Vika and Nikolai are magical enchanters and now must compete with each other in The Crown's Game to become the Tsar's official enchanter of Russia. However, things are a bit complicated for the two when it's clear their magic is attracted to one another and even though they know that only one will be alive at the end of the game, they can't help but start falling in love with one another.

I listened to this book on audiobook and I really can't recommend it enough - it was fantastic. I was able to visually imagine and follow along with the entire story, from the setting to the magic as well as the characters and what they looked like. The accents were also excellent and the narrator did such a good job with both female and male characters and the different way they all talked, particularly noting their different statuses in Russian society.

I just loved everything about this book. I loved the type of magic Vika and Nikolai had and their different strengths and weaknesses and how they could build on what each other had created and really flowed together. I did love the relationship between the two and how it built up slowly, slowly until the last heartbreaking scene between them.

I could have done without Pasha being such a central character. I just didn't care for him and his obsession with Vika, though I do appreciate how he accepted she wasn't that into him and he wasn't going to force her feelings and stepped away. I do think his reaction to Nikolai's magic was a bit over the top. I also think Nikolai's meeting with his mother ended up a bit flatter than I had been expecting (though I do expect her to cause a huge kerfuffle in the second book).

This book is like The Night Circus meets Anastasia and it's honestly magical, Russian perfection.