Book Review: The Shattered Kingdom by Jon Cronshaw

Synopsis

The King is dead. The magic is failing. The Kingdom is fracturing.

The king is dead, assassinated before he could name an heir.

Now his daughters—Irmin, the warrior, Adelinde, the scholar, and Elana, the diplomat—must piece together a conspiracy that threatens not just the throne, but the very magic that maintains their civilization.

As the bonds between riders and wyverns begin to unravel, they race against time to expose a plot centuries in the making.

Failure means more than losing a crown—it means watching their entire world collapse.

Yet in a court where every ally could be an enemy, even sisters might not be able to trust each other.

The Review

This is the first book in yet another series by Jon Cronshaw set in his Ravenglass universe. I have to say these books get better and better. This one has a strong dose of political intrigue and mystery to work through.

An attack on the kingdom and assassination of the king throws everything into disarray and it is up to the King's three daughters to hold everything together while they work out who is behind the attack, and more importantly, how deep the corruption goes.

Ravenglass itself has been corrupted, something believed to be impossible. The eldest daughter, Elana, has been trained well in diplomacy, in anticipation she would rule one day. Her sister, Irmin, is a battle commander. But it is the youngest, bookish Adelinde, who uncovers patterns that may hold an explanation of what's happening, and why.

The wyverns who feature in all of the Ravenglass series are prominent here as wyvern riders form an important part of the military and there is a deep, psychic connection between the riders and their wyverns.

One familiar name turns up, a wyvern who has featured in various intrigues across all the various series. Like the other trilogies Cronshaw has released, you have to accept that the story is meant to be told in three parts and you'll need to read the full trilogy to get the whole story, just like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but that's no hardship as the writing is excellent and you just want more and more.

Highly recommended and an easy five stars!

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