Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains ongoing themes of oppression, racism, and betrayal. There are multiple scenes of death and violence, as well as references to off page deaths including deaths of parents. Grief is expressed and discussed at various points. There are several unhealthy relationships with family members in this book, including with parental figures and siblings. These include manipulation and emotional abuse. There are scenes of intoxication and drugs.

Empress Crowned in Red starts off from where the first book left off – I think. It felt very abrupt and there was hardly any padding to ease the reader back into the flow of things. I’m not a fan of authors rehashing the entire story of the last book just to resettle readers, however, if you’re going to string the story along so closely a little reminder of the immediate events that happened in a book I read a year ago would be much appreciated. I will say that it definitely made me feel as unsettled as Iraya did, so if that was the intent then it worked perfectly.

It took me a while to get settled into Empress Crowed in Red; about fifty percent of the book to be exact. This book is a huge tome, and normally I’m all for massive books. That’s just more story and that’s usually not a bad thing. Usually. The first half of this book felt like it dragged on, and while I won’t say it was unnecessary, it just personally didn’t work for me. Then after that halfway mark everything started to piece together as if Smart had just been playing with us, setting the stage for the finale of her duology. The first half of Empress Crowned in Red is basically one big tease and then Smart drops the curtain.

Smart introduces a lot of new elements in this book, and it mixes things up nicely. I expected book two to be still be Iraya vs. Jazmyne and while that rivalry is still present, there is more happening. It was a relief, actually, to see that Smart has grown her world even more. While Iraya and Jazmyne’s rivalry is interesting, I felt like book one covered that, and I wasn’t sure how another book of them duking it out was going to work. Adding a mystery assailant and monsters provided Smart with the chance to delve deeper into so many parts of her already fantastic world-building, and let me tell you, it only gets better in Empress Crowned in Red.

As expected this sequel is the battle for Aiyca and the throne, and some things happened as I expected and were perhaps a little predictable. This book is all about the journey though and how all the characters get where they do. It’s their journeys and their developments over the course of the book that I never expected, and that’s one of the brilliant parts about Smart’s writing. She keeps you on your toes throughout the book. You know that X is going to happen, but how it happens? Guess again.

The physical battle for Aiyca is very well paced. Unlike battles in other books where they end abruptly in one or two chapters, Smart takes her time. As a result it actually feels like a battle with stages. At one point at the start of the battle, Iraya’s narration changes slightly to echo tradition oral storytelling. She talks about how the residents of the Island saw what was happening, how they told the story of it happening later on. It’s a nice change of pace and has the effect of highlighting the enormity of the moment. Whatever happens, what they’re doing is still so momentous that stories are told about it.

Characters and relationships develop much more in Empress Crowned in Red. In the previous book there were a lot of new relationships being forged, and this time around those relationships are beginning to solidify and grow. Trust is built even if it takes time in some cases. The way characters and relationships developed was fabulous and realistic, and I loved the way Smart writes dialogue between her characters. Whether they’re friends, enemies or lovers, the way she has with words is just perfection. Iraya is the queen of banter and sass and some of her lines are amazing.

There was one character that developed in a way that personally I did not find believable at all. I kept waiting for there to be an additional explanation for what happens because the change in them felt very sudden and quite false. Other characters seem to develop very naturally, and this one just felt out of place which is odd for Smart’s writing as all the other character’s journeys were very smooth, believable. There were some signs for what happened, it just didn’t seem like a natural progression to me.

This was a book that I was immensely looking forward to, and while it was a fantastic conclusion to the duology, Empress Crowned in Red just didn’t reach the same levels as its predecessor for me. That has nothing to do with how the book ended, I’d like to emphasise. I’m happy with the conclusion and I enjoyed the book a lot, I just felt that there were a few parts that just weren’t quite as good as Witches Steeped in Gold. As mentioned, the first half of the book didn’t quite catch my attention, and then there’s the out of character development of that character. Additionally, there was something related to a sub-plot that felt unfinished to me.

Empress Crowned in Red is a wonderful book, and it made me laugh and cry. It also has one of the best battle scenes I have seen in a fantasy series. It just wasn’t quite a five-star read for me.

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