Reviews:
“There once was a girl,” he said, his voice slick, “clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a King—a shepherd by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book. The two were together, so the two were the same:“The girl, the King, and the monster they became.”
The Shepherd King series. Book 2
Two Twisted Crowns pick up right after we left the first book. So the rest of it is a massive spoiler. But because of it one must not expect for the main character of the first book to be as prominent in the second book. I must say even if the relationships in this book are strong, might be even stronger, but the plot is still quite crucial too.
As the first book ends, in the moment of despair and danger, Elspeth decided to trade for Nightmare's help, but she knows this will be the last time, but she can't let herself fall into the hands of Hauth Rowan, the first Prince of Blunder, heir to the throne. Otherwise she might spill all the information about them collecting cards under the King's nose and all their efforts would be for nothing. She can't risk it. But as a result the Nightmare takes over her body.
This book has much awaited "adventure" we needed, but also a bit of family drama and intrigue, because after what Nightmare left of Hauth Rowan, Elm had to take his position. The Nightmare should have met his end, but he had other plans, he had bartered with the King to get the chance to go into the mist and finally retrieve the Twin Alders Card that was lost for five hundred years. Because he had plans of his own, for this mist, for the Yew family and for the Rowan King.
The book also switches from three points of view. One follows Ravyn, one follows Elm and one follows Elspeth. It is pretty crucial to the story to show the separate plotlines that were going on.
Ravyn, despite being so deep into deception still managed to hold on and follow teh Nightmare into the woods. He did not care for distrust from the King, did not care for losing his Captain status upon his arrival, all he cared for the chance to cure his brother and Elspeth.
Elspeth was not lost but she spent some time in the deepest parts of Nightmare's consciousness or soul, to recuperate herself. Even if she eventually is freed from that place, but she basically can only peep through Nightmare's eyes, but can't do anything. So she and Nightmare basically traded places, the way Nightmare appeared only here and there, it was Elspeth's role now.
The third POV belonged to Elm, or Renelm. We now have a chance to peer into his past and his true self, his story how he spent the life in the Stone castle, being brutallized by his own brother, going through humiliation and suffering. This is why he cherishes his connection with the Yew family so much. He also tries to save life of Ione Hawthorne, Elspeth's cousine, who managed to save his life when they wre ambushed. Ione was bethroad to Hauth, but was made to use the Maiden Card all the time, which later was hidden, this card inevitably changed her and now she was on her way to find it and release herself from its' magic.
This was a bit sudden to me, because there might have been a glance, but not as obvious? Or I was oblivious to it :) Yet since the Ravyn and Elspeth can't feed to reader's need for romance, it is now Ione and Elm who suddenly took their turn. It is a relationship between then a boy, now a man, who saw a girl so real and so unaffected by the court's hypocricy and was quite envious of her and the girl, but now was so unfeeling yet hag the glimpse of real her peering through the cracks, and a girl, who considered the other party handsome, but he was Rowan and she came to hate Rowans in all her capacity, until Elm with actions has proven that he is different and he doesn't want to be compared to his brother whom he hates no less than her. So part of the plot is spent in the Stone castle where Hauth is barely alive after Nightmare's claws, Elm and Ione try to find where the Maiden Card is hidden while they grow close to each other and also show their true selves and what is the truth behind the Maiden Card.
Their relationship is quite strong, it left the impression of being even stronger than Elspeth and Ravyn in the first book. Even if Ravyn basically does things mainly for her, so let's not forget that.
Another relationship dynamic actually follows Nightmare and Ravyn, who is now devastated that Elspeth is nowhere to be found, but has to deal with him. Their travel into the mist and woods brings out some things hidden deep within.
Most of the past of the Shephers King is uncovered through memories that Elspeth witness. The past of the King, the never-ending desire to create more, the betrayal of the closest, how Rowan came to reign, what happened to his family who is that boy with dark hair and grey eyes just like that of Ravyn Yew. Through these memories things for us become evident. For participants not so much, because a) Elspeth saw them but had no means or desire to relay them and b) Nightmare himself did not share his backstory outloud, so it came to them as a surprise at the end, understandably.
Most prominent character was and still stays the Nightmare or Sepherd King. We now know his past, we know he has plans, but honestly, he is the most faceted character out of all of them, he is not good, but he is not bad either. He had to keep his secrets, he had to stay strong for the greater goal. At first I had the impression that even if he says he protects Elspeth, but you always have a feeling like there is some agenda behind it and there is, but he's not completely unfeeling, since we find out why he cares for Elspeth too. I'm sure if he could go through this alone he would, but he had the need of companions to retrieve the cards. And although we know he has revenge on his plate to serve, but it's interesting that he's not portrayed as the only one participating or everything weighs down on him alone, a lot depends on him, but not everything that's for sure. He is truly a really great character to follow and I must say I was reading for him in the end, I realized he's the one I rooted for the most.
In the end I find that relationships were quite great, although the dynamics changed, it was still pretty great, the plot was interesting, some of its' turns were fun to follow and the ending enough to shed a tear.
Now looking back it's interesting to find that I've basically said many thing, but without spoiling the whole thing. I can pat myself in the back.
RATE: 5/5. Even if the book felt like it dragged a bit, I can't truly say that, took me by surprise that I finished the second book just two days later after I wrote the review on the first one (OvO) but that only shows how bingeable it is.
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