The Ring and the Crown

This book is full of messed-up relationships one after another, but it makes a very fine trainwreck. I started reading it purely out of schadenfreude, so I was surprised to find it much more engaging than expected. Despite of what the blurb says, the story is mainly romance. About 85% of the book is about romance and tangled relationships, with all the conspiracy, magic, and revelations jammed into the remaining 15%. It was all drama up until the 85% mark, and then suddenly torrents of explanations towards the end. One may call it bad writing, but I didn't read this book for the plot. It was for melodramatic trainwreck, and for that part I'm pretty much satisfied LOL.

There are five perspectives in this book, each coming from Aelwyn, Marie Victoria, Ronan, Wolf, and Isabelle. I must say that I was impressed by how Melissa de la Cruz handled these perspectives, since there wasn't a single time when I confused them for one another. The book is narrated in third person, but the different perspectives are so clear and distinctive—even when two or more characters are highlighted in a single chapter.

However, the world-building is shaky, there's only a dash of magic despite the setting, and a lot of things—including important ones—are simply glossed over to make room for the romance. If you're looking for an extensive fantasy world with deep character development, you won't find those here. The fantasy is very light, and it feels more like a world of celebrities with gossips all over the place... which is exactly what I was expecting. :'D

So, confession time. I received this book as an ARC, and never got around to reading it. I then borrowed it from the library, and once again never had a chance to read it. I finally ended up borrowing it as an audio book, because I'd listened to the narrator before and enjoyed her readings. That finally prompted me to finish this. I'm fairly proud of myself right now, if you must know. This book had massive love thrown at it, back when it first came out, and I always felt a little left out for not having read it. Now? Well, I've read it.

The beginning of The Ring and The Crown had my attention. The hints at Merlin, and Avalon intrigued me. Marie-Victoria grated on my nerves a bit, but I was willing to forgive her frailty because of the way she was raised. Then more characters came into the picture, and still more, and still more yet. Suddenly this book was being told from so many perspectives that it made my head spin. Worse yet, it began to go off the rails more quickly than I could have anticipated. What started as a Fantasy story of the sort I generally enjoy, soon turned into a gossip magazine filled with all manner scandal and drama. If I had been hoping for a more fluffy read, I don't think I would have minded so much. As it stands, I was a bit blindsided and it threw me off.

Wolf and his roguish personality was what kept me reading on. I love his type of character. The “bad boy” for going against what his family expects of him, but secretly the type of man who has charm and kindness to spare. If this whole story had revolved around him, I would have been in heaven. Instead, he had to share the spotlight with his awful brother Leo, whiny Marie-Victoria, and Aelwyn who I never really grew to like. This book ended up being a huge case of “falling for the wrong guy/girl” and doing what is right for the masses rather than yourself. I can tell you, no one ended up happy here. Not a one. Which wouldn't have been that bad, except that the ending really felt like it was an afterthought. After so much build up, and as much character building as this book could provide, the ending was disappointing.

I likely could have lived without reading this book which, once again, is pretty disappointing. At least it has a lovely cover.