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Black Crown, the final installment to the Darkest Drae series accomplishes many things and takes readers deep into the heart of the Draeconian Empire. I give Black Crown 4 Stars. Ultimately, I would love to give this novel more, but there were some issues that I could not look past. It is the best novel in the series in terms or execution, but character and world-building were left wanting.

 

You can read the Goodreads synopsis for Black Crown HERE.

 

 

Within minutes of starting this book the characters sprang from the page full of life, something that had been missing from the previous novels. For me, this rocketed Black Crown to being the best in the series. Wagner and St Clare delivered a story unlike the other two, the characters appeared breathing and fully rounded and reading about them was like seeing an old friend after months apart. I loved watching Ryn and Tyrrik’s relationship grow throughout the series, and seeing them in the final book was bittersweet because I knew what was coming: war, and what was at risk. Their mate bond was in full force after the events of Shadow Wings  and I must admit that I was absolutely OBSSESSED with our Drae Power Couple. Throughout the novel we learn more about the Drae mate bond, and the strengths and weaknesses that come with that. Being in each other’s heads meant they could communicate without others hearing and given that this novel focuses on the war against Emperor Draedyn, the telepathic communication added another level of urgency to winning the war.

 

As it’s the end of the series, I thought I would also add that I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with Ryn and Tyrrik’s relationship because I would have loved to have seen their characters expand beyond what is known. The story is complete without further development, but adding to it would have only strengthened the novel beyond what it has already achieved. I wanted the little quirky details about them as individuals, the tiny details that ultimately bring the characters to life off the page. The characters were the most developed they have ever been in the series, but I can’t help but feel that something was still missing from them. With the mate bond you get this feeling that that is all that matters. We are supposed to accept the bond as their relationship, and yes that works, but for these characters to be real I would have liked something beyond the mate bond. A feeling of emotional respect and love for one another, before the mate bond came into it.  Especially after the pain and distress that Ryn and Tyrrik have survived. It feels as though there should have been more development away from the sudden romance plot between them, they both needed time to heal and because this was underdeveloped the characters often felt two dimensional. While reading I could look past this because I enjoyed reading each novel, but after time away from the series it is hard to ignore that certain aspects were lacking.

 

The first third of this novel is full of sexual tension. Every moment from page one is Ryn getting edgy with lust, and Tyrrik doesn’t fare any better. When it comes to the romance, you’ll either like it or think its cringey. What I really, really had a problem with regarding the sexual tension and the constant ‘I-want-to-but-am-I-ready’ monologue with Ryn is her conversations with Lani, the Phaetyn daughter of Queen Luna. There is one specific scene in this part of the novel when Ryn and Lani are on the verge of being captured by the Emperor, and they have the talk. Ryn being 18 and a virgin was completely normal and unproblematic but Lani, a Phaetyn who is roughly in her fifties, was a HUGE problem when she practically peer pressured Ryn into having sex with Tyrrik. This is absolutely not what I wanted to see! I felt so let down by the authors, knowing there would be teen girls out there reading this and thinking that is normal. If you write YA, know how influential your readers are! At this point it almost made the whole Ryn and Tyrrik mate bond an obvious plot point that needed to be met and really this eclipsed the good in the series.

 

This series is marketed as MATURE Young Adult. Apparently  mature only counts for the level of violence in the series.  Now before you all come after me with pitchforks, I know that this is a Young Adult series meaning anything more than a kiss is likely to get censored…to an extent. In Black Crown, Ryn and Tyrrik want to have sex and given the rampant sexual tension from the start you’d think there’d be a little more action than the very basic and cliché ramble of ‘we became one’. The most explicit part of this novel was the page before the “lights burst behind [Ryn’s] eyelids” when Tyrrik undressed her.

I felt let down by this whole scene, it was meant to be this big HURRAH; the mate bond was complete, our #draepowercouple were finally getting it on after a book and a half of will-they-won’t-they…and then it just FLOPPED! I understand that maybe the authors were not comfortable with writing explicit scenes but telling the reader the characters’ touched places without specifying what and where felt extremely childish. We’re in Ryn’s head, it’s a first-person narrative, wouldn’t Ryn know exactly where Tyrrik touched her? How it made her feel? What she did with him? Not knowing these things ultimately push the reader out of Ryn’s head, we disconnect from Ryn and the story and we’re left wondering if we even care anymore.

 

Additionally, there is a chapter which involves an orgy. Yes, totally not what I was expecting to read about either. The chapter in question is not a problem, but rather the issue lays with Ryn. For some reason, of which I don’t understand why, but Ryn can’t say the word ‘sex’. Instead, she uses terms such as ‘playing cards’ and ‘dancing the maypole’. At first this was fine, I accepted that Ryn clearly was not comfortable talking about sex, but this continued after she and Tyrrik had slept together, and this continued well into and after the chapter involving the orgy. There was opportunities throughout the novel to develop Ryn’s character, to take her from teen to woman and this was ultimately missed. Again, the characters were held back because it did not serve the plot, or writing style. Something about reading about an orgy and not reading the word sex, despite knowing it was happening gave a childlike naivety to Ryn.It seemed unnecessary and eventually became annoying. There was a surprise however in the epilogue, when Ryn suddenly became able to say ‘sex’, it felt better than winning the war against the Emperor.  

 

The Emperor’s threat is clear from the beginning, but remains behind the scenes. We heard about Draedyn in Blood Oath as a tyrant who demanded every man be sent abroad to help the war effort. It’s probably now a good point to admit that I have no idea about the Emperor’s war, it was never given a lot of attention in the books and the reasons for such a war aren’t explicitly stated. In Shadow Wings Draedyn appears calling for Ryn to reveal herself to him. In Blood Oath we not only witness Draedyn’s brutal atrocities, but we also see him in the heart of his empire doing what he does best: dictating and pushing his will upon others. I found myself hating the Emperor as much as Ryn and still fearing what he was capable of. He is the typical villain who enjoys exerting power over others and making a show of it. He rules by fear.

In the later chapters of the novel where the Emperor is more prevalent, it was impossible to ignore how these scenes felt underdeveloped and rushed. It felt as though lots of things needed to happen, and they mostly happened at once. It is unknown how long Ryn spent with Draedyn but everything from the other females and the of-chance Druman encounter made everything appear convenient enough for the final showdown. There were scenes between Ryn, Tyrrik and Draedyn that seemed less hostile than they should have been. Draedyn merely accepts Tyrrik’s arrival. The Emperor who kills so many, so callously literally stood and watched Tyrrik almost hypnotised by another male Drae, and Tyrrik who was so desperate to get his mate back made no point to attack. Both of these actions were convenient and not at all character relevant, Draedyn should have felt threatened by an unsworn male in his territory, and Tyrrik should have gone into protective overdrive which he keeps threatening to do when Ryn doesn’t do as she’s told. I can appreciate these conflicts for what they are, superficial, but I also can’t help but feel once again disappointed.

 

It seems hard to believe that this novel could be the best in the series, but it was the better of the three purely for its ability to handle a fast pace, a few life-threatening events that superseded the previous books,  Ryn and Tyrrik’s character development and the exploration of the Draeconian Empire and Draes, because who doesn’t like a dragon.

 

If you asked me to pick my favourite of the series, I would say Shadow Wings because it was fun and adventurous.

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