Magic, murder, adventure, and romance combine in this second novel in the exciting Crown of Shards saga from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep.
PROTECT THE PRINCE by JENNIFER ESTEP
Series: Crown of Shards #2
Publication date: July 2, 2019
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: adult fantasy
SYNOPSIS
Everleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over.
First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.
Despite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king, who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.
But dark forces are at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. Worse, Evie’s immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes her wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.
But Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger—so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s . . . well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her.
Only one thing is certain—protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen…
First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.
Despite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king, who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.
But dark forces are at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. Worse, Evie’s immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes her wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.
But Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger—so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s . . . well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her.
Only one thing is certain—protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen…
Praise for Protect the Prince:
“KILL THE QUEEN is the definition of epic fantasy: exciting, original, and filled with characters who jump off the page. Jennifer Estep enters the arena and takes no prisoners. Long live the Winter Queen.”
- Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Jennifer Estep takes the world of high fantasy by storm with a book so perfectly plotted and executed that I gasped out loud at each new reveal and unexpected turn. Evie is the heroine we all want to read about: as compassionate as she is ruthless, as cunning as she is kind, and as fierce and focused as anyone must be in order to KILL THE QUEEN.”
- Amanda Bouchet, USA Today bestselling author of The Kingmaker Chronicles
“Kill the Queen rocked my world! With court intrigue, a cast of fantastic characters, epic political sweep, and a slow-burn romance to die for, this book had me rapt. I only regret I devoured it so fast. And that I didn’t write it. More please!”
- Jeffe Kennedy, RITA® Award winning author of The Pages of the Mind
“An exciting new fantasy series full of magic, fierce women, and revenge.”
- Booklist
“a tale as action- and character-driven as its predecessor, proving that strong female protagonists are still in fine form.”
- Library Journal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer writes the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals – Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.
You can find her on:
Protect the Prince by Jennifer EstepMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
In this second installment of the Crown of Shards series, we take off three months after Evie has defeated her murderess cousin Vasilia. As the only Winter Blair left, she's taken her place on the throne and adjusting to her new life. In the previous book we saw her go through a transformation, becoming more confident in her strength and abilities. Training with the Black Swan gladiators helped her to physically and mentally prepare for the confrontation of her lifetime. But now that she's suddenly thrust into leading the entire kingdom, she feels inadequate and unprepared for everyone's expectations.
How could she ever be what her people needed when they've only ever held her in disregard or disgust? She was nothing to them then, and things haven't changed much now either. No one expects her to last very long, and self-doubt consumes her. This was something that got repeated a bit much for me in the beginning, if I'm being honest. It felt excessive how many times this came up in her internal dialogue and wasn't necessary. There are also a lot of characters in this series, so keeping everyone straight after the gap between books took a bit of time. But once I refreshed my memory, things were moving along faster.
Everleigh is surrounded by a great group of friends who have become her advisors and protectors. Most notably, Lucas Sullivan, bastard Prince of Andvari whom she met during her time with the Black Swans. His brother was murdered during the assassination of her family, and the treaty with his people is in tatters. Not only does she need to repair relations between the two kingdoms, she must prove her worth in court, and stave off the Mortans who are still out for blood. The book is divided up into three parts, each with an assassination attempt on her life. There is a long standing vendetta between Andavarians and Mortans, but they are on a mission now more than ever to finish wiping out the Winter Blair line. Evie won't learn until much later why she poses such a threat, but all will be revealed.
Heinrich had said that his nobles wanted blood. Well, they weren’t getting mine—or my throne. But I would be more than happy to give them a traitor’s blood.
Young Princess Gemma was introduced in the previous book, but now we really got to meet her in depth. She ended up being a new favorite character for me! Her escape and dangerous journey from Andvari was alluded to, and it only made me want to know more. She stole every scene she was in, and I'm really looking forward to seeing her mature into an adult. There is most definitely a fascinating story waiting to be told with her rare abilities and connection to the Morton boy she communicates with. I really hope she gets a full length book of her own. I also think that Xenia and Paloma have more of a story to tell, which I think we will see in the following book. The implications I saw were certainly intriguing.
While Evie is proving herself at Glitnir, she discovers that there is another traitor walking among them. A good portion of the book is meeting the royals and trying to ferret out information that could lead her to who is behind the rage discovered by her "mutt sense."
I wondered who would win in the end—or if the currents, people, and agendas that went along with them would suck me under and drown me for good.
Her ability to smell deception and other emotions was invaluable to her, as was her secret ability to deflect magic used against her. This is another thing that she isn't fully knowledgable about, and we finally see her learn just how this ties into her being a Winter queen. This has been kept secret and teased from the beginning, so it was great to see her start to understand her identity and importance.
I was hoping to see more romance bloom between Sullivan and Evie, and we did see a change in their relationship, but I wish we could have seen more interaction between them. The story was plot driven rather than character driven, so he didn't get a lot of page time in conversation with her. She was forced to drive a wedge between them a couple of times, so that hindered their relationship as well. I couldn't help but feel horrible for poor Sullivan because she pretty brutally used his weakness against him and he was hurt pretty badly in the process. The ending was delightfully, if predictably sweet however. I was really satisfied with how the book leaves off between the two of them.
Overall, there was some repetitious internal dialogue and scene setting, but for a second in series, there was a fitting amount of plot progression. Secrets were revealed, and motivations were unearthed, with plenty of magical fights to satisfy the action hungry reader. Evie really stepped up to the plate and proved that she has the wit, strength, and determination to overcome any obstacle put in her path. And believe me, there is a never-ending line of them. Many wish to see her fail, but she is the type of underdog heroine you love to root for. If you loved Kill the Queen, there is just as much to enjoy here, and it's definitely worth the read. I'll most definitely be seeing how this all comes together in Crush the King next year.
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