The book's synopsis opens with "Princess Marie-Victoria, heir to the Lily Throne, and Aelwyn Myrddn, bastard daughter of the Mage of England, grew up together. But who will rule, and who will serve?" Y'all, let me tell you that this book is so much richer than that! I have a habit of jumping into books "sight unseen" (without reading the synopsis), and I'm so glad I did that with this book. From that opening line, the synopsis gets a little muddy, before circling back around to Marie-Victoria and Aelwyn's plot to switch places. That is a (cool but) quite minor part of the story. Rather, this is a book of political intrigue, magic, alternate history, and courtships.
Told from multiple points of view, the reader gets a very good view of the politics of the time. The Ring and the Crown is set in an alternate early 1900s England during the Season. (We all know about the Season from Downton Abbey, right?) There's lots of balls and dresses and social mores that must be followed. I always find it slightly ironic how many societal rules there are to follow while the people involved are unabashedly chasing potential spouses. It's a romantic free-for-all, where people follow all kinds of unwritten rules about who gets invited to which party and which people are allowed to dance with each other or visit each other, all while discussing others' financial statuses in detail behind their backs, jockeying for the best match: most good-looking + most rich. No matter how silly the customs of the times seem to us now (I might not be married if I wasn't allowed to approach a man! The hubby is a bit shy, and I approached him first), I do relish the descriptions of the dresses and the balls. I would go to one in a heartbeat if anyone offered me a time machine ride!
The Season described in The Ring and the Crown is amped up to eleven: this year the Queen of England and France (they're joint kingdoms in this alternate history) has announced her daughter and only heir's engagement to the Crown Prince of Prussia. It's a totally political arrangement; while Marie-Victoria and Leopold have known each other since childhood, they're friends and nothing more. This marriage will tie the two ultra-powerful kingdoms together.
But there's more! Not only are Marie-Victoria and Leopold not in love with each other, they are in love with other people. Marie-Victoria dreams of running away with Gill, a commoner, and Leopold had to break an engagement to Isabelle (who is in turn pursued by a Duke) in order to participate in this new treaty-engagement. Luckily, Marie-Victoria's best friend is the court magician's daughter and they make plans for her to use glamour to take Marie's place. This is ok, because Aelwyn really likes Leopold. To add to the romance and the who-loves-who tangle, there's also Leopold's brother, Wolfgang. He's free to date around, since he's not the Crown Prince, and he has his eye on an American, Ronan. That courtship can't be simple either, of course; Ronan is simultaneously pursued by two others. Is your head spinning? I didn't find it a struggle to keep up once I was in the story, and I did find a Goodreads review with a very helpful chart if you do get lost.
And for a final plus: magic! In this alternate history, magic is very real and very prevalent in Europe. (The Americans have figured out electricity and have abandoned magic. They're cool with it but don't use it.) All the royals keep a powerful mage in their court to help their influence, especially with political maneuvers and battles. I love how seamlessly Melissa de la Cruz fits magic into the story. It never overshadows the romance; it only serves to enhance the story.
Unfortunately, I do feel compelled to point out the sheer number of "main" characters and points of views, as well as all the world-building necessary, leads to very little character development. I finished the book very satisfied with the story, but not really feeling like I knew any of the characters too well. Multiple sources tell me that this is the first in a series, though, so I'm sure we'll get to know the characters better in the upcoming books.
Overall, I definitely recommend! I saw it described on Goodreads as "historical romance lite," and I think that's very accurate. It's definitely YA, so no overly-steamy scenes but lots and lots of courtship. And the dresses and balls! And intrigue! I loved it.
Told from multiple points of view, the reader gets a very good view of the politics of the time. The Ring and the Crown is set in an alternate early 1900s England during the Season. (We all know about the Season from Downton Abbey, right?) There's lots of balls and dresses and social mores that must be followed. I always find it slightly ironic how many societal rules there are to follow while the people involved are unabashedly chasing potential spouses. It's a romantic free-for-all, where people follow all kinds of unwritten rules about who gets invited to which party and which people are allowed to dance with each other or visit each other, all while discussing others' financial statuses in detail behind their backs, jockeying for the best match: most good-looking + most rich. No matter how silly the customs of the times seem to us now (I might not be married if I wasn't allowed to approach a man! The hubby is a bit shy, and I approached him first), I do relish the descriptions of the dresses and the balls. I would go to one in a heartbeat if anyone offered me a time machine ride!
The Season described in The Ring and the Crown is amped up to eleven: this year the Queen of England and France (they're joint kingdoms in this alternate history) has announced her daughter and only heir's engagement to the Crown Prince of Prussia. It's a totally political arrangement; while Marie-Victoria and Leopold have known each other since childhood, they're friends and nothing more. This marriage will tie the two ultra-powerful kingdoms together.
But there's more! Not only are Marie-Victoria and Leopold not in love with each other, they are in love with other people. Marie-Victoria dreams of running away with Gill, a commoner, and Leopold had to break an engagement to Isabelle (who is in turn pursued by a Duke) in order to participate in this new treaty-engagement. Luckily, Marie-Victoria's best friend is the court magician's daughter and they make plans for her to use glamour to take Marie's place. This is ok, because Aelwyn really likes Leopold. To add to the romance and the who-loves-who tangle, there's also Leopold's brother, Wolfgang. He's free to date around, since he's not the Crown Prince, and he has his eye on an American, Ronan. That courtship can't be simple either, of course; Ronan is simultaneously pursued by two others. Is your head spinning? I didn't find it a struggle to keep up once I was in the story, and I did find a Goodreads review with a very helpful chart if you do get lost.
And for a final plus: magic! In this alternate history, magic is very real and very prevalent in Europe. (The Americans have figured out electricity and have abandoned magic. They're cool with it but don't use it.) All the royals keep a powerful mage in their court to help their influence, especially with political maneuvers and battles. I love how seamlessly Melissa de la Cruz fits magic into the story. It never overshadows the romance; it only serves to enhance the story.
Unfortunately, I do feel compelled to point out the sheer number of "main" characters and points of views, as well as all the world-building necessary, leads to very little character development. I finished the book very satisfied with the story, but not really feeling like I knew any of the characters too well. Multiple sources tell me that this is the first in a series, though, so I'm sure we'll get to know the characters better in the upcoming books.
Overall, I definitely recommend! I saw it described on Goodreads as "historical romance lite," and I think that's very accurate. It's definitely YA, so no overly-steamy scenes but lots and lots of courtship. And the dresses and balls! And intrigue! I loved it.
Magic is power, and power is magic…
After their beautiful yet brief bonding ceremony in Italy, Schuyler Van Alen and Jack Force are forced to separate. To fulfill the Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler travels to Alexandria to search for Catherine of Siena and the Gate of Promise. But Schuyler quickly discovers that everything she believed about the Gate to be wrong. Meanwhile, Jack makes the difficult decision to return to New York to face his twin and former bondmate, Mimi. But instead of a bitter reunion, he is faced with a choice for which there is no good option.
When I first imagined the character of Oliver Hazard-Perry, I knew certain things about him from the beginning: that he was Schuyler's best friend, that he was a quiet, sarcastic, artsy guy, who preferred shopping to lacrosse, and was cool and rich enough to hang with the in-crowd, and yet preferred to throw spitballs at the in-crowd from the sidelines. I picked his last names from a list of prominent American family names (the Hazards and the Perrys), and I put them together because they sounded good together, and it gave him a more 'richie-rich' air. And yes, later I realized there was a commander called Oliver Hazard-Perry who won the War of 
1812 for the Americans, which made his name resonate even more, because now there was some history behind it. Cool.
was a Blue Blood, that he was a vampire. It was only halfway through writing the first book that I realized—no. Oliver was human. He was a conduit.
hat she is seeing so is it the truth? Who knows? In Revelations, when Oliver filed his Conduit reports and stated that in contrary to what Schuyler believed, he only fell in love with her when she turned vampire, that's what he believes in that moment. Maybe he's lying to himself. Maybe he's trying to sound braver than he is. I don't think it's a contradiction at all. Human beings are full of contradictions.
What I love about Oliver is his sense of humor. He's so grounded in the middle of all this supernatural craziness, so he keeps his head. He's also privileged and yet he carries it lightly, and he's a hard worker. No one pushes him around. He's very strong and he's dependable, and I can see how people have a hard time choosing between Jack and Oliver, but I always tell them they can be like me and love them both.
