Characters: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Pacing: 7/10
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS
“People are like trees…They remind us of how nature really works. How people really work. They change. Sometimes they change so much that they become ghosts of their former selves. But even under the pressure of the harshest winters and flames they never saw coming, when they find themselves stripped bare and without hope, they still have the potential to come back. They can hang on, weather the storm, and stand tall no matter how the winds change. And then they can grow strong again, maybe even stronger and better than they were before.”
The Lost King, the sixth installment in the Crisanta
Knight series, was an amazing read from start to finish. It was filled to
the brim with action and epic battles, as well as an extremely healthy dose of
character growth, suspense and some great plot twists!
What really raised the stakes for Crisanta and her gang this
time around was the magical fluctuation of the Vicennalia Aurora, which brought
out a stronger, more sinister and out-of-control version of the Pure Magic
Disease that we already saw at work in the previous books. This was really
exciting, since we definitely had not ever seen this darker side of the PMD so
far. It was in this book that I truly began to understand just how dangerous this
disease can be, and just how crazily it can change people. More and more we experience
Crisanta losing control of her powers, them taking over her will and emotions at
times, pushing her to become aggressive and unstable, causing her to be overtaken
by anger and vengeance until finally pushing her to kill someone.
At some points I was genuinely frustrated with Crisanta that
she was using more and more of her magic to save her friends, since I obviously
didn’t want her to go dark and cross the Malice Line as well as suffer Magic
Burnout. But I genuinely think that my frustration is evidence of her being a well-written
character. What ultimately makes a good character is someone who grows, is able
to evolve and learn from her mistakes, but also someone who will frustrate the
reader from time to time. This is what makes her relatable, more human and
realistic. Over the course of all of the books we have seen Crisanta go through
incredible growth, both as her own person, as well as in her interpersonal relationships.
However, she is also human and prone to error as she is faced with tough moral
decisions, such as whether it’s alright to take the life of an antagonist. I love
how this series has constantly been taking on difficult questions concerning
morality for its protagonists, which is not necessarily something I so obviously
see happening in other books. I appreciate the depth that this series brings to
the table, questioning the morality of the heroes, and asking difficult life
questions about what it means to not be perfect and live in “the gray”.
“Maybe the gray was not where people went to get lost. Maybe it was the perfect place to be reborn. For in that gray was the potential to be anything, to become anyone. Maybe even a queen.”
Furthermore, something that I also really appreciate and
love about this series is how it’s constantly challenging feminine stereotypes.
Again and again, Crisanta shows that it is totally possible and okay to be both
a hero but also embrace one’s own femininity in ways that includes princess
gowns and balls, as well as plated armor, swords and fighting. This series
promotes such amazing feminist ideals, which I am honestly just so happy about.
In this book, Crisanta ends up forcing the Shadow
that was living inside her brother out from his soul, which is not something
that I saw coming if I’m being honest. I now have a lot of hope that Alex will
be able to be redeemed as a character and turn good again. Considering some of Crisanta
and Alex’s interactions, I do feel like there is a lot of reason to think that
his character might turn back from pursuing evil, but I also can’t say for
sure. You can definitely tell that Alex still deeply cares for Crisanta, as he
doesn’t allow any of the antagonists to hurt her and saves her from being
killed in this book. There is definitely a deeper struggle happening inside of
him and I hope that the Shadow leaving him might have been the final push for
him to reconsider his decisions. I guess we’ll see!
We also find out that the evil “Mauvrey” that was on the side
of the antagonists who has tried to hurt Crisanta on multiple occasions might
not have actually been the real Mauvrey, but was actually Nadia all along. This
utterly shocked me. Up until that point I genuinely did think that Mauvrey had
always been herself/evil the whole time. Thinking about it, it does actually
make sense, since I’m pretty sure that Mauvrey and Crisanta have had some
non-hostile conversations with one another at Lady Agnue’s. I hope that SJ and
Merlin are able to quickly save her from the sleeping curse and that she’ll
eventually join Crisanta in her mission against the antagonists.
By the way, I totally called the fact that Arthur and
Gwenivere’s “dead” son was not actually dead! As soon as I read that they had a
child that had drowned at sea, I was fully convinced that that son was going to
make an appearance sometime. I however did not expect it to turn out to
be the one and only Peter Pan. This will for sure shake things up for Arthur in
Camelot in the future. I’m going to assume that that’s why this book is called The
Lost King. I thought it was referring to Arthur and his return to Camelot,
but my suspicion is that it’s actually a nod to the reveal of Peter’s royal
heritage, which in my opinion is incredibly sneaky! I do hope to see more of
Arthur, Gwenivere and Peter in the next books.
Chance was honest to God just so cute in this book, rebuilding
the training field and the Twenty-Three Skidd arena at Lady Agnue’s for
Crisanta. I don’t think that she will end up together with him, but I do hope
that they will end up as good friends! I just can’t help noticing that there are
some definite underlying romantic vibes between Crisanta and Daniel, even
though for now they are just best friends. I do hope that no matter what happens
between the two of them, he never ever ever ever EVER cheats on Kai. No matter
how flawed a character is, I really despise people cheating on their
significant others in books, even if the person they are cheating with is
supposed to be their soul mate.
Speaking of Daniel and Kai, I was pretty surprised to find
out that Daniel’s sword was actually the Balin Sword, which has cursed him with
the fate of having to kill Kai. I really hope it won’t happen, even though I do
have a nagging feeling that Kai will probably eventually die (even though I really
don’t want her to!). I hope that Crisanta is able to find some kind of
loophole to get Daniel out of the fate of killing her soon. Needless to say,
this reveal has definitely added an exciting new twist to the story, as
well as the repercussions that Crisanta is going to have to face after her Pure
Magic exploded at the end of the book, resulting in her killing a hunter. Not only
that, but Crisanta is also going to have to face a trial concerning what is
going to happen to her because she has Pure Magic Disease. Book 7 definitely
has a really interesting setup, and I honestly can’t wait to read it!
 by Geanna Culbertson){kind=link}
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