TWO TWISTED CROWNS – Rachel Gillig

Gripped by a tyrant king and in the thrall of dark magic, the kingdom is in peril. Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last—and most important—one remains to be found: the Twin Alders. If they’re going to find the card before Solstice and set free the kingdom, they will need to journey through the dangerous mist-cloaked forest. The only one who can lead them through is the monster that shares Elspeth’s head: the Nightmare.

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Hi. It’s me, the series finisher, finishing a series. A duology, in this instance!

Rachel Gillig’s ONE DARK WINDOW was one of the bigger surprises for me back in 2022. I can remember quickly falling in love with the atmosphere of that book…it just had this perfect mix of darkness & humor, a kind of gothic vibe, a brooding hero, sexy vibes, some dangerous & unique card-based magic…just a lot of cool elements & a completely satisfying reading experience.

It took me a bit to get the hang of TWO TWISTED CROWNS, because it’s such a different book from ONE DARK WINDOW. Which, kudos to Rachel Gillig. It’s cool to see such a major shift from one book to the next, particularly in a duology.

But yeah, it took me awhile to get into the rhythm of this one…to me, this book is very much Elm & Ione’s story. Or maybe I just preferred that side of things. I mean…the overarching story will always be Elspeth & Ravyn’s, but I was surprised (very pleasantly so) by how much of this book was dedicated to Elm & Ione.

Additionally, the dynamics between the Nightmare & Elspeth are drastically changed in this one, given that the Nightmare has fully taken over Elspeth’s body. So the relentless antagonism & banter between the two is just…very different this time around.

We find the Nightmare/the Shepherd King imprisoned and being interrogated by Ravyn. The horror vibes to these dungeon scenes are INTENSE…Rachel Gillig is just masterful at writing a creepy, dark, atmospheric scene, and we get plenty of that here. There’s also this incredibly off-kilter feeling (for the reader as well as the characters) brought on when you’ve got the body of a beloved, trusted character being inhabited by someone with…questionable motives.

The magic system in this book is one that had been a bit of a struggle for me, but it started to make more & more sense as the story went on. The thing to keep in mind is that the providence cards are extraordinarily powerful, and Ravyn’s quest to find the Twin Alder card, unite the deck, and banish the magical mist that plagues the kingdom of Blunder is, once again, at the forefront of the story.

But as I mentioned, it was the story that unfolds between Elm and Ione that really captivated me most in this book. Elm in particular really shines in this sequel…he just didn’t feel like such an important character in book one, but in TWO TWISTED CROWNS he was for sure my favorite. Elm & Ione are both characters that are really emotionally damaged & that’s reflected a lot in their love story.

Ione is using The Maiden, a card that makes her appear physically perfect, but emotionally…very distant. The metaphor here feels maybe a touch heavy handed, but in the end, I think Ione’s story tells us a lot about self-acceptance and about loving people for who they actually are.

I think this duology would be great to recommend for people who are maybe a little hesitant around romance or romantasy. For me, the amount of romance & spicy (but not too spicy) scenes feels kinda perfect in both books.

I loved this one! I think Rachel Gillig is an enormously talented writer & I’m really excited for her next book (the first in another duology!), THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH!

Huge thanks to Orbit for sending TWO TWISTED CROWNS my way!!