing that.

Thank you to Lyra Selene, Orbit Books, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

This is a solid second installment of a dark fairytale telling in the vein of the Cruel Prince. I love the dark whimsical atmosphere created by the author that was expanded in this book. I am huge fan of the lyrical prose which helped create the atmosphere.

Like in the first installment, I really enjoyed the main character who can be both soft and ruthless. Her personal arc is super interesting. What I did not particularly like was the romantic conflict. There were some parts that were intriguing, namely them just getting to know each other better, but the main conflict felt contrived. This made it hard for me to care.

Despite that, the ending left me excited for the next book.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Screaming from the rooftops about this one: READ THIS SERIES! I am absolutely and positively OBSESSED. I am in desperate need of the next book ASAP YESTERDAY. Selene's writing is so lyrical and whimsy and I just fall in love with her characters.

This writing is just absolutely lyrical! I found myself getting lost in the words and not wanting the story to end. I saw swan lake retelling and was instantly fascinated.

For fans of:
The Courting of Bristol Keats

This book was such a sad disappointment for me. Picking up where "A Feather So Black" left off, "A Crown So Silver" reinvites us back into the the whimsical world of tricksters and living magic. Except I felt like much of the character growth from book 1 was gone in this one and all of the delicious tension and romance between Fia and Irian had deflated, despite the odds technically being higher than ever. Even 30% into the book, I was left feeling like absolutely nothing had happened. When we finally go to the tournament, I literally found myself rolling my eyes at the added stakes and newly introduced antagonists. Maybe I am jaded my tournaments but it felt totally pointless and overdone. Fia was insufferable and even the whimsy felt stale.

I loved book 1 enough that I will probably give this book another chance in the future, but as it is this is a 3 star for me. I will still continue to support Lyra Selene, and am eager for her future projects, which will hopefully give me that some fuzzy feeling I got from book 1.

I received this ebook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Lyra Selene, and Orbit Books for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted across my socials under the username @tinynightingales, check out my GoodReads profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863
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This book took me over a month to read. I started the ebook and got to about 30% and put it down. I waited for the library to get the audiobook and switched to that and found that the audiobook was much easier for me to follow. This series uses a lot of concepts and words that can be difficult to pronounce if you're not familiar with their spelling and since I listened to the audiobook of the first book, I was confused when reading the ebook (I couldn't remember if some of the names / people were the same from the first book or new people / concepts).

Therefore, I'd definitely recommend sticking to one medium for this series. I found the audiobook to be much easier to follow because I liked that the narrator pronounced the names how the author intended.

I think I also struggled initially with this one because the romance was different in this sequel. There was a lot of the miscommunication trope (which I'm not a fan of) and it almost felt like a new love triangle was forming and I did not like that.

The second half of the book really redeemed the issues I had with the first half. I'd continue with the series but will have to remind myself to make sure I wait for the audiobook.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I hate that I'm about to say this but I just did not vibe with this book. AFSB was one of my top books of 2024, so this hurts. ACSS was one of my more anticipated books of the year. The story felt disjointed, the plot points felt sudden and forced, and the characters would've been fine if they talked to each other. The prose I adored in AFSB was absent. All in all, this book is a solid "okay." I know what the author can do, so I'm still going to read her future work, but this book was a bit of a miss after her gorgeous first in the series.

This was a really thrilling continuation of this series. After the dramatic ending of the first book, the world of the Tír na nÓg expands to where Irian was fostered and we add some new characters to the crew in addition to seeing our favorite (and least favorite) swan sisters. I enjoyed the magical tournament element and the way Fia and Irian's relationship is challenged and grows. But one thing that I struggled with here is the length. The page count didn't seem long, but it took a very long time to get into the rising action and I wish the first third of the book was a little condensed. Still, I am very into this series and I am ready for the next one! Drink this book: the fae like it a little sweet so try out an Ice Wine from the finger lakes or Michigan!

I could not get into this book and unfortunately I didn't realize it was part of a series when I requested it.