Title: Cruel Crown

Author: Victoria Aveyard

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Teen

Format: Paperback  

Pages: 208

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Two women on either side of the Silver and Red divide tell the stories no one else knows.

Discover the truth of Norta’s bloody past in these two revealing prequels to #1 New York Times bestseller Red Queen.

Queen Song

Queen Coriane, first wife of King Tiberias, keeps a secret diary—how else can she ensure that no one at the palace will use her thoughts against her? Coriane recounts her heady courtship with the crown prince, the birth of a new prince, Cal, and the potentially deadly challenges that lay ahead for her in royal life.

Steel Scars

Diana Farley was raised to be strong, but being tasked with planting the seeds of rebellion in Norta is a tougher job than expected. As she travels the land recruiting black market traders, smugglers, and extremists for her first attempt at an attack on the capital, she stumbles upon a connection that may prove to be the key to the entire operation—Mare Barrow.

Plus a Glass Sword sneak peek!

An exclusive excerpt of the hotly anticipated second book in the Red Queen series, Glass Sword, transports readers to the world of Silver tyranny, a Red dawn rising, and one girl’s resolve to break down the system that will hold her back no longer.

Review:

Cruel crown is made up of two short stories that tell the beginning tale of two important women in the Red Queen series. I loved the first story, the Queen’s Song! It was so great to read about Cal’s mom and learn about how she met the king and how much he loved her. It makes the main story make a bit more sense, and provides more background into the characters Julian and Sara. We also get a glimpse at the current queen, Elara.

Steel Scars was the story of Farley and what was going on right before the main stuff happened in Red Queen. And while it was nice to get to know her as a character a bit more, this story was kinda boring. It was cool to see how she started the operation, how she got in contact with Mare’s brother Shade, and later on Mare, but the rest of the story was just too boring.

So I would recommend this book if you are really into this series, but if not, then it might be worth a pass. Onto Glass Swords now!

Happy reading bookworms!