Empress Crowned in Red

By Author / Illustrator

Ciannon Smart

Genre

Fantasy

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Hot Key Books

ISBN

9781471411229

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

07-06-2022

Synopsis

The hotly anticipated finale to the epic, fierce and magnetically addictive Caribbean-inspired Witches Steeped in Gold duology. Bow down witches . . . Enemy witches Iraya and Jazmyne have each achieved their darkest desires. For the former, the doyenne who killed her family is dead. For the latter, the crown has been won. For both, their treacherous alliance is over - until a hidden evil rises from their last adversary's ashes, forcing them to join forces once more to defend Aiyca and their respective orders.

Laying claim to the island of Iraya's birth right and the bloody crown Jazmyne wears, this mysterious assailant is rearing monsters in the name of war. A war neither Iraya or Jazmyne are prepared to fight. New alliances must be forged to protect Aiyca and once again the two witches must work together to defeat an enemy who threatens both their worlds. Who will be the one sitting on top of the throne in the end - Iraya, Jazmyne, or another? Two witches. One motive. And everything to fight for.

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Reviews

Empress Crowned in Red is the conclusion to Witches Steeped in Gold. The author, Ciannon Smart, has a wonderful imagination and engages her audience by creating a beautiful, complex world... Iraya, her revenge taken and her magic unleashed, now turns her sights on a bigger goal; freeing Aiyca from the Obeah. But first she must become the Lost Empress her people need. Jazmyne has been crowned Regent as her people are not ready to address her as the Doyenne but is still prepared to go to extreme lengths to prove to her people she deserves the throne. However, a new threat is awakening on the other side of the island that brings the girls back together before it destroys everything they've been fighting for.

You can easily tell the author's love for her Jamaican culture as it shines in her writing. Her descriptions in my opinion help save this story as they make it come alive. However, the book is 752 pages long and painfully slow at times and, due to the huge cast of characters, also a little confusing. I did find myself having to go back to re read and then wanting to skip pages to find some action!

Please don't let me put you off, this story just didn't work for me, but if you loved the first book you will appreciate this one as it follows the same pattern. It's once again told in alternative chapters from the girls' POV's. The book would be great for the 14+ confident reader, due to my earlier reasons and good for book clubs so that like-minded readers can get together and discuss plot and themes etc.

Overall, this story is beautifully written, at times deeply emotional, just enough to keep me engaged.

752 pages / Reviewed by Linda Brown, school librarian