Elspeth Spindle is used to hiding. She carries an infection that means death in the kingdom of Blunder. She knows far too much about the Providence cards that fuel the magic of the kingdom’s elite. And, worst of all, a creature of nightmares is living inside her head. So a near fatal encounter with highwaymen and an unignorable invitation to the king’s palace are the very last thing she needs. In One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns, Rachel Gillig shows us how Elspeth’s world unraveled and how she and her allies might able to restore it. The two books are best read together, as One Dark Window ends on a massive cliffhanger that will have you immediately reaching for its second half.
There is always a price to be paid for magic in Elspeth’s world. The card that grants unearthly beauty erases the ability to feel. The card that allows its bearer to command others deals incredible pain for its user while active. The king of Blunder holds most of these cards, which he doles out to his sons and trusted members of his court to maintain his power. He’s supposed to be trying to gather all of the cards so that the infection that haunts Blunder can be cured. Anyone who spends even a couple of minutes with the king and his appalling heir will quickly figure out that the king is much more interested in the status quo than in letting anything possibly upset his rule.
Elspeth and her unwelcome guest walk right into the middle of this dangerous snarl of ego and politics, literally and figuratively. Of all the people she might meet at the palace, Elspeth meets the king’s second son and the king’s captain of the elite Black Horses. It’s almost impossible for her to keep her secrets under so much scrutiny. Thankfully, the captain, Ravyn, is hiding his own deadly secrets. When he finds out about Elspeth’s abilities, he recruits her to his scheme with only a little arm twisting.
Events speed up rapidly after Elspeth joins Ravyn’s little rebellion. Things happen so quickly that I was puzzled about why this book was split into two parts. The events of Two Twisted Crowns really do read like the second half of one long book. Romantasy and fantasy readers aren’t averse to long books and, honestly, it’s kind of irritating that the narrative of One Dark Window cuts off when it does. If I had picked up One Dark Window before Two Twisted Crowns had come out, I would’ve been very unhappy.
Two Twisted Crowns was incredible. It has more of the lore behind Blunder’s magic and reveals the story of whatever is lurking in Elspeth’s head. It also leans harder into the truism that magic always has a price. Ravyn and Elspeth’s allies are repeatedly tested by having to make impossible choices about what (and who) they’re willing to sacrifice in order to achieve their aims. Gillig also throws in a terrific twist to make things even more harrowing for our protagonists, just to raise the stakes to near unbearable levels for us readers as we hope that things will finally come out right. (And as we hope that some really nasty villains are justifiably destroyed.)
I enjoyed this pair of books. Gillig gets the balance of romance to fantasy just right for me (more fantasy than romance), and creates an intriguing history for the strange, isolated kingdom of Blunder. Best of all, this story has a wonderfully satisfying conclusion that bucks expectations just enough to keep it from being too trite.