Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for the review copy. Having received one did not affect my views of the novel.

And that is how you end a series! I am mighty pleased to tell you that I enjoyed every single moment of Crystal Kingdom. While the ending to Ice Kissed made me want to read the finale right away, the size of the book didn’t. It was longer than the previous installments and I am known to shy away from those. But then I couldn’t not read it, after what happened in Ice Kissed.

So with Bryn on the run, she doesn’t have allies, or even an ally. Ridley is home, as well as Ember, and now, she’s at the mercy of her archenemy, Konstantin Black. I, for one, loved how we FINALLY got to know Konstantin in all his evasive and elusive glory. We get to know his motivations and the real story behind EVERYTHING. ANSWERS! WE HAVE ANSWERS!

I loved how easy it was with Bryn and Konstantin and you could totally see WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN but then we all know our girl is in love with another man. Ridley was tortured back at home and when he comes for Bryn, he’s distant and cold. Oh, poor bb, when he finally opened up to Bryn. I just want him to be better and with Bryn at his side, he did. And yoohoo, SEXY TIMES ARE AHEAD~

I didn’t even notice that the book was 400+ pages because DAMN, THAT PLOT. Basically, Amanda Hocking leaves us at the precipice of excitement FOREVER. She moves the plot this way and you think everything will happen now but NOPE, some other thing happens and you’re yet again on the edge of a cliff. I just gobbled up page after page after page of this book and I couldn’t get enough. Whether it was Bryn and Konstantin teaming up together, fighting off their enemies, getting help from the ogres and the other tribes, I’m always at the edge of my seat.

Like Ice Kissed, we get to see more tribes in Crystal Kingdom. While I haven’t read the Trylle series, it seems like characters from there made an appearance in here such as Queen Wendy. While I didn’t feel the need to read the Trylle series as the Kanin Chronicles stands well on its own, I am curious though about the Trylle and Wendy.

Amanda Hocking employed a new storytelling trick with Crystal Kingdom where we get to know what happens with the Kanin kingdom with Ember writing letters to Bryn that she never sends out. I like those reprieve from the actual conflict although it also brings in more tension because things were getting worse and there were deaths.

As all finales do, some characters you’d rather not die died and *wails in a corner*. I felt that it would happen and I’m not saying I’m surprised but when you invested ~emotions~ on a series and its characters, it’s never easy to see someone go.

What a fantastic end to a fantastic series! Action-packed, intriguing, and thrilling, Crystal Kingdom closed the story of the Kanin tribe in the eyes of our kickass heroine, Bryn. I know for sure that I will be reading more of Amanda Hocking’s books!

Bryn Aven is still struggling with her burgeoning relationship with Ridley. She’s also set on completing her mission to find the missing Skojare Queen. But when they do finally discover what happened, Bryn finds out that things are much more complicated than she’d originally thought.

And as she gets closer to the truth, Bryn is framed for the murder of the Kanin King himself. She ends up on the run, as home holds too few answers and no solutions.

Okay, so first things first. This series completely amazes me with its fantastic covers! I prefer the Australian covers too so I’m so glad I have them!

Now, let’s get to the nitty-gritty. The good stuff. While I completely enjoyed reading Frostfire, I had qualms about the worldbuilding. But with the second novel, I couldn’t even think about those issues because I was so deeply entrenched into the world of the Kanin and Bryn at the forefront of it all. We continue right were we left off from Frostfire and the plot just thickens.

There is one hot Bryn-Ridley scene and YAYAYAYAY! And while I just want these two to get together and it’s bringing me pain when they’re apart and when they unintentionally make things harder for each other, I appreciate how Ridley isn’t a love interest that pushes himself to Bryn. He understands how career-driven Bryn is and how she puts career first and EEEEEKKK. I mean, he ~understands~  her. I do wish we got more of him though since we rarely saw him. 

Romance remains not the focus of it and we get a thrilling plot at our hands, not knowing who to trust with the whole slew of new characters we get to know. Bryn herself doesn’t know who to trust and we’re right along with her.

More importantly, we get to see Skojare tribe and get a feel for them. Bryn is half-Skojare and I’m just glad she stayed with the Kanin because the Skojare was cold, both literally and in the sense that it isn’t ~home~.

But really, I just want to talk about the ending because THAT IS ONE EXPLOSIVE ENDING. I am so glad to have Crystal Kingdom ready because I immediately had to get to it.

CRYSTAL KINGDOM, HERE I COME!

Will she give up her dream to follow her heart?

Bryn Aven is determined to gain status amongst the Kanin, the most powerful of the hidden tribes. But as a half-blood, winning respect is a huge challenge. Bryn’s almost-human community distrusts people, and those from other tribes are almost as suspect.

She has just one goal to get ahead: to join the elite guard protecting the Kanin royal family. And Bryn’s vowed that nothing will stand in her way, not even a forbidden romance with her boss, Ridley Dresden.

But her plans are put on hold when fallen hero Konstantin starts acting dangerously. Bryn loved him once, but now he’s kidnapping Kanin children – stealing them from hidden placements within human families. She’s sent to help stop him, but will she lose her heart in the process?

I’m not much of a fantasy reader but I got interested in this series because it’s about TROLLS. And I don’t think I’ve read a book that centered on these creatures. So I threw caution to the wind and dived into this world by Amanda Hocking.

However, upon introduction that trolls are almost like humans, I was a bit disappointed. I was looking forward to reading something unique and fresh and all I got is human-like trolls. They even listen to Imagine Dragons, which, while I approve because trolls have great music tastes!, it was a bit disorienting. I mean, I’m reading a ~fantasy~ book and then they listen to bands I actually listen to. It just created a bit of cognitive dissonance in my mind.

However, I did like how the information regarding the different tribes were explained and told in the narrative. Bryn, being a tracker, extracted a changeling back to their kingdom. With it, she has to explain their origin, their history, their basic government structure, and everything. So it didn’t feel like OH, INFO DUMP but more like I was learning alongside a character, albeit a minor one, about the world. I also appreciated how, while trolls were human-like in essence, each tribe looked quite different from each other and had their own powers/skills.

I do applaud Amanda Hocking because the sheer readability of this one is astounding. I just said that I was a bit iffy on the worldbuilding but I couldn’t stop reading. I was entertained and I found myself enjoying it SO MUCH. I guess it helped that Bryn is a kickass character who I want to know more and see grow as the series progresses. And that I adore and basically am putty with Ridley’s charm. I was also intrigued by everyone else, even Konstantin Black, who’s basically pegged as the villain but I’m sure he isn’t really one. I’m quite afraid that there will be a love triangle though because Bryn had the biggest crush on Konstantin, that is before he tried to kill her father. Team Ridley all the way! What can I say? I love forbidden romance as Ridley is Bryn’s boss. YEEHAW. TENSION.

Oh, oh, oh, I liked how the romance isn’t the focal point of the story and is more of an aside but with that, I’m also now very hungry for more Bryn-Ridley because SHIP SHIP SHIP! The characters in this book are, honestly, new-adult-aged as Bryn is nineteen and Ridley is twenty-four. I DO WISH IT IS AN NA NOVEL THOUGH BECAUSE SEXY TIMES ARE MUCH NEEDED. Haha!

As for the plot, Konstantin Black have been kidnapping changelings (or at least trying to but then Kanin trackers are great and they keep on preventing Konstantin from doing so). Bryn gets embroiled in this of course. Like I said, Amanda Hocking got me hooked and flipping page after page after page with this one.

Frostfire was a decent introduction into the world of the Kanin and I look forward to the next book! More Bryn-Ridley please!