Review: Crush the King by Jennifer Estep

Crush the King

Jennifer Estep

(Crown of Shards #3)

Publication Date: March 17, 2020

Paperback, 416 pages, Harper Voyager

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

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Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona has survived the mass murder of the royal family, become a fearsome warrior trained by an elite gladiator troupe, and unleashed her ability to destroy magic. After surviving yet another assassination attempt orchestrated by the conniving king of Morta, Evie has had enough. It’s time to turn the tables and take the fight to her enemies.

There is no better opportunity to strike than during the Regalia Games, a time when warriors, nobles, and royals from all the kingdoms come together to compete in various sporting events. With the help of her loyal friends, Evie goes on the attack at the Regalia, but things don’t turn out the way she hopes. Soon, she is facing a terrifying new threat, and she will have to dig deep and learn even more about her growing magic if she has any chance of defeating her foes.

Because to secure her throne and ensure her kingdom’s survival, Evie must think like a true Bellonan: she must outsmart and outwit her enemies . . . and crush the king.

My Review

So I claimed that Kill the Queen and Protect the Prince are like a mix of Ella Enchanted, Red Queen, and Reign (the CW show). For Crush the King, I’d say it’s still like all three of those, but I’m also going to add in some Spartacus. Not a lot. Just a little. It’s not bloody enough to be a lot like Spartacus.

Crush the King is a decent finale to a good series. I wasn’t expecting this series to wow me away with its ending, and I kind of knew going in that it would be a little fun, a little fluffy, and not as in-depth as I’d like it to be for a fantasy conclusion.

Once again, I was left wishing the side characters had more page-time, ESPECIALLY Lucas Sullivan. I swear, he had like five lines in this entire book, despite being the love interest of our main character. Additionally, I noticed Estep has a tendency to have Everleigh speak first in conversations, which is totally fine, but sometimes it just didn’t make sense: Why would she lead the conversation when three other rulers are more experienced than she is?

There were more flashback scenes in this sequel, which I don’t really think were necessary. I mean, I could take them or leave them. They didn’t really accomplish anything, but they were semi-interesting at times. I would say the same for book two’s flashback scenes as well. Oh, and the same could be said of the dancing scenes. I kind of understand why they’re in the book, but at times, they’re just super awkward. But, good news is, there are more magical creatures in this one! I really enjoyed that about Protect the Prince, so I was excited more showed up for the finale.

For some reason, I had a harder time reading this book than the previous two. I think it was over my frustration with the lack of side-character content, but I’m still glad I finished the trilogy. It’s a good series overall, and I hope there are other books out there like Estep’s that can give me some fluffy fantasy worlds.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.