The conclusion of A Crown of Shards focuses on the vengeance of a woman who found herself Queen by the sheer cruelty of her murderous cousin. The effect of said conclusion? While it wasn't the hardest hitting ending, it still put up a great fight.

Evie has been seeking alliances with other empires outside of Svalin and Seven Spire since she was crowned Queen after her cousin's brutal massacre of the entire royal family caused her to stand up to her and fight. in Crush the King, the annual Regalia, an event showcasing the strength of each empire, is the main fighting ground for the relentless royals who will stop at nothing to see each other killed.

It was a pleasant surprise to see that Evie's enemies stretched beyond her distaste for Maevan and her assistance in the Seven Spire massacre. The Mortan King proves to be quite the adversary, and following the two and their vicious attacks against each other is a wild ride. The Mortan King is a strong character, both in character building and magic. Discovering the method in which he enhances his own magic shows just what a monster he truly is - and Evie being able to discover it before he wipes her out completely is a breath of relief for fans of the Queen.

The strong aspects of this book lay in the loyalty Evie's friends and royal workers have for her. The way they stand up for her and stick by her is reminiscent of the loyalty of the Golden Trio in the Harry Potter series. Serilda and Paloma are the best people she could ever have on her side, and a lot of the reason she even survived as much as she did.

The overall story of the trilogy in general was gripping. But the flaws that do exist are glaring, and could be corrected in future Crown of Shards novels when they do come out focusing on other characters.

The biggest issue lies within Evie's character. The only two times in memory of the whole series that she was hurt enough to be incapacitated were in the first book, after she was blasted over the wall by her cousin and landed in the water, and in Crush the King, when she was blasted down by an assassin in front of a large amount of people at the Regalia. Evie has a very strong "nothing can touch me and I'm going to find a solution to everything" aspect to her. She could be put in the most dangerous situation possible and come out on the other side, mostly unharmed. There is a term that may or may not exist anymore that describes a character like this: "Mary Sue." She isn't perfect in the sense of her attitude and some of the choices she makes, but she has all the aspects of a Mary Sue like character.

Another glaring issue, especially in Crush the King, are the intimate scenes between Evie and Sullivan. They feel completely unnecessary and are poorly written - if they weren't quite as stereotype, rushed, or ridiculous, the randomness may have been possible to forgive.

All in all, Crush the King mostly hit its mark. The conclusion of the book itself was a mixture of bittersweet and an anti-climactic disappointment. For a series built so highly on action and intense world and character building, it didn't feel quite 'right' to end Evie's story in the way Estep did.

This still gets a 4/5 stars. One star is knocked off for the two reasons above.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this before release!

I've been provided this copy in exchange for my honest review. Jennifer Estep has done it again, this is the perfect conclusion to her trilogy. I love these characters so much. I'm always instantly drawn into her worlds and captivated from the start. Loved it!

Estep has been one of my "must-read" authors for some time and this installment was no different! I was given a complimentary copy through NetGalley but the review is 100% mine. I came into the book hoping to find Estep's fluid writing style with a colorful, vibrant world full of adventure, intrigue, and passions of all kinds. I honestly got what I expected in the writing, the world creation, the character building, and the plotline itself. I will say I had a hard time respecting and liking Evie as a Queen. She is in her late 20's but behaves pretty immaturely in my opinion, however, I did keep her life in mind as someone who lived around the courts but not raised to rule. Overall she handled things like an average person would handle being in power so I didn't take any stars off for my personal feelings of unsureness. Overall the character lineup is so diverse, rich with personality and drama, and kept the book moving at a very pleasant pace. I loved the intrigue, the Regalia chapters, and Sullivan and Evie's romance. I highly recommend the series and this book!

I've read many a title by Jennifer Estep, and I'm a fan of her Elemental Assassin series. She has found a recipe that works, and has continued to use it in this Crown of Shards series.

I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
It was a great book!
Everleigh has survived the mass murder of her family.
Now, it is time to turn the tables on her enemies.
Will Everleigh have the strenght to prevail ?
The characters + storytelling were very captivating
It has all the ingredients that you need for an awesome book!
I can't wait for the next book in the series!

I love this series. I picked up the first book from my local bookstore when it was first published and I did not expect to fall into the pages the way I did. I really love stories that are developed and created this way, with action, romance, fantastic character development. Congratulations Estep, you have created an epic world of fantasy, magic and romance that leaves readers thirsting for the next one.

Crush the King by Jennifer Estep is the third book in her fantasy series Crown of Shards. As with the previous two books this one is filled with both action and political strategy. Estep does a great job of making all of her characters seems real and well-rounded. I love Evie as a main character because she will do anything to protect her friends and her kingdom. Well, almost anything . . . it was great to see her struggle with the idea of doing terrible things and to see which lines she would cross and which she wouldn't.

This entry into the series focused less on the romantic story-line that previous books. Which could be unsatisfying to some readers, but I found that I didn't miss it and was comforted by Sullivan's solid presence around the edges of the story. We were treated to some fun back and forth banter that reminded us of the connection between Evie and Sullivan.

This book focused more on the political machinations of all the surrounding nations but putting all the royals together at one event. Unfortunately for Evie, not all battle take place in the gladiator ring and she has to use her wits (and dancing skills) to both stay alive and stay in control. I can appreciate Evie's skills at taunting her enemies. She truly excels at the "long game" and is able to push her foes right to the brink - and exactly where she wants them.

I found the ending of the book to be very satisfying. Will there be another in the series? Estep left room for more, but also tied it up well enough that we wouldn't be forever wondering what happened next. (Personally, I'd love to see Paloma the star of a spin-off trilogy).

All in all, this was a great book for me, and I couldn't help but speed through it to the end. To get the full experience, I'd recommend reading the first two books in the series before starting this one - it will be worth it.

I Love this series! This installment is just as action-packed and filled with intrigue and twists as the previous two. I was really disappointed that Sullivan is no more than a background blip in this story, though. Now that Everleigh and he are together, he just melts into the walls only to come out if she needs sex. Why can’t a couple fight together? Evie utilizes her other friends but we see nothing of Sullivan’s strengths. *sigh*. Otherwise it is absolute awesomeness!

A great third in a book in a series. If anything, I enjoyed this book more than the previous two. The first two (Kill the Queen and Protect the Prince) were both good, but this one features the queen, Evie, in her element. She's confident in her power, and doesn't fumble as she may have in previous books.

She's bad-ass, and I don't say that lightly. I loved her cunning machinations and the way she manipulated her enemies.

The other two books have been split between plot and romance, but no more. Sure, Evie and Sullivan are lovey-dovey occasionally, but that's really not in the forefront of this book. It is all (refreshingly) about Queen Everleigh and her quest to finally defeat the king of Morta to protect her kingdom and her life.

The only minor complaint that I have is that Evie seems nearly invincible by the end of this book. I never doubted that she would be successful.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for free in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions are my own.

Queen Everleigh of Bellona and her gladiator friends take on their enemy King Maximus of Morta in a final showdown. When all royals show up to the Regalia games it’s a chance to align forces and look your enemy in the eyes. After several assassination attempts Everleigh now gets to evaluate her enemy in person. What she see’s is what she knows; Maximus is pure evil. How will Everleigh defeat him?

The Crown of Shards series has been a fast paced, fun series. Full of action and heart I’ve come to love these characters and am excited to see how their story concludes but am kind of sad as well. Everleigh’s character has evolved from ignored semi-royal, to warrior woman gladiator, to royalty but her inner strength has been consistent. I’ve always loved a heroine who is loyal, a fighter, and wins friends through her strength of character. Everleigh is just that kind of woman, and she kicks some serious butt too!

Crush the King turns the focus from love to revenge, which is a little bit different for this series. Everleigh has always had her sights set on getting even, but this time there’s a face to the evil she’s been fighting, and Maximus is truthfully awful. Mean, arrogant, and evil, he’s everything readers love to hate and I was easily caught up in Everleigh’s feelings for this man and couldn’t wait for her to defeat him. The story in between their first meeting and the final outcome had a lot of action, but it also had a lot of heart. Maximus’s bastard sister, Maeven, who had been the face of his evil in previous books also appears here, but it’s her son Leonides who steals my heart. How such an innocent lives in the midst of that madness makes him so interesting! I know this is a trilogy, but you hope for a fourth novel just to see a continuation of his story.

If you’re a fan of fantasy novels, as am I, this series is already on your radar. If you haven’t read it yet? You need to move it up on your TBR because it’s seriously good.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Evie has evolved so much from book one that it's like she's been reborn into the bolder, fiercer woman she was meant to be. Once she existed in the shadows, simply trying to blend into the background to keep from becoming a target. In the second installment, she had an adjustment period where she settled into being the new queen. In Crush the King, all of Evie's preparations and plans will now be put to the test. Maeven isn't the only enemy she has, in fact, the king of Morta and the DiLucri family pose the biggest threat to her safety. We all know that the Mortans have been attempting to kill the Blairs in order to take the kingdom of Bellona. The DiLucri's are far less transparent, but whatever the reasons for their attacks, it seems to be far more sinister than Evie anticipates.

Evie is inundated with assassination attempts in this book. It seems like it's a constant stream coming from every direction, but since the massacre of her family, she's worked hard to be prepared to fight for her life at a moment's notice. And fight she does. Her large group of friends and protectors are always nearby to assist her in dispatching any difficult enemies, but she's more than capable of handling things on her own. Not only is she physically strong, but she really has a firm grip on the capabilities of her magic. She used to think that her magic was weak, simply something to use on the defense, but her immunity can also be used in powerful ways to attack as well. I enjoyed seeing her flex her magic muscles in this book.

As much as I enjoyed the plentiful fight scenes, the games between the royals were something to behold. All of the kingdoms converged at the Regalia competition, and the plotting and backstabbing started the instant the festivities began. Evie didn't hesitate to face off with anyone who challenged her or attempted to make her look weak. She had a strong plan going in, and if she was successful, she'd be well on her way to having a more secure kingdom for her people.

We really got to understand the depth of King Maximus' depravity in this installment. We knew from the beginning that he was dangerous when it came to Evie, but even his family members and countrymen were not exempt from his wrath. He rules with fear and cruelty, whereas Evie earns loyalty with respect and love. I really loved the bond she has with her friends, and Paloma in particular had a developed history that is just starting to be revealed. I'd seen hints of it coming earlier on, and my suspicions were basically confirmed. This side story as well as Maeven and the mystery of the DiLuca family is left up in the air which leads me to believe there are more books to come in this series. I always though this would be a trilogy, but the ending potentially left room for more.

I would have liked to have seen Sullivan play a bigger role in this book. He felt more like just another person on her team rather than her love interest. But overall, the lack of romance didn't bother me all that much. If the series ends here, it would be in a good place for all, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the possibility to continue on with more in the Crown of Shards saga.

What an amazing conclusion to this series! I could not put this book down and loved seeing Evie’s character grow through all three books. Very satisfied with her character and the plot of this conclusion but wished to see a little more growth with her relationships with her friends and Sullivan. Overall, recommend and now it looks like there might be more books coming from this world- CAN’T WAIT!!

The only thing that could have made this better is a 500-page epilogue of all the things that happen next. I loved this - it was absolutely perfect. Everleigh is in top form. There are some great new characters in this along with her usual allies. There's a great mix of gladiator battles and royal intrigue and magical fight scenes. There's some new backstory for Evie. There are some new questions and wrinkles raised here that aren't addressed by the end. The author has said she will still write stories in this world, but I think this is the end of this specific arc. And it was stellar. Don't miss this!! (Language, sex, violence)

Amazing read! What a well-written, adventurous, totally action-packed story! I seriously love this series. The characters are amusing and enjoyable. I sure hope we have not seen the last of Queen Everleigh along with her friends and her foes.

*Non spoiler review

Summary: I am Queen Everleigh Blair of Bellona hear me roar!

This book is different from the first two and really shows the growth Everleigh has undergone. Everything is finally coming together for Everleigh; she has family, friends, and a stable relationship. However, one thing still needs to occur for Everleigh to have her happy ending, and that is to get rid of the King, who threatens not only Bellona but multiple kingdoms. Add that to the action packed setting of the Regalia Games, and you have a wonderful final book that brings together Queen Everleigh ability to show why she is Queen.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for this arc.

This was the third in this series following Kill the Queen and Protect the Prince. They should probably be read in order. I have read them in order and really enjoyed the first two books and was looking forward to this one as well. But this whole book felt rushed... like just get it over and done with and MOVE ON. There was action, there was court intrigue, there were the "usual suspects", familiar faces, a couple of new characters, but they all felt like they just "phoned in" their lines. I just didn't feel the same tension in this book as in the previous two. I enjoyed it, but still feel let down.

Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3) by Jennifer Estep is the most recent installment of one of my current favorite adult epic fantasy series. I was thrilled to have been approved to have the chance to read this early for review since I've loved both previous installments. Needless to say, my expectations were sky high and luckily for me I loved every second of this too. I don't know how Estep does it, but this series just keeps getting better. It's great to be back in this world and see Everleigh and Sullivan again. It's really sucked me right in. It has just about everything you could want from magic, epic battles, intrigue, and just the right amount of romance. If you haven't started this series yet, what are you waiting for? I'm hoping that we'll get to see more of this world again in the future. I need to read more of Jennifer Estep's novels to tide myself over until that time.

Wow, I couldn’t get enough of this book!

Everleigh Blair has survived a mass murder, became a gladiator, and became the new queen. Now she is playing the long game to defeat her enemies and the Realia games are the perfect time to strike. With her friends at her side, Evie goes on the attack and slowly takes her enemies down one by one.

I love this series and I don’t want it to end. I actually started and finished other books while reading this to prolong the ending because I wasn't ready for it to end. Evie is such a kickass character and an amazing queen. I just can’t get enough of her. Actually, every character in this series was amazing, even the villains, which is another reason why this is such a good series. I loved how Evie played the long game to take down King Maximus. She used all her skills, not just her magic, to reach her end goal and protect the kingdoms. I so admire her for that. I don’t really want to say much more than that about this book because I don’t want to spoil anything inadvertently.

Overall, this is an amazing fantasy series that I totally recommend. I really hope we see more of this world in the future because I am not ready to let this amazing world go. Maybe a Paloma story or Leonidas story?

*ARC provided by Netgalley for an honest review.*

Definitely the weakest of the series thus far, Crush the King takes the trope-heavy style of the previous book to another level. Drifting from conflict to conflict with increasing stakes, Crush the King leaves behind important facets of a well-rounded story, namely character development.

The previous books have all been about how Evie grows and adapts to the challenges that she faces, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. She's suddenly so sure of the extent of her magic that she doesn't hesitate to use it in times of danger. Fine, maybe she's practiced. However, when she faces increasingly ridiculous levels of magic that she counteracts with no apparent consequences? That's just lazy. Plus, her memories of childhood and using her magic as a weapon goes against what we learned of her in the first book: that she had never THOUGHT to weaponize her uncanny magic before.

The supporting cast was also strangely absent. Paloma and Sullivan, who both played huge and crucial roles in especially the first book, now only exist for banter and sex, respectively. Like, on 3-4 separate occasions Evie sneaks out of bed while Sullivan is sleeping - like, if he's not going to be present, why is he here? Why did we spend two whole books chasing after him just to have him as a decision? Also - Cho who? Serilda who? Xenia who?

And the villains. Maximus was a cartoon villain. He was predictable and garish and superior. Most of the words out of his mouth consisted of gloating over his superiority or dismissing someone or yelling at someone. Boring. At least Maeven has a little bit of something going for her - and that something is two previous books where she was a sincere threat and a clever antagonist. Even Evie's interactions with these characters sounded like a confrontation straight out of an animated Disney movie (with some cursing thrown in).

One thing that Estep does exceedingly well, though, are fight scenes. She almost goes out of her way to find an excuse to write a sword fight or melee in at least every 50 pages. Plus, the structure of a world built on a gladiator tradition remains really freaking cool.

The "Crown of Shards" series is an amazing, brave tail of survival, percerverience, and comaradere.

This book and series does an amazing job with creating strong, realistic and relatable characters. I love how they build their team and as the series evolves truly become a force to be recond with.

I really hope this is not the end of this series or characters because there is so much more that can be expolred. I loved this glimpse into an amazing world and these beloved characters.

This story kept me up way to late!! I could barely put it down and it had me on the edge of my seat. Complete win and I highly recommend it!!

I would love to have the opportunity to read more about the magical creatures Evie encounters and their magicical abilities.

And let me just say Evies power WOW I am just blown away and I feel if Jennefer wanted to expand this world we havent seen anything yet. I look forward to reading more of her books.

I recieved this book from NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an honest review.