This book had an amazing premise and I couldn’t pass up the chance to read it! It was gripping and magical and drew me in from the get go! The main character was a little hard for me to connect with, but it still was a great read!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so gripping! The combination of magic, world-building, and a dive into madness made this one I couldn't put down until it was done. The slow fall into darkness and fantasy was really well done.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The idea of this book-alternating between our world and a fantasy type world where docile, mindless "thralls" are kept as servants-is unique. However, I couldn't get engaged with the book or feel bad for the main character, so it was tough going to get through the book.

It's always funny when a movie starts out as a dream. Not sure if I ever read a book that way, but it was a nice surprise. We are introduced to our main character Sasha who is a ballet dancer. She is currently practicing for swan lake as the lead, and of course everyone is jealous. We are also introduced to James, the witty director who makes jokes.

Sasha has had a rough life, and she is doing everything she can to keep it together. Though as she gets older she starts to become more like her mom, which could be a good thing or a bad thing we aren't sure yet. At the end of her moms life her mental health started to decline and she was having nightmares. Now with the stress of swan lake Sasha is getting them too, and she is not happy about it. Sasha starts to wonder if it is the stress of her dance, or if she is going crazy.

I was very pleased with how this book played out, and thankful that it is a stand alone. So many people do series now, and its always refreshing to read a book and then not have to wait a year for the next one.

I thought the concept of this book was really cool. I blurred the lines of reality and used the book to do that. I also like the strong female protagonist that we get with Sasha, I wish that there were not formatting errors but it was a small price to pay, I also hope that there will be more books in this series.
The one con that I will say exists was I thought that her leaving the reality of Emily, James, and Dave kind of felt under-done to me. I thought there would be more flashes back as she entered the reality of her as a thrall. But if that is my only qualm then I would say it was definitely worth the read.

I struggled to get into the book due to the real v dream-like settings. The description of the book caught my attention, but the actual story line and characters did not hold it. This was a DNF for me.

DARK FANTASY THAT EXPLORES THE LINE BETWEEN MAGIC AND INSANITY

This was a hauntingly dark book that had me guessing a lot of the time. I am a fan of dark fantasy and this was probably some of the darkest I have read in a long time.

"Something dark, something dangerous has been stalking me from the shadows of sleep and it's getting closer"
- Sasha


👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Premise: Sasha is a ballerina who suffers from nightmares. But the nightmares become increasingly real and soon she is pulled into the magical world of her nightmares. I really liked this idea of 'madness' as a result of magic from another world. It was a very interesting and compelling premise.

Darkness: This book has pretty much everything of the dark variety - slavery, madness, nightmares, repression, the whole shebang. I loved the nitty, gritty feeling of this book, the clawing darkness, the oppressive feeling I had all the way through. Sure, it had bursts of happiness and joy, but they were fleeting. And honestly, I kind of liked that.

Characters: This book has many different characters that I enjoyed, I even liked hating on the bad characters. Sasha, our heroine, is determined but also fragile - a combination I really liked. Luca, our love interest, was sweet, heroic and pretty much everything a knight in shining armor should be. Sadra, Sasha's best friend, was strong and resilient, just as I like it.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

World building: This is set in a clearly rich world, however, I was missing more knowledge of it. It has many different facets - Light, Gifts, the Pall, factions, monarchy and so much more. I was wishing for more elaboration on these different things that made up the world of this book.

The Chalice and the Crown, Kassandra Flamouri

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy, Teens and YA

I'm way past the target age range, but reviews suggested that this book would still appeal and I've loved other fantasy reads aimed at this age group. Sadly I'm on the fence about this one.

I really liked the sound of this, a very different fantasy read and was excited to start. I found Sasha hard to like though, she's really not a particularly nice girl to those around her. I know she's worried about becoming ill like her mother, but that's more recent and her behaviour seems to have always been like this.
I was puzzled at how things changed, how she actually got pulled in to the other world, it seemed one page she was in this world, worrying about illness, feeling strange and then she was in the next, though her body remained here. I didn't see the transition, needed a bit more detail there.
Then she's in a horrible situation, has become a thrall, among thousands more. For a time she simply doesn't realise who or what she is but slowly that changes. Even then she's still a hard to understand person, there are flashes of when she knows there's something wrong, but mostly she carries on. As with the best war/slave/fantasy reads there's an underground movement though and they see Sasha as someone they can help.....

I found the writing absorbing but the actual story very difficult to follow. I didn't wholly see how things worked, how they found potential thralls, how they pulled them in. Sasha still remained someone I found difficult to understand.
I felt this book had a lot going on, but jumped too quickly from one situation to the next without fully explaining how things happened or worked. As a reader I had to follow the text and guess. There were explanations for parts, but other things just had to be accepted and the reader just go with. Its hard to explain, the apostate for instance, this person/name just popped up without explanation of who or what he was, ( other than he lived on an island) and yet he was a fairly important part of the story.
Overall for me it was an ok read, not one I'd re-read, and one that left me with questions as I was reading that largely seemed to be unanswered. If things like that don't bother you, then like others you may love this unique fantasy read.

Stars: Three, an on the fence read for me. I loved parts but there were too many unanswered puzzles for me.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

I wish I could have given this book the read I wanted to. The formatting errors are so frequent and so bad that I just couldn’t get through the first few pages. After sliding through many pages and seeing the errors continue, I gave up. Someone really needs to fix the issues here. Most notably, the words all blend together and form one long word the reader has to break apart and decipher to understand what is being said. Horrible reading experience. And what a waste, too, because the premise of the book sounds interesting.

The Chalice and the Crown is a wonderful, YA fantasy novel for fans of Danielle Jensen's Malediction Trilogy and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. While the method of transportation to the City of Roses is similar to Carroll's Alice, that is really where the similarities end.

Sasha is a young, Russian prima ballerina. Like many ballerina's she is obsessed with perfecting her craft and because of this her health suffers. She is plagued by nightmares of a distant land where she is a thrall (or slave). Dreams and reality merge when Sasha's soul is ripped from her and transported to the thrall's body. She must use on her wits and her friends to find a way to escape and return home. Along the way she finds love and friendship while trying to change the history of slavery in the kingdom.

Flamouri's debut novel (she had previously had a few short story anthologies) is well written and the pacing keeps you engaged throughout the book. She has interwoven bits of Russian culture without going over the top. For example, the pet name "kotik" or little kitten that grandma Nadia calls Sasha. Or the traditional Russian lullaby, "Bayu Bayushki", which is prevalent throughout Sasha's story as a coping mechanism for the young heroine. The only thing that would really tip you off is Sasha doesn't have a patronymic but instead has a patronymic surname (Nikolayeva means of Nikolai) which happens with first generation Russian-Americans.

Overall 4 stars for The Chalice and the Crown. I was very pleased with how The Chalice and the Crown concluded. This is a standalone YA which was very refreshing and Flamouri did a fantastic job tying up loose ends. The romance was sweet but not the focal point. There are a number of dark themes but the author does a great job cautioning any readers who may see these as a potential trigger.

This book was so different at first I didn’t know what to think about it. The premise is a little strange and after reading it I’m not quite sure I really understand what was happening. But other than a few loose ends the story sucked me in to a one sitting read. I enjoyed the story especially since it was a much different fantasy story than I have read ever before.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Wow. This book took me on a wild ride. I went into this book not knowing what to expect.

The Chalice and the Crown is a book that gets very dark at times. Our main character is Sasha Nikolayeva, a ballerina following in her Mother, and Grandmothers footsteps. She has been chosen to be the lead in Swan Lake, and as pressure builds we see a bit of Black Swan style psychological pressure, as Sasha’s mind starts to unravel she struggles with memory loss and understanding what is real and what isn’t. She finds herself in a whole other world where she, and others like her are no more than slaves., or “Thralls” mindless, and obedient, these slaves exist solely to do the bidding of those that own them. The people in the City of Roses have no idea that underneath, these slaves are real people.

I really had a lot of feelings reading this book. First, I need to praise the author for a job well done, while reading this I really felt that fear, and terror while Sasha was breaking down. The tension felt so heavy. Throughout the book I felt like I was holding my breath through moments of suspense. I also want to mention that although this book started out by having subtle similarities of some of the themes found in Black Swan, it quickly transformed into something beautifully original. I would love to see more in this world!!

*I received a copy of this e-book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I tried really hard to get into this but it was not what I had pictured. Im very disappointed.

The Chalice and Crown was a really good and entertaining story! I thought the story was entirely unique and a fun read. We follow Sasha through a "portal" of sorts, which is her mind rather than some sort of object. It was a really nice concept and Flamouri's writing style is really nice and easy to follow. My only hesitation to give more stars is that I felt the world and characters could use more development. At times, I felt like information was given in a rushed manner. I also thought the relationships Sasha forms seemed a bit rushed as well.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book! It was a fun read and I very unique. I loved the storyline!

The Chalice and the Crown is a beautifully written. A dark and vivid read that takes your breath away with the sinister and deceptively beautiful world it creates.
A must read.