Crown of Crowns
by Clara Loveman
Published Independent, Ingram Spark
Book 1 in the Crown of Crowns Series
By law, Kaelyn and Roki shouldn’t have anything in common. They shouldn’t even be friends. And whatever they do, they can never, ever fall in love.
Kaelyn, a young noblewoman, feels smothered under the harsh constraints of the Decens-Lenitas, the legal and moral code that governs the people of the Geniverd Kingdom. When she meets Roki, a handsome young man from the city with knowledge and aspirations beyond his status, Kaelyn realizes she’s not the only person trapped. She starts to question everything she thought she knew, including about the Gurnots, a group of anarchist rebels set on overthrowing the laws—people who the nobles have labelled as terrorists.
When her parents find out that she’s spending more time with a lowborn citizen, they forbid her to meet Roki ever again. He’s common. She could be queen.
Kaelyn tries to move on. Her future as a potential leader depends on it. But she can’t forget Roki, or the ominous signs his lessons now make clear: the death of an obedient follower of Decens-Lenitas, the unrest that follows … and the whispers of conspiracy.
With the lives of all free people at stake, Kaelyn must uncover the truth— even if she risks her heart at every turn.
RATED: 14+ CATEGORY: MOOD:
Dystopia Exciting
I would like to thank #IngramSpark for providing me with an #arc of #CrownofCrowns by #ClaraLoveman via #NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Crown of Crowns by Clara Loveman is the first book in her Crown of Crowns series, which is about Kaelyn, a young woman of noble birth, who has hopes of one day being picked by the "Crown of Crowns" to be Queen, and change some of the rules set forth by her kingdoms moral code, for the betterment of the people.
Honesty time. I didn't like this book. High Fantasy books are incredibly difficult to write. I have a vast background in reading both "low" fantasy and "high" fantasy. So I was really hoping Crown of Crowns would be one of the good ones. The description and the cover drew me in initially, but I was left disappointed in the story. There are kernels of a good story here, but it's very erratic. There are a couple time jumps, made unclear to the reader until you get to a sentence mentioning her age, or how long an event you just read about happened. A lot of things went unexplained. Specifically, with Decens-Lenitas, and the kingdom in general. There was virtually no set up, which is ESSENTIAL in a high fantasy book. What are all the specifics of the laws and morals of this kingdom? We know how it affects the people, but without knowing the cause to what is going on, how can the reader be empathetic?
I was hoping to at least connect with the characters in this story, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I found myself more annoyed with the main character than anything. Her young and naive thought processes at the first of the book, at 15 years old, seemed believable, but as she got older, her thought process was still very much like her fifteen year old self. Her bonds with those around her felt non-existent. There was no building up of these characters. Nothing to tie them together. Not even with her main love interest!
Crown of Crowns was a bit of a disappoint for me. The story and characters fell flat, in my opinion. Points are given for a very original, unique plot, but that's about it. If you would like to give it a shot, Preorder links are below, and it comes out August 11th, 2020.
Where to Buy:
Paperback (Amazon)