After The Crown
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy!
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Former gunrunner-turned-Empress Hail Bristol was dragged back to her home planet to fill her rightful position in the palace. With her sisters and parents murdered, the Indranan empire is on the brink of war. Hail must quickly make alliances with nearby worlds if she has any hope of surviving her rule.
When peace talks turn violent and Hail realizes she's been betrayed, she must rely on her old gunrunning ways to get out of trouble. With help from an old boss and some surprising new allies, she must risk everything to save her world.
I really don't know how to review this book properly, there's so much I want to say and squeal about but spoilers and I don't think I have the words to convey how damn good this series is! I'm more of a fantasy person, than a Sci-Fi person. I'm very picky with my Sci-Fi and so I don't read all that much of it. But I completely loved Beyond The Throne. I got sent it as surprise book mail to check out, and I was actually surprised at how much I loved it, I remember devouring it in one go and then reading the book two sneak peek and then the wait for this book....it's been painful! And then this book ends and leaves me wanting book three so badly, it's not even funny! That ending though!
In After The Crown, it's been a week since the events of Beyond The Throne and as we join the story, some unsavoury characters that we didn't like are about to get their comeuppance. Ominous words are spoken but everything's fine....until the betrayal and backstabbing hits an all new high as a plot is put in to motion and Hail becomes the badass gunrunner again that we all know and love.
I loved how we had Hail and the others trying to untangle the web of conspiracy from the last book, and I loved how it all went much deeper than I imagined. Seriously. I didn't like a certain character, and I thought said character was dodgy but even I didn't suspect anything of the magnitude of what happens in this book. Seriously. I was right there with Hail, kicking myself and unable to believe I'd missed it! And then it turns out this character isn't even the puppet master. I can't even. We just keep going deeper and deeper in to this plot and I am loving it!
I love the political commentary that we get, and the way the narrative smoothly continues on from each book. The ongoing narrative is just A+. I think the thing a lot of you guys might be interested in is that the Indranan society is gender swapped. Women are in charge, and the men are basically us in real life. It's fascinating to read about, and the author explores many equality issues that we struggle with today and I love how it's done! Especially as it's woven in so well with all the action, betrayal, backstabbing and space fights.
I continue to love Hail. I continue to love Emmy and Zin and everyone else from our book one group. But in this book we get a tonne of new characters. Some I hate. I mean...I really, really hate them. There are so many shady characters. But some I also really, really love! Gita, Dailun, Hao who we finally get to meet, Rai and Johar and there are so many more but these are the four that really stuck out to me. I freaking love Hao and Johar in particular and I'm going to be sad if we don't get any Johar in book three, she's kickass. Rai...I really want to like him, but I'm not entirely sure about him. I guess we'll see!
My favourite thing ever about this book though, was getting to see more of Hails gunrunner past. We didn't get to see or learn much about it in book one, but in this book Hail has to go back to her old ways and I loved it. I love gunrunner Hail. I need a spin off series all about her and Portis and their past! I need it now! But in this book, we get to learn plenty about her past and see her in action. I was loving it. So much. All the tidbits, all the old acquaintances....so good. The crew trying to help Hail take back her Empire? They're a ragtag crew of mercenaries, smugglers, gunrunners, pirates, pit fighters and well...Rai is kind of like a mob boss type person. I was in heaven.
After The Crown is a fantastic sequel, it keeps the narrative going, it doesn't slow down. It's fast paced, there's lots going on, there's more betrayal, more political intrigue and manoeuvring, more character development, more epic fight and battle scenes, more huge plot twists that you don't see coming. The writing is brilliant, the dialogue is fantastic, and Wagers really paints a vivid picture...like this stuff is cinematic you guys! Where's my movie? Where's my TV show!? The world building is fantastic and the plot is strong and complex and just...freaking....amazing. I was hooked within no time at all, much like with the first book, by everything I've mentioned, and in this book there's more characters for you to love and get invested in, and more for you to hate and hope Hail gets vengeance on. Once again, I have been left wanting more, and I am so, genuinely excited to see what's going to happen next, because I know Wagers won't let me down!
I started reading this review and realized a bit too late that it was about a sequel, haha! I might look into the first book in the series then, because it sounds really good.
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