Crystal Kingdom

By: Amanda Hocking

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

Cast out by her kingdom and far from home, she's the Kanin people's only hope. Bryn Aven - unjustly charged with murder and treason - is on the run. The one person who can help is her greatest enemy, the gorgeous and enigmatic Konstantin Black. Konstantin is her only ally against those who have taken over her kingdom and threaten to destroy everything she holds dear. But can she trust him?

As Bryn fights to clear her name, the Kanin rulers' darkest secrets are coming to light... and now the entire troll world is on the brink of war. Will it tear Bryn from Ridley Dresden, the only guy she's ever loved? And can she join forces with Finn Holms and the Trylle kingdom? Nothing is as it seems, but one thing is certain: an epic battle is underway - and when it's complete, nothing will ever be the same....

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio.

©2015 Amanda Hocking (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

improvement

This book was an improvement in comparison with the previous ones. It still had some predictable parts but had some that were better.

good read

this book was a good read although the love interests once finally figured out and decided who to be with didn't seem to have enough resolution that it would leave it open for another book to explain once they figured out they both loved each other how they planned to be together beyond that.

awesome

loved it... great story... very good narrator... the complete series was totally worth listening to

Finally! Some resolution

Finally, finally some resolution to Bryn Aven’s problems with the Kanin. But it doesn’t come without a heavy cost. There are at least two large battles. And several of Bryn’s best friends and their friends and family die. Partly because Bryn can’t resist the compulsion, nearly universal among young fantasy heroines (and some young fantasy heroes) to personally try to save everybody, especially everybody close to her. In this case, it backfires on Bryn badly and obviously. Her enemies follow her when she goes to find them even when she thinks she is evading them, and so are led to her friends.

Before the battles, though, Bryn travels throughout the Troll kingdoms with her former enemy, Konstantin Black, trying to gain support for an attack on the Kanin queen. This is even before she discovers that the queen has poisoned the king and is beginning to implement a lot of frightening policies against the Kanin people.

It’s not until Bryn visits a small village at the far end of nowhere and discovers who the queen really is and why she is acting as she is that she finally makes any headway in recruiting support for her cause. Until then, the thinking of the leaders of the various Troll tribes is that the Kanin royals are just that – royals just like themselves – and therefore none of their business.

I thought for a while that Bryn would fall in love with Konstantin. But no. Apparently, her feelings for him were just hero-worship all along. After everything is resolved, Bryn and Ridley get back together. But somehow the trials of the past months seem to have made their relationship less urgent. And, wouldn’t you know? The big anxiety about a forbidden relationship seems to have suddenly vanished along with the deceitful queen.

My favorite characters in this book were the Skojare king and queen, especially the queen. They were the only ones totally supportive of Bryn from the beginning. And they seem to have grown enormously since we first met them in the previous book when the king was almost too shy to talk, and the queen was hardly more than a frightened child. Now they are stepping up and taking charge of their kingdom and helping Bryn with the Kanin as well.

Though the situation seemed desperate at times, and an unusually high number of important characters died, the tone of the book as a whole was quite bright and bracing, kind of like the clear Canadian winter air.

The narration continued to be good.

Immersive, well-crafted story, recommended series

The three trilogy story was very well-imagined, with compelling characters and a strong plot. World building was excellent. It was a story easy to immerse oneself in. I read it almost six years ago and didn't like it as much, or even remember it...but I do recommend it warmly, now. The narrator, Eileen Stevens, is superb. She really made it easy to fall into the atmosphere and know the characters.