Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Title: Two Twisted Crowns

Author: Rachel Gillig

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Shepherd King # 2

Paperback, 437 pages 

Publication: October 17, 2023

Source: Personal Library
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Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.

MY THOUGHTS

One Dark Window was one of my favorite reads last year. I was so excited for the sequel. And it saddens me to say that Two Twisted Crown suffered from second book syndrome. I had to force myself to finish the book because it was so, so disappointing. 

The first issue I had with Two Twisted Crowns was the change in leads and focus. The first book was solely from Elspeth's perspective, and it focused on Elspeth relationship with The Sheperd King and Ravyn. In the sequel, we had Ravyn, Elspeth and Elm's POVs...with the relationship focused on Elm and Ione. And THAT is where the issue stems from. In Two Twisted Crowns, Ravyn was mopping 90% of the time. He felt like a totally different character than who readers met in the previous book. Elspeth's appearance, or lack thereof was ironic considering how important her role is in the series took a backseat. We maybe heard from her 10% of the time in the book...and it was little lines scattered here and there. The worst offense that I was subjected to was Elm and Ione's relationship and storyline. Don't get me wrong, I adored Elm in the first book BUT that didn't mean I wanted to read his POV. And sadly, any adoration I had in the previous novel disappeared in Two Twisted Crowns.

Elm and Ione's relationship came out of nowhere. I HATED reading about them and unfortunately it was the main focus of the book. It felt like finding the providence cards and ridding the mist was left on the back burner for their romance. I could care less about it. Elm was a boring lovesick puppy; woe is me and Ione's non-feeling personality due to the Maiden card was just terrible. I didn't like her before, and I definitely didn't like her now. I don't understand why the author went this route, especially when she knew everyone loved Ravyn and Elspeth...only to turn them into nonconsequential characters in the sequel. What an absolute travesty. 

When the big revelation came...I was not surprised. Bennett's eye color was mentioned WAY earlier in the book. The author must've missed it herself if she thought it was going to come across as a shock factor. I honestly hated majority of the book, but I read so much to give up but in reality, I really wanted to DNF it. The story didn't get interesting until the LAST 20%! Only for the revelations to save Elspeth and the Kingdom of Blunder to be anticlimactic and sorry to say...simply stupid. 

It feels like the two books in the duology were written by two completely different people. Two Twisted Crowns was one of my most anticipated sequel and it was as I said disappointing, and utterly boring. I do not recommend.