FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
In the first of a new fantasy series, narrated by Eileen Stevens, the listener is taken to Kichona, an Asian-inspired land of magic. While on a routine scouting mission, apprentice warriors Sora and Daemon come across an unusual gathering. The two soon find themselves embroiled in a plot against their kingdom and must match wits against a foe long thought dead. Stevens’s narration is varied in character voices and tone. However, her slow pacing and the oddness of some of her tonal choices take away from the intensity of the dramatic scenes. These weaknesses make her sound disengaged at times. Overall, Stevens gives a serviceable performance. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
11/05/2018
Skye (The Crown’s Game) mixes original story elements with familiar components in this middling series opener about war coming to a peaceful kingdom. A decade ago in Kichona, Prince Gin rebelled against his older twin, Empress Aki, in a Blood Rift that ended with Gin’s apparent death. Now, 18-year-old apprentice taiga warriors and mentally linked partners Sora and Daemon discover a group of soldiers in a remote part of the kingdom, led by Prince Gin himself. It falls to them and their friends, Fairy and Broomstick, to convince the taiga leaders that the threat is real—and, barring that, to use their ninjalike skills, magic, and wits to defend Kichona. Time-honored tropes include unhelpful adults and individuals who aren’t, after all, dead, and the prose is sometimes stale (“Everything was quiet. Too quiet”). But Skye’s magic, conveyed via the taiga and Gin’s soldiers, proves unusual and interesting, and the cliffhanger ending will leave readers who can overlook the volume’s flaws eager for the series’s next installment. Ages 13–up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
Heart-stopping action and breath-stealing twists kept me up late into the night, but the fierce camaraderie between the characters is what cemented my love for Circle of Shadows. Work hard, mischief harder—and read this book as soon as you can!” — Sara Raasch, New York Times bestselling author of the Snow Like Ashes series and These Rebel Waves
“I was captivated by this lush and beautifully written story of courage, treachery, and deceit.” — Jennifer A. Nielsen, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Traitor’s Game
“Epic in scale, immersive and imaginative, Circle of Shadows will reel you in and refuse to let you go. Evelyn Skye weaves extraordinary worlds, with a magic any taiga would envy–I never wanted to leave Kichona.” — Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling co-author of the Illuminae series
“Dark. Thrilling. Intoxicating. Evelyn Skye has created a sumptuously exquisite world brimming with heart-pounding danger, shocking twists, and spellbinding magic.” — Kerri Maniscalco, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Praise for THE CROWN’S FATE: “A memorable alternate history and a page-turner full of surprises.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Praise for THE CROWN’S FATE: “Fans of The Crown’s Game will be delighted” — Booklist
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “Wildly romantic, wholly immersive, and gloriously over-the-top.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “Readers will eagerly await the next installment.” — School Library Journal
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “The Crown’s Game is a captivating tale that deftly transports readers to a mysterious and fascinating fantasy world, one teeming with hidden magic and fiery romance.” — Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “Gorgeous and richly imagined, The Crown’s Game is a dazzling exploration of the choices we make when faced with impossible situations and our darker selves. Readers will fall unabashedly in love with this novel.” — Sara Grochowski, Brilliant Books
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “It was beautiful. It was terrible. I loved it.” — Hafsah Faizal, Icey Books
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “The Night Circus meets Cinderella in an alternate Russia. This extraordinary world has everything from insanely creative acts of magic, political intrigue, hope against all odds, romance, and oh-such-high-stakes-non-stop action. It is hands-down honest-to-goodness brilliant. Bravo.” — Angela Mann, Keplers Books
Sara Grochowski
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “Gorgeous and richly imagined, The Crown’s Game is a dazzling exploration of the choices we make when faced with impossible situations and our darker selves. Readers will fall unabashedly in love with this novel.
Sabaa Tahir
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “The Crown’s Game is a captivating tale that deftly transports readers to a mysterious and fascinating fantasy world, one teeming with hidden magic and fiery romance.
Sara Raasch
Heart-stopping action and breath-stealing twists kept me up late into the night, but the fierce camaraderie between the characters is what cemented my love for Circle of Shadows. Work hard, mischief harder—and read this book as soon as you can!
Kerri Maniscalco
Dark. Thrilling. Intoxicating. Evelyn Skye has created a sumptuously exquisite world brimming with heart-pounding danger, shocking twists, and spellbinding magic.
Amie Kaufman
Epic in scale, immersive and imaginative, Circle of Shadows will reel you in and refuse to let you go. Evelyn Skye weaves extraordinary worlds, with a magic any taiga would envy–I never wanted to leave Kichona.
Jennifer A. Nielsen
I was captivated by this lush and beautifully written story of courage, treachery, and deceit.
Booklist
Praise for THE CROWN’S FATE: “Fans of The Crown’s Game will be delighted
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Praise for THE CROWN’S FATE: “A memorable alternate history and a page-turner full of surprises.
Hafsah Faizal
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “It was beautiful. It was terrible. I loved it.
Angela Mann
Praise for THE CROWN’S GAME: “The Night Circus meets Cinderella in an alternate Russia. This extraordinary world has everything from insanely creative acts of magic, political intrigue, hope against all odds, romance, and oh-such-high-stakes-non-stop action. It is hands-down honest-to-goodness brilliant. Bravo.
Booklist
Praise for THE CROWN’S FATE: “Fans of The Crown’s Game will be delighted
FEBRUARY 2019 - AudioFile
In the first of a new fantasy series, narrated by Eileen Stevens, the listener is taken to Kichona, an Asian-inspired land of magic. While on a routine scouting mission, apprentice warriors Sora and Daemon come across an unusual gathering. The two soon find themselves embroiled in a plot against their kingdom and must match wits against a foe long thought dead. Stevens’s narration is varied in character voices and tone. However, her slow pacing and the oddness of some of her tonal choices take away from the intensity of the dramatic scenes. These weaknesses make her sound disengaged at times. Overall, Stevens gives a serviceable performance. A.L.S.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-10-28
A faction pursuing the spoils of a dark legend threatens the land of Kichona and countries beyond.
Kichona, ruled by benevolent Empress Aki, has known a decade of peace since the defeat of Prince Gin in the Blood Rift. Sora and Daemon are apprentice taigas, warriors marked by the goddess Luna, and trained in combat and ability-enhancing magic to serve the empire. Called by their taiga names, Spirit and Wolf, Sora and Daemon are also each other's gemina, divinely-linked warrior partners who share a mental connection. Talented but mischievous Sora finds purpose and motivation after reflecting on her younger sister's death during the Blood Rift. Daemon, physically strong but less gifted magically, is struggling to prove himself while hoping to discover his parents' identities and struggling to suppress his feelings for Sora, as romantic relationships between gemina are forbidden. While Sora and Daemon seek to find out the truth about Daemon's missing parents, they uncover a startling enemy with phenomenal powers beyond any that they have ever seen—and the ambitions of this enemy are darker and deadlier than any previous one. Skye (The Crown's Fate, 2017, etc.) has built a world that loosely fuses elements of Japanese and European folklore, legends, and naming conventions. The storyline however, occasionally falls flat, and characterizations feel somewhat trite. Characters have different shades of hair, including blue, platinum blonde, golden, or dyed black, but race is indeterminate.
Lackluster. (map) (Fantasy. 12-18)
