T's - Crystal Kingdom Review

I had high hopes for this book I really did, but it fell flat for me. The book picks up with Bryn on the run, she’s now on The Most Wanted List among the Kanin. With no one to help her, and not knowing where to start her quest she finds herself aligned with Konstantin Black. Under the rule of the evil Queen Mina, the people of Doldastam are trapped under her tyranny, with the death of King Evert Strinne. Both Bryn and Konstantin travel to the Omte kingdom seeking help to over throw Mina and to save Kanin trolls. Things turn sour pretty quickly and they are on the run. The venture all through the troll kingdoms until they settle into Skojare. War is on their door step and kingdoms are divided. There is plenty of bloodshed, and intense battle scenes. But the biggest things I have to complain about is the romance between Bryn and Ridley, Konstantine and Bryn, and lack character development.

Here is my list of things that seemed off.

-Bryn didn’t have much character growth and seemed to be in her own little world. In the time of battle a character is faced with many challenges and hardship, but at the end of battle when Bryn casted aside Astrid to be killed by the trolls was pretty heartless. And if I’m not mistaken I don’t recall Bryn ever saying she loved Ridley. Yet she would make out with him, have intimate moments, and give her life for me but not tell him her true feelings.

- Ridley was madly in love with her but pushed her away because he didn’t know how to deal with his demons. He was always by her side. He was by far the best character but seemed to lack development. I didn’t feel the connected between him and Bryn, it felt like they were friends with benefits.

-And to top that off (I could see this happening in book 1) there was a love triangle. Ugh she loved them both and couldn’t decide between which one, so kill one off and be happy with the other. Konstantine was a good man, even though he was lied to and strung along, he fell in love with the white rabbit. He wanted to sacrifice himself so he could redeem his name. It was sad to see him die but if you loved a girl don’t want till the very end to tell her.

-Bryns friends were killed and yet she doesn’t seem very hurt by it. She lacks empathy as a character and is in her own world. She still blames herself for everything when it has absolutely nothing to do with her. I wish there were more scenes with Ember, Linus, and Delilah. Linus was just thrown in the mix and we weren’t able to see him really evolve into his new life.

It was a sad ending to an ok series. I’m glad it’s over but I wish some of the characters lived and we learned more about the fate of the others kingdoms. There are a lot of questions that are left unanswered. Hopefully one day Amanda Hocking will give us a spin off series to wrap everything up.

Favorite Quotes:

-“You act like all the Kanin are saints and everybody else is a sinner," Konstantin said harshly."Those Omte soldiers down there are just following orders,the same as the Kanin. And you don‘t have any qualms about killing them."
I shook my head."It‘s different."
"It‘s different how?Because they‘re not like you? Because you didn‘t grow up with them?"Konstantin shot back."Proximity doesn‘t make some people more worthwhile than others, Bryn.”

-“My outfit was a black dress with a corset waist, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a large ball gown skirt. It looked like something someone might‘ve worn to a Gothic wedding. And then they‘d been buried in it for a few months.”

- For so long, I thought love was a weakness-as something that would only make you distracted and vulnerable. But what id come to realize was that love had only made Ember braver than she’d ever been before. Love made Tilda find the strength to carry on. Love made my parents willing to sacrifice everything for each other.                                              And love made me stronger. I would do anything to save Ridley. I would do everything I need to do.

I would rate this book a 2 out of 5 stars.