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messystopheles's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the book series ever
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Sexual harassment and Child abuse
skillyillian's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
second verse same as the first, this book goddamn slaps. i will say, everyone's right about this one being better than the first. one dark window goes so fuckin hard, and two twisted crowns goes even harder. it picks up right where the first one left off and just. keeps. going. it's fast paced, every page matters and i felt like there wasn't really a scene where i didn't feel like it mattered in one way or another. i annotated my copy, and i used literally 383 tabs. in a 430 page book. and 26 sticky notes with thoughts and theories. almost every single page has something highlighted, tabbed, noted, a scribble in the margins or just "oh my god what the fuck" or "ugh i love them" somewhere. this book is incredible.
mild spoilers ahead, big spoilers will be tagged
elspeth and ravyn continue to be excellent together, even when they're apart and don't have a good way to communicate, you can still see how much they love each other. i do still think they were kinda insta-lovey, but honestly with them i don't even mind. i feel like they didn't develop as characters quite as much as the first book. not to say they didn't have character development, just that it wasn't as prevalent. they actually spent the entire book apart save for a handful of times they got to talk to each other, so i feel like it kinda makes sense their relationship didn't really deepen that much.
that being said, the person that got the most, the very best, the most incredible character development, was Elm. my brave, wise, wonderful elm. i'd die for him tbh, i loved him SO MUCH. he fucking carried this book (along with the shepherd king), i'm not even exaggerating. seeing him grow as a person, watching his romance with ione bloom, was so good. every elm chapter held me captive, edge of my seat, biting my nails. the torture he went through, the pain and trauma, just to come out on the other side stronger and even more determined to never hurt anyone like that again?? i wept. i cried. i want to hug him!!!!! and ione!!!! oh my god every line she had was important, every action she took mattered, i absolutely adore her so much. those two getting their justice together was phenomenal, i couldn't look away. i loved seeing ione develop as a character despite her maiden card being hidden for most of the book. like that was so awesome. she did great. i adore her. she and elm are so perfect for each other. and oh my god they're so horny lmfao the flirting, the steamy moments, the spice, were all great. i loved every one of their moments together.
i have lovingly nicknamed the shepherd king as "shep", mostly because it fit in the margins the best lmfao but also i just think he would say he disliked it very much but secretly think it was amusing. his sass, the banter and bickering with the yews and his smartass remarks to elspeth, were so fucking funny. i highlighted literally all of them. his personality really, really shines in this book. telling ravyn "elspeth says she's sick of you" and ravyn replying "she didn't say that" made me laugh every time. the bickering back and forth between shep and ravyn was so good. i loved the little moments of levity it created. shep and elm took turns carrying this book and it was so fun and kept things interesting, even when switching POVs. there wasn't a single POV where i went "ugh oh my god not this again, i'm probably just going to skim this pointless shit." (looking at you, tharion and ithan. smfh)
i loved, loved, loved shep's backstory. learning about how he came to be who he was before and after he met elspeth, and the affects that the events of both books had on him, was just wonderful. he had the best character development but i love that we saw it from the past and the present. i absolutely adored the way gillig gave her lore, especially with him. the memories elspeth went through, experiencing them as shep, was fucking genius. seeing the political and magical settings of blunder in the past was cleverly woven in with how shep's obsession with the cards consumed him. you see the affects of the mist and infection in the present, and then go back and see how it all came to be, and how shep kinda just let it all happen but then also was like "wait this is a problem. i'll just make more cards about it" was so well thought out. seeing his current self develop and then watching him unravel in the past, knowing how it would change him over five centuries of living death, was really moving. the way he was an absent father and then became so protective of elspeth and jespyr just broke my heart. when he called jespyr by his daughter's name i let out a huge "awwwww oh my god!" and almost cried lmao. not worried about ravyn dying at all, but so fucking sad for shep. the backstory for him was done immaculately, i wouldn't change a fuckin thing about it.
my biggest grievance with this one was the same as the first: elspeth and ravyn are borderline clueless throughout the entire book. shep, and sometimes others, have to spell everything out for them. shep's sarcasm about the yews being idiots is 10/10 but i also kinda don't really think he was wrong lmfao. he had to explain literally everything they were doing. also, i'm so miffed that elspeth and ravyn didn't realize the yews were shep's descendants. for one, elspeth should have recognized her lover's face when she was in shep's memories. from how it was described, both taxus and bennett were basically identical to ravyn. how did she not see him in their faces??? she spent so much time in shep's head, seeing these memories over and over, but didn't make the connection, despite seeing ravyn through shep's eyes whenever she wasn't in his memories. how?? and how did ravyn not realize he was looking in a mirror as soon as the spirit started showing him taxus's past. like. she didn't want to give him the card, he asked for hints, and then she was like "you're literally the same. look. you could be twins." even the first hint, before she showed him anything, should've been enough to reveal his true name. but he didn't get it literally at all, until she showed him bennett essentially rebranding into the last name of yew instead of taxus. it was right there and neither ravyn nor elspeth got it until it was spelled out for them. i also thought it was a little weird that the spirit didn't want to surrender the card, but then made it super easy for ravyn to take it lmao. but whatever. deities are wild. yeah idk i just don't like that kinda shit. like no one ever claimed elspeth was the smartest, and i don't remember that for ravyn either. but they're both supposed to be clever, as with the whole "be wary be clever be good" thing, but i feel like, besides getting themselves out of tight spots, that didn't really happen.
i will say, ravyn being able to destroy cards was a theory i had, and i loved that i was right bc that's a super cool way to get rid of them since uniting the deck didn't make all of the cards disappear. destroying the nightmare card to get rid of shep and bring elspeth back was great. i just know when shep paused before telling ravyn he could bring her back, he was giggling to himself like the punk ass he is lmao. letting ravyn be all sad and then just going "sike! gotcha!!! i knew how to do it the whole time and i didn't tell anybody!!" was fucking funny. he made some very good points though, about rewriting the past and helping get elm the throne and stuff. like he was being selfish in a lot of ways, but also with good reason. ravyn would've ripped the nightmare to bits the second he found out, and it would've done more harm than good. i get why shep didn't say anything until after they won. they literally would not have been able to do it without him.
overall, this book is as excellent as everyone says it is. the worldbuilding is awesome. the author stuck to the rules she created for her incredibly unique magic system. the characters, for the most part, grow and develop really well so they feel like they've finished their arcs by the end of the book. i loved the lore and the way it was delivered. backstories galore, in the best way. justice was served to those who deserved it, and in the most satisfying way possible. as shep said, "poetry is as judicious as violence." the book itself is wonderful. one weird thing i did notice is that, at least in my copy? there's a bunch of typos. like i think i must've found at least a dozen, if not more. it was weird, bc like. how many people read this book before it went to print, y'know? didn't ruin the story or anything but i would see them and just be like "huh. weird that got missed, but whatever i guess?" ykwim? oh well.
side note, but the print quality of my paperback copy (which i'm not blaming the author for by ANY means, don't get me wrong. this is not included in my score of the book, just a complaint i have bc i'm just Like This) was wildly disappointing. i had pages that were a deep black, like they should be, but most pages were much, much lighter than that. i even had pages where the ink was so faint it was like a steel grey, nowhere near black. if my highlighter had been a darker shade it would've just covered the words as if i were redacting them. it was really irritating to have some pages (very few) be as dark as they should've been, while most of the ink in my copy was half as dark as the standard black. it was a bummer bc it didn't stick out nearly as well as it should have against my highlighter. like their printers were running out of ink and they just went "eh, you can still see it more or less. close enough." and it was a bummer for sure. but anyway, like i said, that's not included in my score here. i'm just bitching. the book is very very good, i loved almost all of it, i'd just recommend checking the inside of your physical copy before you buy it lmao.
mild spoilers ahead, big spoilers will be tagged
elspeth and ravyn continue to be excellent together, even when they're apart and don't have a good way to communicate, you can still see how much they love each other. i do still think they were kinda insta-lovey, but honestly with them i don't even mind. i feel like they didn't develop as characters quite as much as the first book. not to say they didn't have character development, just that it wasn't as prevalent. they actually spent the entire book apart save for a handful of times they got to talk to each other, so i feel like it kinda makes sense their relationship didn't really deepen that much.
that being said, the person that got the most, the very best, the most incredible character development, was Elm. my brave, wise, wonderful elm. i'd die for him tbh, i loved him SO MUCH. he fucking carried this book (along with the shepherd king), i'm not even exaggerating. seeing him grow as a person, watching his romance with ione bloom, was so good. every elm chapter held me captive, edge of my seat, biting my nails. the torture he went through, the pain and trauma, just to come out on the other side stronger and even more determined to never hurt anyone like that again?? i wept. i cried. i want to hug him!!!!! and ione!!!! oh my god every line she had was important, every action she took mattered, i absolutely adore her so much. those two getting their justice together was phenomenal, i couldn't look away. i loved seeing ione develop as a character despite
i have lovingly nicknamed the shepherd king as "shep", mostly because it fit in the margins the best lmfao but also i just think he would say he disliked it very much but secretly think it was amusing. his sass, the banter and bickering with the yews and his smartass remarks to elspeth, were so fucking funny. i highlighted literally all of them. his personality really, really shines in this book. telling ravyn "elspeth says she's sick of you" and ravyn replying "she didn't say that" made me laugh every time. the bickering back and forth between shep and ravyn was so good. i loved the little moments of levity it created. shep and elm took turns carrying this book and it was so fun and kept things interesting, even when switching POVs. there wasn't a single POV where i went "ugh oh my god not this again, i'm probably just going to skim this pointless shit." (looking at you, tharion and ithan. smfh)
i loved, loved, loved shep's backstory. learning about how he came to be who he was before and after he met elspeth, and the affects that the events of both books had on him, was just wonderful. he had the best character development but i love that we saw it from the past and the present. i absolutely adored the way gillig gave her lore, especially with him.
my biggest grievance with this one was the same as the first: elspeth and ravyn are borderline clueless throughout the entire book. shep, and sometimes others, have to spell everything out for them. shep's sarcasm about the yews being idiots is 10/10 but i also kinda don't really think he was wrong lmfao. he had to explain literally everything they were doing.
i will say,
overall, this book is as excellent as everyone says it is. the worldbuilding is awesome. the author stuck to the rules she created for her incredibly unique magic system. the characters, for the most part, grow and develop really well so they feel like they've finished their arcs by the end of the book. i loved the lore and the way it was delivered. backstories galore, in the best way. justice was served to those who deserved it, and in the most satisfying way possible. as shep said, "poetry is as judicious as violence." the book itself is wonderful. one weird thing i did notice is that, at least in my copy? there's a bunch of typos. like i think i must've found at least a dozen, if not more. it was weird, bc like. how many people read this book before it went to print, y'know? didn't ruin the story or anything but i would see them and just be like "huh. weird that got missed, but whatever i guess?" ykwim? oh well.
side note, but the print quality of my paperback copy (which i'm not blaming the author for by ANY means, don't get me wrong. this is not included in my score of the book, just a complaint i have bc i'm just Like This) was wildly disappointing. i had pages that were a deep black, like they should be, but most pages were much, much lighter than that. i even had pages where the ink was so faint it was like a steel grey, nowhere near black. if my highlighter had been a darker shade it would've just covered the words as if i were redacting them. it was really irritating to have some pages (very few) be as dark as they should've been, while most of the ink in my copy was half as dark as the standard black. it was a bummer bc it didn't stick out nearly as well as it should have against my highlighter. like their printers were running out of ink and they just went "eh, you can still see it more or less. close enough." and it was a bummer for sure. but anyway, like i said, that's not included in my score here. i'm just bitching. the book is very very good, i loved almost all of it, i'd just recommend checking the inside of your physical copy before you buy it lmao.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Gore, Blood, Torture, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
quinoa's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Loved this duology — the POV switches slowed me down through the middle but overall I love the variety of messages.. the multiple stakes kept things interesting throughout this series. Elm and Ione were 😩🩵 I like how their story eased up the hard hitting plot and created much needed space within the story. By the end I didn’t mind that Elspeth was gone, she needed her find her own truth anyways. The final scenes were written so well, the resolution was very satisfying especially for Elspeth and Nightmare 🥲 Cannot believe this is Rachel Gillig’s debut series!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Blood
noellelovesbooks's review
5.0
Content Warnings: violence, blood, gore, murder, brutality, toxic relationships, confinement, loss of body autonomy, sexual content, sexual harassment, and death of a child.
Fuuuuuuuu...I was not prepared for how gutted I would be after finishing this book.
This duology was so freakin good and I will definitely be rereading again and again. 🥰
Also, how DARE you Rachel...there were people in book one I decided to never like and you just had to redeem them in my eyes didn't you?!
Anyways, if you've yet to read this PHENOMENAL duology...please please please dive into this magical world that has found family, fighting for what's right, love, a deep and connected history, and so much more 😭
Fuuuuuuuu...I was not prepared for how gutted I would be after finishing this book.
This duology was so freakin good and I will definitely be rereading again and again. 🥰
Also, how DARE you Rachel...there were people in book one I decided to never like and you just had to redeem them in my eyes didn't you?!
Anyways, if you've yet to read this PHENOMENAL duology...please please please dive into this magical world that has found family, fighting for what's right, love, a deep and connected history, and so much more 😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death, Child death, Violence, Police brutality, Blood, Gore, Confinement, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic relationship
tired_cicada's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Two Twisted crowns was one of my most anticipated releases this year and let me tell you it absolutely lived up to my expectations! Gillis has managed to hit that perfect duology sweet spot for me where all of the story lines are wrapped up in a satisfactory way without it having to be dragged out with superfluous information. We get so much out of this book, from exploring the magic system, to new povs, to expanding on the culture of the world, and explaining the histories behind it. I am such a fantasy history girlie so anytime we are getting flashbacks, or we're getting lore drops I am giddy!
No going forward there are going to be several spoilers throughout this review! The bigger ones all kind of separate off, but I am going to be discussing plot points, and character decisions. So be aware!
New povs
One thing that I was obsessed with in one dark window was the incredibly brave thing that Gillig does and essentially destroying her main character. At the end of book one the POV character essentially does not exist anymore. That is an incredibly brave thing to do, both narratively and as a debut author. So often it's characters that we connect with so to have the character who's story we've been following the entire time be gone is a risky business. That said it's handled so well. The one thing I can see some people having issue with is that we are going from a first person point of view with a singular narrator, into a book that has third person multiple povs. It didn't bother me but I know that can be something that other people find issue with.
That said I was obsessed with each of the new povs we got. Each character feels distinct from the others. There isn't a flat narrator voice simply telling you what different characters are doing it actually felt like each character had their own voice to tell their own story. Now let's get into it... We get three povs in this novel Rayen who is struggling with the fact that he is stuck traveling with the monster that is taken over the body of the woman he's fallen in love with, then we have Elm who is dealing with the ramifications of his father's brutal court, and his brother's blatant abuse without the protection of his cousin that he's come to rely on. Finally we have
what remains of Elseph as she is locked within the memories of the shepherd King and we're seeing the ramifications of years gone by while she is struggling bit by bit to claw herself back into consciousness.
One thing that you should know about me is that my favorite character in any piece of media is always going to be the saddest boy available. There is something about a fictional man who is sad and expressing emotions that hit just right. So Elm was next level. We have childhood trauma, we have feelings of inadequacy, we have mutual pining, we have abandonment issues! I was being fed here!
With elms story we are largely watching a cinderella-like story play out juxtaposed against Ravyn's race against Time to save the lives of those he loves... And lo -key I was more stressed out about the Cinderella story. The way Elm and Ione interact was so entertaining. The way they clash heads, and the way they work together toward a common goal was rippled with tension. Now I had the vaugest inklings in book one, and I was fully prepared for this to be a crack ship I was RIGHT! Don't you ever doubt my ability to sniff out a romance! Where as last time we got the delightful fake dating trope this time we are having a delightful time with this forbidden Love. I was having a stellar time thank you very much!
Then of course we have, as mentioned before, Ravyn embarking on a race against Time to find the twin alder card! He is balancing the line between staying just well enough inside of the king's good graces, well also committing blatant treason. All the while having to look into the eyes that no longer belong to the woman he loves knowing that anything goes wrong he will never get her back. The banter between all of the characters in this POV is delightful. We have the ivy twins back and I love them in the first book. They were so light-hearted and they gave an air of humor to everything. So I was delighted to have them back. And then I love how Gillig writes siblings. The interactions between Ravyn and his sister feel like interactions that actual siblings would have. It is so hard to write sibling Dynamics in a way that don't come off entirely cringy, so I enjoyed feeling like this was real. Like they actually had a relationship. And to watch the give and the take, to see the way that their sibling dynamic plays out to both their strengths and their detriments was done incredibly well. And blends so well against the backdrop of the historical information that is being sprinkled throughout. Showing that if history doesn't repeat it sure does rhyme.
No going forward there are going to be several spoilers throughout this review! The bigger ones all kind of separate off, but I am going to be discussing plot points, and character decisions. So be aware!
New povs
One thing that I was obsessed with in one dark window was the incredibly brave thing that Gillig does and essentially destroying her main character. At the end of book one the POV character essentially does not exist anymore. That is an incredibly brave thing to do, both narratively and as a debut author. So often it's characters that we connect with so to have the character who's story we've been following the entire time be gone is a risky business. That said it's handled so well. The one thing I can see some people having issue with is that we are going from a first person point of view with a singular narrator, into a book that has third person multiple povs. It didn't bother me but I know that can be something that other people find issue with.
That said I was obsessed with each of the new povs we got. Each character feels distinct from the others. There isn't a flat narrator voice simply telling you what different characters are doing it actually felt like each character had their own voice to tell their own story. Now let's get into it... We get three povs in this novel Rayen who is struggling with the fact that he is stuck traveling with the monster that is taken over the body of the woman he's fallen in love with, then we have Elm who is dealing with the ramifications of his father's brutal court, and his brother's blatant abuse without the protection of his cousin that he's come to rely on. Finally we have
One thing that you should know about me is that my favorite character in any piece of media is always going to be the saddest boy available. There is something about a fictional man who is sad and expressing emotions that hit just right. So Elm was next level. We have childhood trauma, we have feelings of inadequacy, we have mutual pining, we have abandonment issues! I was being fed here!
With elms story we are largely watching a cinderella-like story play out juxtaposed against Ravyn's race against Time to save the lives of those he loves... And lo -key I was more stressed out about the Cinderella story. The way Elm and Ione interact was so entertaining. The way they clash heads, and the way they work together toward a common goal was rippled with tension. Now I had the vaugest inklings in book one, and I was fully prepared for this to be a crack ship I was RIGHT! Don't you ever doubt my ability to sniff out a romance! Where as last time we got the delightful fake dating trope this time we are having a delightful time with this forbidden Love. I was having a stellar time thank you very much!
Then of course we have, as mentioned before, Ravyn embarking on a race against Time to find the twin alder card! He is balancing the line between staying just well enough inside of the king's good graces, well also committing blatant treason. All the while having to look into the eyes that no longer belong to the woman he loves knowing that anything goes wrong he will never get her back. The banter between all of the characters in this POV is delightful. We have the ivy twins back and I love them in the first book. They were so light-hearted and they gave an air of humor to everything. So I was delighted to have them back. And then I love how Gillig writes siblings. The interactions between Ravyn and his sister feel like interactions that actual siblings would have. It is so hard to write sibling Dynamics in a way that don't come off entirely cringy, so I enjoyed feeling like this was real. Like they actually had a relationship. And to watch the give and the take, to see the way that their sibling dynamic plays out to both their strengths and their detriments was done incredibly well. And blends so well against the backdrop of the historical information that is being sprinkled throughout. Showing that if history doesn't repeat it sure does rhyme.
Magic system
Now you cannot talk about this series without talking about the magic system. It is a stunningly done incredibly unique system, where we're dealing with two types of hard magics. We have the fever, which grants individual powers to different people seemingly involuntarily. And the more we learn about the fevers brought on by the mist, and how the spirit of the wood fit into the larger society the more we're starting to understand how the Rowans came to power and why.
Then of course there are the cards themselves. The whole point of the story is to get the final card out of the deck so that people can be cured of the sickness that comes from the mist. So that their magic will no longer be killing them. The way the different cards are handled is so beautiful. Taking simple cards that can largely be overlooked and showing that in the right circumstances they are phenomenally powerful was such a fun ride.
Also seeing the way that other users of the cards are affected by them, and showing the character's strengths by being able to push through the negative aspects of the cards when pushed to their limits. It showed off an inner strength to these characters that really sink in how much they've grown throughout the course of the story.
What we could have done without
Now just like any other story it wasn't perfect. There are a few things that I thought were just thrown in there to add extra pages. Like we meet a society of individuals who are living outside of the reaching hand of the Rowan Kings, who are surviving within the forest shrouded in mists... And we spend a whopping 10 minutes there. Like it had so much potential to be so interesting. It starts so many cool conversations to have, and then it's just brushed over and forgotten. It really could have been taken out of the book and not affected the plot in any substantial way. That might just be a me thing though, cuz I'm not a huge fan of travel books. Where the entire plot is just getting from point A to point b and, oh no unforeseen circumstance that slowed us down? However are we going to get there on time?
If I'm going to have to read about travel I want each moment to feel like it meant something, so unnecessary detours like that really take me out of the story.
In a similar vein to that I feel like Emery (I literally had to look up his name cuz I forgot what it was) was such a non-character given that the entire reason anyone is doing anything is to save him. Really all we know about Emery is that if he touches you he can see the future (kind of sort of) and that he's frail. But there's nothing in the story that really shows us the connection that they have to him, other than the text simply telling us that they do. I would have liked to see more interactions with his family, with Ravyn, really just something that made him feel like a character and less like a prop.
Those are really my only hang ups, otherwise I absolutely adored the story. I thought it wrapped everything up nicely. It lived up to my expectations, and it is something that I will definitely recommend to others. My one regret is that I didn't get to Buddy read it with my friend who I read one dark window with. But because of that I do have a list of spoilers without context for any of you who would like to enjoy those!
SPOILERS WITHOUT CONTEXT
So you know that one scene from bridgerton season 2 where Anthony falls in the lake? If you know you know....... Yeah that or something similar happens like four times. These men are getting dropped in lakes left and right, and I for one was here for it!
You know how in the first book (and this one too) people were constantly making comments about how distinctive Ravyn's nose is? Yeah that's plot relevant.
There are significantly less mentions of how warm Ravyn's hands are. (If you're looking for a drinking game then read one dark window and take a shot every time Elseph mentions how warm Ravyn's hands are, or someone mentions his nose)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Classism, Self harm, Addiction, and Sexual harassment
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