"The Ring and the Crown" by Melissa de la Cruz

(image borrowed from goodreads.com)

4/5 stars

Set in an alternate early 1900s England, The Ring and the Crown follows the stories of several characters as they attempt to navigate the London season. 

Princess Marie-Victoria, as heir to the throne, must marry to make an alliance with a neighboring country to end a war, and secure the royal line. Aelwyn, the daughter of the Mage of England, has recently returned to London after a magical misshape four years ago that banned her from court.  American Ronan is on her way to London for the season to make a marriage match and save her family from financial disaster.  Wolf would rather participate in underground fight matches than face his duties as a Prince of Prussia and attend the London season to celebrate his brother’s engagement.  And Isabelle has just had her engagement broken and must now face the court that caused it.

The Ring and the Crown is a story that has everything you would expect in a book set during the London season: romance, political intrigue, duels, and murder attempts.  What makes this story different is the large presence of magic.  This entire world is completely dependent on magic and it is used to show wealth and power.  If you don’t have magicians at your every beck and call, then you are nothing. 

The characters in this story are very strong, although you don’t really see a whole lot of development.  All of the characters with POVs are very likable, even though they have plenty of personal flaws.  You see the biggest changes with Marie-Victoria and Aelwyn, as they discover their roles in the world and make decisions based on what’s best for others, rather than themselves.  If there are changes with the other characters, they’re kind of minor.  Ronan and Isabelle sort of just get tossed to the side at the end.

I think my biggest problem with the story was the pacing.  The first three quarters of the book had a nice, steady pace.  You were introduced to the characters and the world, and everything was explained well.  But then at the end, everything speeds up!  All of a sudden, all the big dramatic stuff is happening with little explanation.  I was left a little dizzy and a tad confused.  I’m just going to go ahead and assume that many of these things will be answered in the sequel (goodreads says that this is book 1, so I’m assuming this will become a series).

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to anyone who loves books about royalty and the London season.  This is a fascinating new twist to the London season and I enjoyed every minute!

I was given an ARC of this book through the publisher in exchange for an honest review.