We are so excited to be a part of the blog tour for Lost Crow Conspiracy by Rosalyn Eves! Before we jump into our review, we want to tell you what the book is about!
Lost Crow Conspiracy (Blood Rose Rebellion, Book 2) by Rosalyn Eves (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Blood Rose Rebellion, Winter War Awakening (Blood Rose Rebellion, Book 3)
Published by Random House Children's Books on March 27th 2018
Genres: Action & Adventure, Epic, Fantasy, General, Historical, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 464
Sixteen-year old Anna Arden was once just the magically barren girl from an elite Luminate family. Now she has broken the Binding—and Praetheria, the creatures held captive by the spell, wreak havoc across Europe. Lower-class citizens have access to magic for the first time, while other Luminates lose theirs forever. Austria and Hungary are at odds once more.
Anna Arden did not know breaking the Binding would break the world.
Anna thought the Praetheria were on her side, content and grateful to be free from the Binding. She thought her cousin Matyas's blood sacrifice to the disarm the spell would bring peace, equality, justice. She thought her future looked like a society that would let her love a Romani boy, Gabor.
But with the Monarchy breathing down her neck and the Praetheria intimidating her at every turn, it seems the conspiracies have only just begun.
As threat of war sweeps the region, Anna quickly discovers she can't solve everything on her own. Now there's only one other person who might be able to save the country before war breaks out. The one person Anna was sure she'd never see again. A bandit. A fellow outlaw. A man known as the King of Crows. Matyas.
Erin’s Thoughts
The Lost Crow Conspiracy by Rosalyn Eves is the second book of the Blood Rose Rebellion series and admittedly I was a bit on the fence jumping into this book as the first one left me a little wanting but based on the ending of book one, I knew I was going to have to see what happens next for the characters, so I immediately dove into it and I am glad I did as the story got interesting. If you have not yet read book one, you might want to hold on reading this review as there are some things I will talk about that will for sure ruin that book for you if you don’t want any spoilers.
This book picks up shortly after the end of book one and things have drastically changed in Anna’s world. She is facing danger and conflict from both the Monarchy and the Praetheria and because her family doesn’t know the whole truth about her breaking the Binding, she doesn’t have anyone she can really rely on other than Gabor.
Politics plays a big role in this book. With the Binding broken, some Luminates who had magic have lost it and some lower-class citizens now have access to their magic for the first time. This is creating some unforeseen issues and add to that the Praetheria who are wandering free now want to be able to do what they like, and Anna is in a tough position. When she finds herself engaging with the Archduchess and her son both politically and personally, Anna needs to figure out where she stands and what she wants. Her heart still belongs to Gabor, but Gabor recognizes that they are coming from different worlds and will never be accepted which drives him to a decision that Anna doesn’t want to accept.
As I mentioned, Anna is trying to figure out what she wants. It is important to note that she is getting pressure from Hunger and Vasilisa (Praetheria) to help them get what they want, either through her attendance in the Congress or just her everyday activities. Because of who she is and who she knows, Anna has the ability to get the ear of some pretty powerful people. Unfortunately for her, as a young woman, her opinions and thoughts aren’t always accepted by those around her and when she discloses to all what her role was in releasing the Binding, things take a turn for the worse for her.
This book actually alternates perspectives from Anna to Matyas and while I found the chapters that were from Matyas’ perspective, I found myself hurrying through them to get back to Anna’s story. For some reason I found that part of the book more compelling and yes, we needed to understand what was happening with Matyas but I just happened to be more interested in what was going on with Anna.
For Matyas, he is coming to terms with who/what he is now and what his role in the world is. It was interesting to get his point of view on what he sacrificed to help Anna and then too, to hear how he felt he even failed at dying. I also thought it was interesting that at times, he had a bit of anger toward the fact that Anna was continuing to live her life and he didn’t know what to do with his now. As he starts to figure out where he fits and ultimately as his story starts to meet up with Anna’s I found myself turning the pages to see where Eves was going to link it all up.
Overall, I found myself enjoying this book more than the first one. I think the pacing felt better and the addition of Matyas’ point of view added a layer to the story that we didn’t have before. There were still points of the story that dragged a bit for me but overall, there was a great balance of character development, story development, and action / political intrigue. Consider checking out this series if you have not yet done so. I will be waiting on the next book to see what happens next for these characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
Giveaway
3 winners will receive a signed finished copy of LOST CROW CONSPIRACY & A Magnet, US Only.
Follow The Tour
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
3/5/2018- YA Books Central– Interview
3/6/2018- FICTION FARE– Review
3/7/2018- Owl Always Be Reading– Excerpt
3/8/2018- YA and Wine– Review
3/9/2018- A Dream Within A Dream– Excerpt
Week Two:
3/12/2018- The Book Nut– Review
3/13/2018- A Gingerly Review– Review
3/14/2018- Book Briefs– Review
3/15/2018- Two Chicks on Books– Guest Post
3/16/2018- Fiktshun– Review
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