Crowned by the Fae King

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Contains minor spoilers.

After becoming well acquaintated with Xarcassah Marys -Cass- in Caught in the Basilisk's Gaze, I was so eager for his book! Unlike the other books in the Monsters of Faery series, this one is not standalone. Without the context from Caught in the Basilisk's Gaze, many parts of Crowned by the Fae King won't make sense.

Quyen is definitely one my favorite MC's from the series. She is the first non-white main character, and the author did a great job sprinkling in bits of her Vietnamese culture. She's also fiery and a bit mean! Given how she arrived in faerie, I felt her reactions were genuine and relatable. I would probably be mean too if I was displaced into a world of immortals who turned me into slave.

The reader gets to know Cass pretty well in Caught, but in Crowned we get to know a totally different side of him. He's self conscious, insecure, and has a bone deep loneliness that Quyen spends much of the book trying to combat. Despite being the least monstrous of the male leads so far in this series, Cass' self consciousness feels all the more heart breaking because it's so real. He doesn't have monster parts, he doesn't have claws or even a tale and despite all that, he has spent his entire life being looked at as ugly by the fae. He's tall and imposing, a rugged brute instead of the ethereal beauty the fae usually appear as. The fact that his soul mate is a mortal is just salt in the wound, as he was always told that only mortals would want him.

Watching Cass and Quyen balence each other out throughout the book is such a perfect journey and I loved every step of the way.

Crowned is also the nexus of the series so far, finally connecting events from all the other stories and laying ground work for what will likely be a strong finale in the next book, Captive of the Shadow Prince.

Since Cass is a powerful mage, this book is much more magic heavy than the others. I struggled a bit to understand the magic system on a deeper level and it took me rereading certain passages a few times for things “click” for me. That being said, I enjoyed the ideas once I understood them. Dunlin is great at writing balanced characters. It can be frustrating when a character is oh so powerful with no explanation, and makes the obstacles feel petty. Dunlin's magic system holds just enough checks and balances to keep the reader on edge. There is no reassurance that a character will make it out alive just because they are powerful!

While Varis is still my favorite Monster Faery, I thoroughly enjoyed Cass' book and I give Crowned by the Fae King 5/5 stars. I am so excited for the final installment of this series, but in the meantime I'll likely catch up on her other series, Echoes of the Void.