{"id":5437,"date":"2026-01-21T12:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5437"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:25:00","slug":"the-crowns-shadow-by-geraldine-nyika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5437","title":{"rendered":"The Crown\u2019s Shadow by Geraldine Nyika"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corruption, betrayal, and danger lurk in the shadows of this young adult political drama.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since she was seven, Anansia has been a pawn in a game far larger than herself. Born to a leader of the rebellion against the corrupt Reduarnian monarchy, danger has been a constant companion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When her parents die trying to protect her and her infant twin brothers, her life changes. Put into the hands of Queen Lien, she is forced into a new role. Trained by the elite law enforcement organization, The Kennel, she learns to fight, lie, and kill for the very people who murdered her parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What she has not banked on is her first mission: handling and protecting Princess Lumi\u00e8re. Lumi\u00e8re is everything that Anansia is not. Bright, warm, and sweet. She is the coveted heir to the throne, beloved of her family and her people. The one thing she and Anansia have in common is that they are both bit players in someone else\u2019s game. Anansia knows it, while Lumi\u00e8re is completely oblivious. If Anansia wants to keep her brothers safe, she will need to keep Lumi\u00e8re in the dark and keep her in line while navigating her growing feelings for her.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Told from dual perspectives, The Crown\u2019s Shadow <\/em>follows both sides: the royal line and the daughter of the uprising. While it\u2019s set in our world, it deals with a fictional country that is on the precipice of a violent rebellion. It\u2019s got the makings of a story that YA audiences will love, featuring a cute lesbian romance, some lovely found-family bonds, and a great dose of royal drama.<\/p>\n

I love political intrigue in my fantasy novels; lucky for me, The Crown\u2019s Shadow <\/em>delivers it in droves. Anansia has been trying to navigate her shadowy, undercover role as the Princess\u2019s bodyguard while simultaneously earning her trust and manipulating her into living the life Queen Lien expects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, a mysterious figure is pulling strings, setting events rolling to change Reduarnia\u2019s future. The Crown and its law enforcement agencies monitor and sensor all social media in the realm, making sure that anyone stepping out of line is dealt with swiftly. There\u2019s the feeling of brutal retribution hanging over the story, which makes the uncertainty about Anansia\u2019s past so much more compelling.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a dearth of narrative structure in The Crown\u2019s Shadow.<\/em> Despite the fact that the novel centers around a country with a corrupt monarchy and the rebellion rising to shatter it, it lacks viable stakes. The story follows characters who are peripheral rather than central to the action of the novel, and, as such, readers miss out on some important events.<\/p>\n

The drama of The Crown\u2019s Shadow<\/em> unfolds on a dynamic tapestry of complicated friendships, a history of rebellion, and seriously intriguing royal politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post The Crown\u2019s Shadow by Geraldine Nyika<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Corruption, betrayal, and danger lurk in the shadows of this young adult political drama.\u00a0 Since she was seven, Anansia has been a pawn in a game far larger than herself. Born to a leader of the rebellion against the corrupt Reduarnian monarchy, danger has been a constant companion.\u00a0 When her parents die trying to protect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}