Of Darkness and Crowns

****

4 Stars/5

Bale, the moon goddess, is residing in Prince Caben, darkening his mind and soul, causing him to hunt down the woman he loves and sacrificed himself for. But he is still hearing his old self telling him that he still loves Kal and that Bale is causing him to want to kill her. Kaliope, the leader of the reformed Nactue Guard, has vowed to look after Caben’s kingdom as well as finding a way to save him. With a traitor within her midst and her powers growing which she cannot control, her mission to save Caben causes conflict in the Nactue and may be clouding her judgement. When the time comes to destroy the goddess of chaos, will Kaliope be able to do it if it means losing Caben?

Of Darkness and Crowns is a very good new adult sci-fi/fantasy novel with action, a warped romance and unexpected twists. This book was told from the POV of both Caben and Kaliope and it is very addictive as I could not put the book down.

Kal is still strong and protective, but her loyalties are tested and she struggles a lot in this book with both with her responsibilities and with what happened to Caben. Caben is a really interesting character in this book as he is very dark and not the good guy we know from the last book, but you could still see hints of the old him, which makes you doubt if it is Bale which has changed him or if it is how he would react if he got power. I didn’t like the romance as much as the last book as they did not spend much time together and it was very twisted.

While I slightly preferred Of Silver and Beasts more than this book it is still really good and I am looking forward to the next book. I would recommend Of Darkness and Crowns to fans of Trisha Wolfe’s other books especially the first book in The Goddess Wars series, Of Silver and Beasts.