Rating: 4.75🌈
Contested Crown, the second novel in The Empty Throne Trilogy, hits so many high marks. It easily overcomes the usual second book syndrome in a series, by ramping up the multiple storylines Butler has already established in the first book. The author does a great job introducing new characters whose meaning and connections to the men on the run are clouded by the new dark mysteries forming. Some of these new storylines include elements that are of a wildly magical nature while others are deeply rooted within the supernatural drug-related crime world.
It picks up right after the shocking events of Exiled Heir, with mage Cade and werewolf Miles on the run after Cade , Prince of House Bartlett, was betrayed by those closest to him m, stealing his throne and his heritage. But Miles, whose real name is Miles Castillo, is also a dethroned Prince in hiding from the very man he’s on the run with.
Butler’s narrative explores this tangled relationship that’s full of potential conflict between two cruelly connected pasts , pasts with dangerous secrets . The author’s dramatic choice to make the suspenseful , angst filled , hunted run the driving force behind the story is a fantastic narrative springboard.
Emotionally, the forced intimacy, their continued dependency under these circumstances, the constant peril, and the growing affection/attachment towards each other that this trip is allowing them to feel, it’s everything the reader wants and the author’s storytelling is beautifully achieving. It packs a darkly magical, sexual punch.
Butler’s writing simultaneously moves into new areas here with Cade and Miles, especially with regard to their magic, the use of tattoos, and the return of a old friend. The new creativity here giving their world more depth and diversity in its magical history as well as using it in the current criminal scene.
There’s so many great twists and shocks here, ones to delight and horrify. This is a book once you get started it’s impossible to put down.
That ending especially is a killer.
Now everything is in place for the dramatic events and tumultuous times to come in Ascendant King. That can’t be here quickly enough.
One last note, Contested Crown, as magnificent as it is, is definitely a bridge novel. It doesn’t exist without the first book . Nor the one to come. As a reader you must have read that first book, and have the knowledge to go along with it to understand and appreciate the events and stories that happen here.
I’m highly recommending you read both because both are outstanding.
The Empty Throne Trilogy:
✓ Exiled Heir #1
✓ Contested Crown #2
â—¦ Ascendant King #3 – June 17,2024
Buy Link:
Contested Crown (The Empty Throne Trilogy)
Blurb:
I can’t give him up, even if it costs me my life…
Miles and Cade are on the run. Without money, protection, or allies they have only each other to rely on as they flee the most powerful mage house in the country. Unfortunately, the outside world is even more dangerous than the lion’s den they just escaped from.
No matter how right it feels to have the mage prince relying on him, Miles knows the closer they get to each other the more dangerous it is for both of them.
A new mage house is Cade’s only chance to survive the magical war he started. With House Morrison exclusively interested in Cade, Miles will be left out in the cold. And can he stay with Cade when every moment together risks revealing Miles’s deepest secret?
• Publisher: (February 26, 2024)
• Publication date: February 26, 2024
• Print length: 468 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 