Vika, as fiery as her red hair, lives on the isolated and tiny Ovchinin Island. Her magic is wild and acts in a way that imitates nature. Nikolai is an orphan who has grown up in the city of the tsar, St. Petersburg, and who has grown as close as a brother to the crown prince, Pasha. Nikolai’s magic works as smoothly as a clock’s gears, integrating itself into the very infrastructure of the city.
Two enchanters. Only one can win the title of Imperial Enchanter and assist the tsar. For the other, imminent death awaits.
In the introduction to The Crown’s Game, the game itself is explained.
The Crown’s Game is an old one, older than the tsardom itself. It began long ago, in the age of Rurik, Prince of Novgorod, when Russia was still a cluster of tribes, wild and lawless and young. As the country matured over the centuries, so too, did the game. But always, always it retained its untamed fierceness.
For the winner of the game, there would be imaginable power.
For the defeated, desolate oblivion.
The Crown’s Game was not one to lose.
Vika and Nikolai compete for the title of Imperial Enchanter, each act of magic more dangerous than the last. They both fight to win, but how can you defeat the one person you love? In the meantime, Pasha begins to decipher that the elaborate “decorations” and illusions around the city might be more than just smoke and mirrors, while also falling for the flame-haired girl.
For fans of Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus set against the backdrop of Imperial Russia, Evelyn Skye’s world comes to life in vivid color. As a scholar of Russian history and literature, Skye expertly creates an alternate universe for Imperial Russia; one that, while she takes some creative liberties, feels like a perfect merging of fact and fiction. A historical fantasy of the best kind, The Crown’s Game will have you wishing for more.
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| Author of The Crown's Game, Evelyn Skye |
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