The Crimson Throne by Sara Raasch & Beth Revis

From the New York Times bestselling authors of Night of the Witch comes an enemies-to-lovers romantasy set in the dazzling and dangerous Scottish court where a fae guardian of the realm falls in love with a charming Elizabethan spy who could also be the key to her world's undoing.
 

Samson Calthorpe's curse has isolated him from everyone he has ever cared about. So, when the opportunity arises to break the curse, he grabs it. All he has to do for his freedom is risk his life and become a royal spy, using every bit of the skills and resolve he's picked up on the streets of London to infiltrate the court of the Scottish Queen and uncover a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.
 

For years, Alyth Graham has been protecting Mary Queen of Scots from threats both physical and magical, including the Queen's own husband, Lord Darnley. Alyth is more than meets the eye though, the child of a fae prince and a human mother, she is among the most powerful protectors in guardians sworn to defend against the Red Caps, a bloodthirsty fae clan . . . that Lord Darnley is in league with to overtake Scotland.
 

As Alyth and Samson circle each other in the volatile and glamorous Scottish court, both seek to uncover threats to their own countries. They have one unifying their shared hatred and suspicion of Lord Darnley…and their undeniable pull towards each other. Using secret codes, hidden messages, and a little bit of magic, Alyth and Samson unravel a plot centuries in the making. Lord Darnley is only a pawn, and in this game, the queen takes all.

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What if Mary, Queen of the Scots’ tumultuous reign and the surrounding scheming were influenced by the presence fae magic and other Scottish folklore? Sara Raasch and Beth Revis’s collaboration novel The Crimson Throne is an entertaining and straightforward YA romantasy novel as well as a liberally interpreted historical fiction story. Magical fae powers, cursed objects and weapons, historic grand castles and sweeping scenic landscapes, The Crimson Throne has all the right elements for a great fantasy story. Presented from dual perspectives, one a Scottish half-fae guardian of the crown and one an English spy sent to infiltrate said crown’s inner circle, the scene is set for a forbidden romance between two opponents meant to outplay each other with both the Scottish/England Kingdoms and the Fae Kingdom’s future at stake.

An important note that is not clearly mentioned on early previews and listing at the time of this review for The Crimson Throne is that this is the first book in a brand new fantasy duology (the ARC received as well as Amazon’s presale store states it’s part of a duology titled Spy and Guardian but I don’t see this highlighted on other platforms like Goodreads, Barnes & Nobles, etc.). Due to this novel only telling part of the overall story, this book ends with a notable cliffhanger and plot twist. While there are certain narrative elements and character arcs that are sufficiently concluded within this novel, the majority of the book’s premise and overall storylines are left as “to be continued…” and will require you to read the assumed future sequel novel to see how everything truly ends.

One area that pleasantly surprised me was the story’s commitment and attention to historical details. While Alyth Graham and Samson Calthorpe are entirely fictional characters, many of the other notable characters are based on very real historic individuals. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth are no-brainers, but one of the antagonist Lord Darnley is entirely true to the real Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley/Mary’s husband. Mary and Lord Darnley’s infant son James is present and integral to the story’s main plot, and Mary’s entire court, close friends, and an assortment of English barons and personalities are all historic people. And while I will refrain from going into too much detail to avoid spoilers, many of the book’s notable scenes are based on real historical events with a magical twist or motivation behind them. While I appreciated the attention to detail and historical accuracy of the story, those far more familiar with Scottish history will be even more delighted by Raasch and Revis’s exciting and quite clever historic retelling.

A great balance between fantasy and historical fiction, the Crimson Throne feels like an all-around solid fantasy YA novel that features whimsical magic, various mysterious fae and other Scottish-inspired folklore beings, and an occasional splash of good action. While the novel is characterized as being a romantasy story, I found the political scheming of various characters seeking the power and influence of the throne to be quite compelling, especially in matters surrounding Alyth’s dual roles as guardian of both human and fae kingdoms. I really enjoyed Alyth’s character who’s stubborn, independent and strong-willed, yet smart and accomplished when need be. Her unorthodox place and role within Queen Mary’s court posed a variety of interesting situations as well as providing a lot of insight and details into this alternate fantasy version of the 16th century. Her character’s mixed heritage and her complicated feelings towards her father and the fae kingdom added another layer to the interconnected human/fae dynamics at play and overall, I found her story and perspective excellent and quick to read! The mix of fae culture and folklore vs more generalized fantasy magic fanfare is highly accessible yet still well constructed and imagined.

The premise and story sets up Samson as Alyth’s foil beyond his English background. Alyth is rough and outspoken while Samson is a street actor capable of wearing a mask to suit the occasion. Where Alyth is recognized as part of Mary’s court, Samson is a simple thief who’s paid to steal magical objects from other lords and notable houses. Yet despite their seemingly opposite backgrounds, the two characters can’t help but feel some sort of odd interest in each other and a growing need to protect the other regardless of better judgement or the potential costs.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Alyth’s perspective throughout the novel, I was personally less enthusiastic about Samson’s perspective for a few reasons. As a Leth, the series term for an individual with both human and fae heritage, Alyth’s knowledge and experience with fae culture and magic automatically make her perspective more colorful and fantasy filled. Samson’s lack of knowledge of all matters fae and his gradual understanding of the political entities in play ordinarily could’ve been a great proxy for the reader learning about the world of the Crimson Throne. Unfortunately, the story starts with Alyth’s perspective first before switching to Samson’s perspective right after, and on multiple occasions Samson and the reader are introduced to magical concepts or details that were already covered albeit more briefly in Alyth’s chapter earlier, leading to repetitive and unnecessary information to avoid plot holes of Samson knowing things he shouldn’t. Additionally, while Alyth is given a lot of time to shine early-on in the book’s dramatic prologue as Scotland’s guardian and when she first meets Samson, Samson has a far less notable and far less action-filled introduction. As the story progresses, Samson’s task of spying and infiltrating the Queen’s court isn’t quite as exciting and inspiring to read as it sounds on paper vs Alyth’s half. Samson’s curse and unknown background provides great narrative material towards the end of the novel and the direction of the novel’s ending implies that even better plot threads are to come, but I felt the way his curse was handled and written was a bit generic and typical for the YA fantasy genre. For me, the book’s pacing slightly dragged in the first half particularly when Samson and Alyth are apart and doing their own thing individually. However, whenever they were together things picked right back up, and that’s an especially important point for romantasy readers.

Another minor critique I had was with Alyth and Samson’s relationship and romance, as well as how the romantasy element is marketed. While the two are technically on opposite sides from two opposing kingdoms, their interactions and relationship dynamics didn’t really feel like the expected enemies-to-lovers trope per se (likely an intentional marketing buzzword for romance readers). From their meeting to their unlikely cooperative alliance, their relationship feels more like mysterious dangerous strangers to lovers, or perhaps towards the end of the novel, forbidden lovers. What starts as a subtle interest from both sides also veers a bit into the insta-love territory, particularly from Samson’s perspective; this is undoubtedly a he-falls-first kind of romance vs Alyth’s perspective that develops at a slower and more reasonable pace. Overall, I would’ve liked to see a bit more nuance or development, particularly in the first half of the book to justify both characters’ sudden devotion to each other over all else.

Despite a few minor nitpicks in places, the Crimson Throne has a lot to like, especially for readers looking for a clean romantasy read free of unnecessary miscommunication drama, triggers (apart from some violence and murder), and other cheap methods used to drum up interest. The world-building is great and at times I often felt it far surpassed the base level of detail the straightforward story needed, clearly setting up a lot of excellent material for the sequel novel. The writing style is also solid and having previously collaborated on their past Witch and Hunter duology, Raasch and Revis’s work is expectedly seamless and polished (I’m a fan of Raasch’s Royals & Romance series but this is my first experience with Revis’s work). A nice balance of fae folklore, historical fiction, political scheming, romance, and classic YA fantasy goodness, the Crimson Thone is an easy book to pick-up and an even easier one to finish and enjoy!