A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Orbit Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Be wary. Be clever. Be good.”

Two Twisted Crowns is able to take the momentum and pacing of One Dark Window and run with it to create the perfect ending to this duology. This book adds the POV of Ravyn and Elm, and both really are integral to the plot and pacing in this book. TCC begins just where ODW left off - with Elspeth gone and the Shepherd King in charge.

I loved the inverse of the dynamic Elspeth and the Nightmare/Shepherd King have in this book as compared to the last book - with the Nightmare in charge and Elspeth the voice in the head. It’s cleverly done, and it works as a great parallel to the first book and Elspeth’s degeneration as she works to heal herself and no longer be lost and alone in the second book.

We also learn more about the Nightmare/Shepherd King and who he is and how he became the monster we knew in ODW. I was a little wary of him being a more forefront character in this book as I wasn’t sure if he would work becoming more than the voice in Elspeth’s head - but he does. His characterization has changed a bit in TCC as he’s able to be more of his own person with his own motivations, but he doesn’t lose any of his speech patterns or mannerisms that he had in the first book

We also get to see more of Elm in this book as he has his own POV and multiple chapters where he’s separated from the rest of the characters. I liked him in the first book, but I absolutely LOVED him in this one. His character growth and actions are much more focused on in this book, and even in chapters where Elspeth and the Nightmare never appear I was fully invested in what was going on. He also gets his own romance storyline in this book that you can see the hints of in One Dark Window - and so when it develops in this book you can connect the strings and see the plot threads all the way back to the beginning.

It seems that everyone and their neighbor has said this, but I’ll also say it - the magic system in this duology is so unique I’ve never read anything like it. Rachel Gillig is able to take what we learned and understood about the Providence Cards from ODW and turn it on its head with the fuller understanding we get from the creator of them - the Shepherd King - while also staying within the rules she created in the first book. There’s a few draw-drop reveals about the power and magic of certain cards, as well as the true magic a certain character possesses - and his connection to the Shepherd King. Everything we learn makes sense - but I never saw a few of them coming .

This is the perfect bookend finale to the worldbuilding and plot that was created in One Dark Window, and while sometimes the sequel to a duology falls flat and doesn’t deliver, Two Twisted Crowns absolutely DOES. I cannot recommend this duology enough, and a part of me wishes I could wipe my memory of both these books so I could enjoy them completely new and be blown away again.

“There once was a girl, clever and good, who tarried in shadow in the depths of the wood. There also was a King, a shepherd by his crook, who reigned over magic and wrote the old book. The two were together, so the two were the same. The girl, the King, and the monster they became.”