Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

In the luscious, dark sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must face the consequences of what she’s wrought – perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten’s For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching

Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.

If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.

And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth’s head. The Nightmare. And he’s not eager to share any longer.

Really great book and the perfect sequel to One Dark Window. I loved where the story went and I absolutely loved seeing more of Ione and Elm - I didn't really like Ione in the first book, but this one made me love her so much and understand her so much better. The characters are great, the story was beautiful and tense and it kept me on the edge of my seat for so long, waiting to see what was going to happen to these amazing characters.

my bad reading trait is that when it comes to a series I'm always tempted to finish it regardless of enjoyment. I can DNF otherwise and I badly wanted to with this one.

Elm and Ione story line was just filler. I didn't mind his POV but to have a romance with Ione was just odd, why couldn't he of seen her as a human to help but not have a whole new love plot and a more descriptive sex scenes than Ravyn/Elspeth did lol. More flirting, more banter, more everything than Ravyn/Elspeth. It made Ravyns sacrifices and Jes's sacrifices seem so silly and not noteworthy in the end.

Also Elm being so helplessly in love with Ione but genuinely could not care less for Elspeth in any way was a joke and I missed the punchline. The whole thing Ravyn saying how much Elm cared for him and his family, choosing them over his brother, etc but yet not batting an eyelid to the pain Ravyn had regarding Elspeth? That coupled with Ione was just weird as fuck, like the only few people who he claims to love in his life care for Elspeth and all he can do is be like “told you so Ravyn but watch me be a hypocritical little bitch baby when it comes to an ethereal beauty with curves(!!) did I mention she has (curves!!!).

Gillig won't be on my radar any time in the future. Characters are one dimensional, and as thin as the paper it's been penned on.

The only blessing is she had the smarts to end it all here.

Deze stelde zeker niet teleur! Anders dan ik had verwacht, maar leverde toch een zeer goed geplotte finale op in dezelfde griezelig sfeervolle en lyrische stijl als zijn voorganger.

“I know what I know. My secrets are deep. But long have I kept them. And long will they keep.”

Two Twisted Crowns gaat verder waar One Dark Window eindigde, wat een verschuiving in vertellers noodzakelijk maakte. Bij het na elkaar lezen van beide boeken, leek dit aanvankelijk een beetje schokkerig, maar uiteindelijk is het best heel logisch voor het verhaal.

Toch is het een zeer moedige zet om je oorspronkelijke primaire verteller volledig buitenspel te zetten en extra nadruk te leggen op een verteller die niet eens het hoofdmissiegedeelte van het verhaal volgt.
Gelukkig raakte ik uiteindelijk erg gecharmeerd door dit nieuwe gezichtspunt en genoot ik echt van hun kant van het verhaal.
Helaas nam dit ook wel een deel van de focus weg van wat volgens mij het hoofdverhaal was, waardoor het enigszins onevenwichtig aanvoelde. Het gebrek aan focus op wat in boek één als het primaire koppel werd aangeduid, voelde ook een beetje nalatig.

Het algehele plot zat heel vernuftig in elkaar. Mijn nieuwsgierigheid was doorheen gans het boek heel hoog en de algehele uitvoering en onthullingen waren enorm bevredigend.

“Here we are, my darling girl, he whispered to me. The end of all things. The last page of our story.”

Al met al een zeer mooie gothic fantasy-duologie, met een intrigerend magie systeem, een zeer goed in elkaar stekend en afgerond verhaal en een immens mooie schrijfstijl.
Ik ben enorm benieuwd naar het volgende werk van deze auteur!

4.5 stars.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley.

This book was a perfect wrap-up to The Shepherd Duology. The magic system in this duology is super unique, I love the dark gothic fantasy setting, and the plot is so well written and captivating. I love the direction book 2 went and how the plot played out. The introduction of Ravyn's and Elm's POVs gave the story more complexity and allowed us to see deeper inside the two important characters, their backstories and struggles as well as their relationships with other people, especially between Elm and Ione. We also get more insight into the Nightmares backstory and his relationship with Elspeth which I loved seeing.

My only complaint is that I wish there was more of an emotional impact at the end of the story. It felt like there was too big of a time skip between the end of climax and the epilogue without all of the feels you get from emotional reunions and reconciliations and I desperately wished for that.

Other than that, this was a great book and I will definitely be rereading the series at least once a year.