Published by Disney-Hyperion April 1, 2014
487 Pages
Part of a series (don’t know the name) (Book One)
Source: New Teen Shelf at Library (serendipity)
Bookologists Analysis: I felt the tension in this book build
it. I didn’t know what to expect at the end except a big bang and fantastic
ending, but was let down a bit. I hope that maybe it is because it is a series,
so maybe it will get better.
Magic is power, and power is magic...
Once they were inseparable, just two little
girls playing games in a formidable castle. Now Princess Marie-Victoria, heir
to the mightiest empire in the world, and Aelwyn Myrddyn, a bastard mage, face
vastly different futures.
Quiet and gentle, Marie has never lived up
to the ambitions of her mother, Queen Eleanor the Second. With the help of her
Merlin, Eleanor has maintained a stranglehold on the world's only source of
magic. While the enchanters faithfully serve the crown, the sun will never set
on the Franco-British Empire.
As the annual London Season begins, the
great and noble families across the globe flaunt their wealth and magic at
parties, teas, and, of course, the lavish Bal du Drap d'Or, the Ball of the
Gold Cloth.
But the talk of the season is Ronan Astor,
a social-climbing American with only her dazzling beauty to recommend her.
Ronan is determined to make a good match to save her family's position. But
when she falls for a handsome rogue on the voyage over, her lofty plans are
imperiled by her desires.
Meanwhile, Isabelle of Orleans, daughter of
the displaced French royal family, finds herself cast aside by Leopold, heir to
the Prussian crown, in favor of a political marriage to Marie-Victoria.
Isabelle arrives in the city bent on reclaiming what is hers. But Marie doesn't
even want Leopold-she has lost her heart to a boy the future queen would never
be allowed to marry.
When Marie comes to Aelwyn, desperate to escape a life
without love, the girls form a perilous plan that endangers not only the entire
kingdom but the fate of the monarchy.
The Ring & the Crown is written by Melissa De La Cruz
who also wrote Blue Bloods series. Blue Bloods was about being daring and
breaking the boundaries, this book not quite so much. The book had some of the
best worldbuilding I’ve seen with the alternate history plus magic in a royalty
pseudo Victorian season with multiple narrators. This book had the best ma (see
this post by Laini Taylor), that I have seen in a long time. The tension built
up perfectly right to an ending that felt rushed and unplanned. Just before the ending everything felt apart
into pieces you had to collect.
The characters were very clichéd. You could see the same
reflections of Blue Blood characters. However, you still felt invested in who
they are and which their emotions were very real and they became your friends.
The novel with its unoutlined ending didn’t do these characters justice as you
watched De La Cruz just play with them in an unfair way. This was one of the
first books with multiple narrators that I felt was very simple to follow. Each
character from Wolf, the bad boy, to Princess Marie Victoria, the sickly weak
child who can’t do anything, had a special voice that was entirely distinctive
to them. I loved the ways the characters
were portrayed till the end when the plot fell apart.
The design and layout of this book was beautiful. I felt
that the type font reflected it the oldness just right with all of the elegance
and royal air needed. You can also see the awesome cover above with a girl with
a flower headdress. The parts also this awesome marbled effect with hidden
pieces of the puzzle like a sword and crown. I liked that at least the people who were
designing the book paid attention to it like it was their little precious baby.
The Ring & the Crown was a book I was looking forward to
with all my heart, I wanted to see what Melissa had in store after the Blue
Blood novels, but all I got was a big slap in the face. I appreciated the
building of characters and an original world, but what carries the book is
always the plot. I think we can all take a lesson from this remembering that no
matter how good a book’s beginning is we can still feel let down by the end and
ultimately regard the book with disappointment about what could’ve been.
Rating: ««
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