The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi (The Gilded Wolves book 2)

 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, The Gilded Wolves, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

“They are each other’s fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.

Séverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost — one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Séverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God.

Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.

As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.

A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Continuing after the devastating events at the end of book one, our characters find themselves in Russia. Once again, I found the story slow to start with but it did pick up as new characters and places were introduced. All of the reveals and plot twists that transpire by the time the story ends will have fans clamoring for the final book in the trilogy. 

The trilogy will conclude with book three, The Bronzed Beasts, due out on September 21, 2021.

Visit Roshani Chokshi’s website.

The Crown's Fate by Evelyn Skye (The Crown's Game book 2)

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t read the first book in the series, The Crown’s Game, Stop! I don’t want to ruin the story for you.

Check out Book Series Recaps for refresher on the first book.

“Russia is on the brink of great change. Pasha’s coronation approaches, and Vika is now the Imperial Enchanter, but the role she once coveted may be more difficult—and dangerous—than she ever expected.

Pasha is grappling with his own problems—his legitimacy is in doubt, the girl he loves loathes him, and he believes his best friend is dead. When a challenger to the throne emerges—and with the magic in Russia growing rapidly—Pasha must do whatever it takes to keep his position and protect his kingdom.

For Nikolai, the ending of the Crown’s Game stung deeply. Although he just managed to escape death, Nikolai remains alone, a shadow hidden in a not-quite-real world of his own creation. But when he’s given a second chance at life—tied to a dark price—Nikolai must decide just how far he’s willing to go to return to the world.

With revolution on the rise, dangerous new magic rearing up, and a tsardom up for the taking, Vika, Nikolai, and Pasha must fight—or face the destruction of not only their world but also themselves.” - taken from Goodreads.com

Approximately two weeks have passed since Pasha forced the end of the Game between Vika and Nikolai. The stakes are high with Vika now the Imperial Enchanter and Pasha awaiting his coronation. With the real threat of revolution and a claim for the throne, Vika, Pasha, and Nicolai are once again pitted against one another in the fight to rule Russia. The author notes at the end that the story is loosely based on the aftermath of Tsar Alexander ‘s death and the Decembrist revolution. I wasn’t expecting the ending but it did tie up this duology nicely.

Visit Evelyn Skye’s website.

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye (The Crown's Game book 1)

Check out Epic Reads’ Everything You Need to Know About The Crown’s Game.

“Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love... or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear... the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.” - taken from Goodreads.com

This book has gotten some mixed reviews in the reading community but I thought it might just be the book for me and I wasn’t wrong. It is October 1825 and Imperial Russia is under the rule of Tsar Alexander I. His son, nicknamed Pasha, isn’t interested in politics but his sister, Yuliana, is. Watching the brewing trouble  with the Ottoman Empire, Yulina convinces her father that Pasha isn’t strong enough to be tsar and will need an Imperial Enchanter by his side. As Pasha nears his seventeenth birthday, Alexander convenes the Crown’s Game to choose. With two possible candidates, the Game is a test and show of magical skill that will result in the death of the enchanter who fails.

Vika has trained her entire life with her father to become the next Imperial Enchanter. They live a life of isolation on Ovchinin Island where she works with her father. At sixteen, Vika and her father, Sergei, are floored when they receive an invitation to the The Crown’s Game. Sergei had sent word to his sister Galina when he discovered Vika’s abilities but it would seem that she didn’t return the favor. Galina has been training her student, Nikolai, since she traded for the motherless boy with his village. They were terrified of Nikolai’s powers. When the two are summoned by the tsar to start the Game, Nikolai realizes that he has seen Vika and her display of powers on the island when he visited with Pasha.

Soon the two are not only caught up in the Game but with Pasha as well. Where only one enchanter can survive, love has no place, but friendships and relationships have a way of making a mess of things.

In a game of where only one enchanter can survive, will it be Vika or Nikolai? Or will love win out?

The story will conclude with The Crown’s Heir in 2017.