Review: Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3) by Jennifer Estep

Title: Crush the King

Series: Crown of Shards #3

Previous books in this series: Kill the Queen (#1) | Protect the Prince (#2)

Author: Jennifer Estep

Genre: Adult, high fantasy

Publication date: March 17th 2020

Published by: Harper Voyager

Source: ARC from publisher/author

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Synopsis:

A fierce gladiator queen must face off against her enemies in an epic battle in this next thrilling installment of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards series—an action-packed adventure full of magic, murderous machinations, courtly intrigue, and pulse-pounding romance.

Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona has survived the mass murder of the royal family, become a fearsome warrior trained by an elite gladiator troupe, and unleashed her ability to destroy magic. After surviving yet another assassination attempt orchestrated by the conniving king of Morta, Evie has had enough. It’s time to turn the tables and take the fight to her enemies.

There is no better opportunity to strike than during the Regalia Games, a time when warriors, nobles, and royals from all the kingdoms come together to compete in various sporting events. With the help of her loyal friends, Evie goes on the attack at the Regalia, but things don’t turn out the way she hopes. Soon, she is facing a terrifying new threat, and she will have to dig deep and learn even more about her growing magic if she has any chance of defeating her foes.

Because to secure her throne and ensure her kingdom’s survival, Evie must think like a true Bellonan: she must outsmart and outwit her enemies... and crush the king.

My rating: ★★★★☆
After many assassination attempts on behalf of the Mortan King, it is now time for Evie to come face to face with the guy... and crush him.

All this goes down during the Regalia, which is basically this world’s version of the Olympics... Except there’s lots of fighting. Lol. It was pretty cool though! I love the action in Jennifer Estep’s books, so this was awesome! It was pretty violent as well, which I also loved. Lol. And I of course loved Evie herself. She’s so snarky and takes shit from no one—especially not the noblemen or royals. The way she screwed with the Mortan King and the dickhead Driscol was incredible.

She’s so sassy and clever and I loved it! Although she was a little arrogant sometimes not as perceptive as I thought she would be, which was a little annoying, but not enough to make me not like her. Oh but Evie’s abilities... they're awesome! We see her use her immunity in some new, interesting ways. It is such a cool ability and liked seeing her develop it.

We also met plenty of new characters in this book, seeing as how all the kingdoms came together for the Regalia. The introductions were not overwhelming though, so I am grateful for that. Some of my favorites were little Leonidas, who was really cute, and Queen Zariza who was sassy AF. I absolutely loved her! And the oh so mysterious Seraphine... there is something going on with her that was never really gone into or resolved in this book. But there’s definitely something up... 🤔

I very much enjoyed this book—It was a satisfying ending to the trilogy! I really loved the characters and the magic and, of course, the action! I don’t read a lot of fantasy—I've actually read one fantasy book per year for the last 3 years or so, just because I’m not super into the genre. BUT I love Jennifer Estep’s work and I couldn’t not read this. And I’m glad I did! It was such a great story and the character arc Evie went through was incredible. Even though this is the last book in the series, I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ll see of these characters. And if that is the case in actuality, I would be totally okay with it 😉

Long live the Winter queen.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊