#Review - Crown of Cinders (Wings of Fury #2) by Emily R. King #Fantasy #Historical

Series: Wings of Fury (#2)
Format: Paperback, 272 pages
Release Date: October 5, 2021
Publisher: 47North
Source: Publisher
Genre: Historical / Fantasy

Going to battle against a Titan in the war of all wars, one woman is making history in an epic novel of ancient Greece by Emily R. King, author of the Hundredth Queen series.

May Gaea be with you…

Althea Lambros is growing into her power, wrestling with a burdensome heritage, and unwilling to concede to Cronus, the redoubtable God of Gods. For that, Cronus is making good on his promise. Calling upon the elder Titans, he’s bringing down his wrath on the world. Suffering quakes, tempests, fire, and hail, mortals are paying in blood for the war of the gods.

With the help of her friend Theo, Althea takes cover with her sisters, Bronte and Cleora. But they can’t hide forever. To mastermind the downfall of the evil king, Althea must recruit allies of her own before the aggrieved mortals surrender the sisters to Cronus in exchange for peace.

Is Althea formidable enough to win? It’ll take the help of her sisters and those willing to fight for the cause of the just. As the gods pick sides, Althea must divide heaven and earth to defeat the enemy and write the true history of the war to end all wars.

Crown of Cinders, by author Emily R. King, is the second book in the Wings of Fury series. It has been 6 months since Althea (Hera) learned that she, and her sisters Bronte (Demeter), and Cleora (Hestia) are daughters of Cronus and Rhea. Now, Cronus is whipping up the old guard in order to suppress the new Gods and Goddesses while focusing on Hera who worked with Zeus to send Cronus packing and into hiding. With a bit of help from Selene and others, Hera searches for her other brothers (Poseidon and Hades) hoping they will stand with her, Zeus, and her sisters against Cronus.

Hera and her lover Theo, formerly an officer with the First House's Army, and Half Titan himself, must deal with a plethora of hurdles including traveling to the Underworld to find another lost brother known better as Hades. Thanks to General Atlas, the new head of Cronus's army, there's a large bounty on their heads and every sell sword and mercenary is eager to collect. If Hera and her group are captured, the likelihood of them being sent to Tartarus is very good. 

Especially since Cronus loves sending his enemies, including Uranus, there for eternity. The first generation Titans (Pallas, Perses, Menoetius, Lelantos) have mostly aligned with Cronus, but there are a few exceptions. Hera, Theo, and Poseidon's adventure to the Underworld is well done. The author includes some of the biggest monsters of mythology who are more than they seem.  One of the biggest storylines of this series was the alleged prophecy that claims that Zeus is fated to defeat Cronus in battle. 

Books are supposed to evoke emotions. Welp, my emotions are telling me that I hate the very fabric of Zeus's existence for what he does and attempts to do in this book, especially towards Hera who is twice the warrior that Zeus is. No matter how many mythology books you read about Hera, or Zeus, etc, it pains me to believe these two ended up together or that Hera is thought to be evil. Zeus has been portrayed as hero yet the author makes it known that mythology is always who controls the narrative. 

Often times the losers are forgotten about. Zeus and his "relationships" wasn't sugar coated by the author which I respected. He was a total weasel and there's no sugar coating his sexual deviancy.  It's also curious that Hera became the Goddess of Marriage, Motherhood, and Familial Love after all of Zeus's shenanigans. Watching Hera come into both her name and her abilities, and her relationship with Theo was done well. 

I think one of the worst things historians have done over the centuries is to belittle the hard working women who stood on their own merits and didn't need men to help guide them. This includes Hera. She loves Theo, but there's so much else at stake to actually hope for a future together. I will keep an eye out for the next works by this author who, it seems, I seem to read everything she writes.

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#Review - Wings of Fury by Emily R. King #Fantasy #Historical

Series: Wings of Fury (#1)
Format: Paperback, 302 pages
Release Date: March 1, 2021
Publisher: 47North
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Historical

From Emily R. King, author of the Hundredth Queen series, comes an epic novel of ancient Greece, Titans and treachery, and the women who dare to rise up against the tyranny of the Golden Age.

My mother told me that men would speak about the Golden Age as a time of peace and happiness for all… However, the women of our age would tell a very different story…

Cronus, God of Gods, whose inheritance is the world. Among his possessions: women, imprisoned and fated to serve. The strong-minded Althea Lambros controls her own fate and lives to honor her dying mother’s plea to protect her two sisters at all costs. Althea’s journey toward crushing the tyranny has begun. It is a destiny foretold by the Fates. And she is following their visions.

On the southern isle of Crete, hidden among mortal women who have fled the Titans, is the Boy God, son of Cronus and believed dead. He shares Althea’s destiny to vanquish the Almighty—fate willing. Because Cronus has caught wind of the plot. He’s amassing his own forces against Althea’s righteous rebellion and all those who will no longer surrender or run. There will be war. If she’s to survive to write their history, the indomitable Althea must soar higher than any god.

Wings of Fury is the first installment in author Emily R. King's Wing of Fury series. In the beginning, there were three sisters: Cleora, Bronte, and Althea who were raised by their mother Stavra in Thessaly where women are mostly powerless and vulnerable. The God of Gods, aka Cronus, has reigned supreme in this world for 400 years. He takes pleasure in taking whatever woman he desires with no consequences for his actions. When Althea's impatience gets the best of her, she attacks a General named Decimus who puts a curse on her. 

Basically it's a claim of ownership which means he can come for her whenever she reaches adulthood. In the process, Stavra is taken and spends 10 months with the God of Gods. When she returns home, she's pregnant. She makes Althea promise that she will protect her older sisters no matter what happens even though she's the youngest. Family doesn't abandon family and that means not even the bastard baby who is quickly taken away almost the minute she's born. In this world, parents disfigure their daughters intentionally as to make them undesirable to Cronus. 

Althea knows that she must get away before Decimus comes for her. Althea meets an Oracle who knows about her oath to Stavra, as well as the fact that she sees darkness in her future. They do see a bright spot. They see an end to Cronus's tyranny in the form of a clever hero hidden away among mortals on the Island of Crete as well as a woman who desires justice and freedom. Althea may or may not be the special snowflake to break Cronus reign, but she's damn well not going to go down whimpering. 

Althea has to find a boy god named Zeus on the island of Crete which doesn't allow any men to remain on the island. With the help of a soldier named Theo, an ex-soldier of the Almighty who longs to protect his mother from Cronus's wrath, along with her sisters, they soon find that Crete isn't exactly what they imagined. The island is filled with rescued women who were helped by Stavra and others. The island has no use for men, and Theo's presence is a distraction which leads to some stunning surprises and Althea facing her destiny when she meets Cronus face to face.  

The story itself is set in the Greek Golden Age era and explores the women place and treatments during this mystical period when while men enjoyed peace, progress and fortune, women were not more than breeding slaves owned by men. By the end of the book, the author is dangling all sorts of twists and surprises for the reader to sift through. Especially when it comes to who Althea and her sisters really are. In that manner, one could call this a villains origin story since it is claimed that neither Zeus or Hera were good people.  

You cannot have Greek Mythology without the drama because that is the reality of the time period and the stories that were written about the alleged Greek Gods who ruled the world. I haven't read a story about Cronus and his downfall in a very long time. I want to see how this story goes now that the key pieces are in place. We know that this will likely be three installments. I do believe it is fair to say that there are plenty of villains in this story beginning with Decimus and ending with Cronus. 

People actually believed that Cronus ate all of his children to prevent them from ending his reign like he did to Uranus. I would call Decimus a pervert due to the fact that he lusted after an 11-year-old girl for 7 years, even going so far as to curse her with a mark on the back of her neck warning everyone else away from her. It's also a strange paradox that women are not allowed to go outside without wearing a mask. Apparently, the sequel called Crown of Cinder, will be releasing sometime in October which is good that readers don't have to wait so long to find out what's next. I do hope one thing. The resolution of the so called love triangle needs to be fixed quickly. 

 

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#Review - Everafter Song by Emily R. King #YA #Fantasy

Series: The Evermore Chronicles #3
Format: Hardcover, 282 pages
Release Date: December 10, 2019
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic

In the heart-stopping conclusion to Emily R. King’s The Evermore Chronicles, the fate of the seven worlds lies in the courage of a girl on the run—and running out of time.

There’s a price on Everley Donovan’s head. Fleeing from the queen’s false accusation of murder and sorcery, the girl with the clock heart knows there’s only one way to prove her innocence. Everley must catch Killian Markham, the fugitive prince guilty of the crimes for which she’s been condemned. To do that, Everley must follow him into the towering realm of the Silver-Clouded Plain. It’s where flesh-eating behemoths thrive, long-lost gods hide, and an artifact of destructive force awaits the death grip of the immortal prince.

Haunted by visions of burning Everwoods and bloody battlefields, Everley is beset with rising fears. Because the elusive relic threatens more than the very power that drives her clock heart. In Killian’s hands, it can lead to the dismantling of the seven worlds. With everything—and everyone—Everley loves at stake, she must depend on Killian’s one weakness to outwit him: in his mad ambitions, Killian has underestimated her once again. For Everley is the Time Bearer. This is her destiny. The time of reckoning is at hand.

Emily R. King's Everafter Song is the third and final installment in the authors The Evermore Chronicles. It has been a month since the end of Into the Hourglass. Protagonist Everley Donovan is a wanted woman. She has been charged by Queen Aislinn of being a sorceress with a clock heart. She's also been accused of murdering her own Uncle Holden. Everley's cat and mouse game with Prince Killian Markham has been set back by Killian's efforts to stay at least two steps ahead of her at every turn. 

 

Killian Markham, the prince of elves, has a devious plan and is always steps ahead of Everley Donovan and her friends Jamison, Osric, Laverick, Claret. Everley goes absolutely nowhere without her trusty immortal blade of Avelyn, but in order to stop Killian, she might have to make the hardest choice of all. Everley has been Killian's pawn for too long. Killian has allies and plans to wake the giants from their slumber to finish what was started hundreds of years ago, making the humans servants to the elves. 

 

Everley is doing all she can to maintain the structure of the worlds and not allow Markham to rip them all apart. Everley's dreams are a look into possibilities of what can happen if Killian wins. But, what happens if she wins? Everley must travel more than ever (including to the Silver-Clouded Plain home of the Trolls). As Time Bearer and Knight, Evie can explore the Evermore timeline. She believes this ability can be used to gain an advantage on Markham. Several endings have been foretold, and Everafter Song brings even new magical creatures - elves, giants, trolls, sea hags, etc into the fold.

 

This has been a wonderful series in regards to the world building. Everley and her allies have visited numerous alternative worlds while chasing Markham. From the Silver Clouded Plain where Giants have been locked in their world for the past 900 years. There punishment from trying to force humans into becoming slaves. We also visit the home of Killian and the Elves in the Land of Promise. As Everley travels from world to world, she picks up some pretty important allies as well as making the Queen squirm in her seat knowing that Everley is doing more to save the world than Aislinn ever thought of.

 

Everley has come to actually love Jamison but there is a caveat. Everly realizes that given the chance to turn back time to before she lost her entire family, it would mean losing all of those she has come to adore as friends and family. Including Jamison who she has been slowly falling for since they were married in the first installment. No spoilers but the author pretty much hinted in the second book that Everley was going to have to pull a huge back of tricks out her hat to defeat Killian and save everyone. It's just a matter of what it will cost her when all is said and done.

 

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#Review - Into the Hourglass by Emily R. King #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Evermore Chronicles (#2)
Format: Hardcover, 286 pages
Release Date: August 20, 2019
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic

In the second book in The Evermore Chronicles by Emily R. King, Everley Donovan plunges into the roiling waves of a strange new world to hunt a wicked prince who cheated time.

Everley Donovan’s mission: retrieve the hallowed sword of Avelyn stolen by the wicked Prince Killian, who slayed her family and left her for dead. Should she fail, the seven worlds will come to an end, as could time itself. And no one treasures time more than Everley, whose lifesaving clock heart cannot beat forever. She has set sail with a rogue crew for the otherworlds, where the key to dethroning the prince lies deep within the Land Under the Wave.

But passage through these unknown seas—where horrors lurk and pirates rove—proves a treacherous gamble. The Land Under the Wave was not made for humans, particularly one with a fragile clock heart. Here, Everley’s tragic past resurfaces unsolved questions. Here, too, the prince has hidden secrets more precious than pearls, secrets that could fracture the future forevermore. Everley must take back her sword and break free from this watery world before her time runs out…or so will everyone else’s.

 

 

Into the Hourglass, by author Emily R. King, is the second installment in the authors The Evermore Chronicles. The story begins about 2 months after the ending of Before the Broken Star. Everley Donovan continues her revenge tour de force against Prince Killian. Killian was swallowed by the beast known as the Terrible Dorcha as well as the ancient sword of Avelyn which is supposed to be Everley's to protect. Without it, she has been told that the 7 other-worlds and the fate of the world hang in the balance.

She had hoped to convince her alleged allies that going to the Land Under the Water in order to track down Killian and the sword is a good thing, and not some horrible idea that will end up with everyone dead or lost. Yeah, about that! Everley, Jamison (who is the only other person who knows about her clock heart), Radella (pixie), Claret, Harlow, & Laverick find themselves in the Land under the Wave where Giants, Merrow, and Elves rule the world. Everley, however, seems to be having some issues with her heart in that it's not working as it should. Could her life literally be ticking away?

To make matters worse, the sword seems to have been taken to the mythical underwater city called Everblue and it will take some really interesting maneuvering to get there and beat Killian. Everything Everley has done up till now, has been thwarted by Killian. The same man who also killed her family and left her with a clock for a heart thanks to her Uncle and Father Time. I won't go into much detail, but while in the alternative otherworld, Everley's family's past comes to light which gives things a much more interesting perspective about who Everley is, as well as why she was chosen for the clock heart in the first place.

The author seems to be exploring new worlds in each of the books, so the third installment should be really interesting. Everley does pick up one ally in this story, Osric, an elf who has had an interesting past with Killian, and now feels as though he has the ability to help Everley in her goals. After everything that Everley goes through in this story, it might be the ending itself that really breaks my heart. No, not because she and Jamison end up on the wrong side. There is a surprising twist however. But, because she finds herself once again having to fight for her life after certain people discover her clock heart.

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#Review - Before the Broken Star by Emily R. King #YALIT #Fantasy

Series: The Evermore Chronicles #1
Format: Kindle, 294 pages
Release Date: June 1, 2019
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

A fierce young female adventurer battles time itself to claim her destiny in a sweeping new fantasy saga from the author of the Hundredth Queen series.

Everley Donovan is living on borrowed time. The lone survivor of her family’s unexplained assassination, she was saved by an ingeniously crafted clockwork heart. But the time she was given won’t last forever. Now, every tick-tock reminds her how fragile her existence is and hastens her quest to expose Killian Markham, the navy admiral who shattered her world and left her for dead. But Everley’s hunt for justice will be a long and hard-won voyage.

Her journey takes her to a penal colony on a cursed isle, where she will be married off and charged to build the new world. It is here, and beyond, that hidden realms hide, treasures are unearthed, her family secrets are buried, and young love will test the strength of her makeshift heart. When Everley discovers Markham may not be who he seems, her pursuit for truth is bound to his redemption, her tragic history, and her astonishing destiny

 

"Some days push us ahead into better times, while others pull us back so far nothing can reverse the damage."

Before the Broken Star is the first installment in author Emily R. King's The Evermore Chronicles. Everley Donovan is living on borrowed time. The lone survivor of her family’s unexplained assassination, she was saved by an ingeniously crafted clockwork heart. But the time she was given won’t last forever. Every tick-tock reminds her how fragile her existence is and hastens her quest to expose Killian Markham, the navy admiral who shattered her world and left her for dead. 

Everley spends nights participating in illegal dueling and seeking revenge on the man who destroyed everything she holds dear. Everley’s hunt for justice will be a long and hard-won voyage. After being arrested in a place where she shouldn't be, Everley is accused of illegal gambling duels and sentenced to 7 years on Dagger Island. The very island her famous father once discovered in one of his travels for the Queen. 

Wyeth's Queen Aislinn has been rounding up female convicts and sending them to the island to be wives of those serving their time on the penal colony. Even though Everley has no desire to ever marry, she finds herself married to Lieutenant Jamison Callahan, a disgraced Earl who just happens to work for Markham. After a 3 month journey which finds the ship under attack by a whale named Dorcha, the ship finally lands on Dagger Island. 

It is here, and beyond in what's known as the Otherland, that hidden realms hide, treasures are unearthed, and family secrets are buried. When Everley discovers Markham may not be who he seems, her pursuit for truth is bound to his redemption, her tragic history, and her astonishing destiny. Myths become truths when Everley discovers the reason for Markham’s journey. This is a story filled with fairy-tales and folklore. With pirates, and pixies. With a fairly small amount of romance that really only happens towards the end of the story, this book has definitely made my choice to read the sequel once it is released. It is fair to say that sometimes we over analyze female characters, while not doing so to male characters. In this case, Jameson genuinely cares for Everley and pretty much has the patience of a saint to still care for her when all is said and done.

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