A really interesting family and coven of witches. A legacy that was difficult for the protagonist to follow led to her trying to find her own path and place. I'm definitely interested to see where this story goes next.

Heather Walter is back with another stellar queer fairytale retelling, and this time it's one of my personal favourites - the Evil Queen from Snow White. The fact that she doesn't even have a name in Snow White's story just shows the, frankly criminal, lack of a backstory this queen deserves. And Heather Walter does a pretty good job at giving her a voice.

Ayleth is a young witch struggling to get to grips with her powers, her coven and also her mother and their grief over the loss of Ayleth's sister. She's a complex, well developed character who thrives in difficult situations and slowly discovers who she is as a person as the story progresses. Something Walter did well in her previous duology she does well here, in making Ayleth likeable while still making highly questionable choices. By understanding thr reasoning behind her decisions, her trauma and relationships with those around her, it makes the reader root for her. I also liked her relationship with Jacquetta and Blodwyn, who bring out two very different sides to Ayleth's personality.

I will say that the plot is pretty slow, and at over 500 pages I do think this could have done with some tighter edits to make the pacing a bit speedier. The slow call to action made this a struggle in thr middle to keep picking up. However the ending certainly made up for it, with lots of pay offs to feel satisfying while setting this up for its sequel.

Excellent queer fairy tale retelling that gives a voice to villains that are always far more interesting than the princess heroines they often share a page with.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

The Crimson Crown immediately pulls you in and keeps you invested throughout the book. It has great world-building and easy-to-love and hate characters. I didn't realise that this book was quite as long as it was, so it took me a while to get through on my Kindle.

I feel for Ayleth throughout the book and understand everything she feels along her journey. I did cringe at her quest to bring Rhea back even though it was fueled with good intentions.

I was on the fence a lot with Jaquetta and went from hating her to, to hoping for her to not even sure what I felt from Ayleth's emotions. It would have been interesting to see more of Jaquetta's POV.

I adore Blodwyn so much from the beginning, even when the other ladies (except Ayleth) found her a handful.

The double betrayal was heartbreaking and I did not see that twist at the end that pushed Ayleth over the edge making her the evil queen.

Even though it was a long read, there are no boring or slow sections, just a lot of things going on constantly.
I will definitely be reading book 2 in this duology.

I have posted my review to GoodReads and will be doing a TickTok review within the next week.

Firstly Thank you to NetGalley and Publishers for granting me the Opportunity to read the E-ARC of this novel.


Secondly this was too long. At over 500 pages it’s just too much. And honestly not much happens for a good 70% of this book, the drama filled tension didn’t kick in (for me) until 84% and before I got to that point I was too tempted to DNF it so many times.

Thirdly, considering everyone of the characters was supposed to be over the age of 23 this read VERY YA with lots of ‘delicate ledge of her collarbone’ I’m sorry but what..

Fourthly. I did enjoy the writing style and the cast of characters was varied and well thought out.

This book kept my attention with its many twists and turns.
The background of persecution of witches is one of my favourite topics.
I felt like some aspects could have been explored more fully, like Jacquetta and Ayleth's relationship.
But it was lovely to see some wholesome queer representation in the form of Joan.

Witches practise magic in secret hiding away from the White King.

Ayleth faces her own war her magic has yet to be revealed how can she lead her coven when the time comes without them. To prove herself she sets out on a quest to retrieve the blood stones from the White King. Along the way she stubbles on Jacquetta who she once loves and was betrayed by. Togteher they form a truce to together find the stones and fix the veil.

I loved this another great start to another sapphic series from Heather Walter and I can't wait for more ! I love how Heather Walter twists the villians of her stories. If you like a twisted Disney retelling then definitely recommend giving this book a go.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House UK and Heather Walter for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book as the Snow White's evil queen origin story really appealed to me, but sadly I just didn't think it quite lived up to it's promise!
The story follows a young witch, Ayleth, who is desperate to prove herself after the death of her sister, which she firmly believes was her fault. It's hard not to root for her, as it's clear her home life is less than ideal, and I found myself willing her on. That being said, I couldn't understand her choices a lot of the time, and often felt like the consequences were a little lackluster. With exception of Ayleth and Blodwyn, I struggled to care for any of the other characters, although I enjoyed placing them into the original story in my mind.
Mostly I found that the ending was by far the most engaging part of the book, the last 20% I thought was excellent. It's clear to me that Heather Walter is a great writer in places, I think I just wanted it to be pacier and more engaging for the first 80% of the book. I can see myself coming back for the sequel however as the one mystery I really can't place is how Ayleth ends up treating Snow White so badly based on the love she has for her in this version!

"Don't let them dictate who you are. Decide for yourself."

This queer reimagining of the evil witch from Snow White will have you gasping and glued to every page.

Walter does a beautiful job of creating complex characters that you want to root for, even when they take wrong actions.

Ayleth is a second to one of the original witches who conjured up a spell to protect the world from evil forces. But that spell is waning, and evil is starting to emerge with it.

Ayleth, among her coven, are hiding from the White King, who turned the world against witches. But with the veil between good and evil at its breaking point, Ayleth knows she will need to do something to help. But can a witch with no magic fix the problem? I suppose you will find out...

I adored this book. I loved Walter's duology Malice and I was so excited when I heard of this book. I loved Ayleth and Jacquetta and the relationship that built and fell between them. Their history together is heartbreaking even before they are reunited.

But can we all give a round of applause to the main character of the book, Nettle the cat? I absolutely love a pet sidekick, and Nettle is that and more, surrounding Ayleth with a comforting presence, protection, and appearance when needed most. The bond between Ayleth and Nettle is something special and rare in the case of witches and their familiars.

Due to the book's length, I waited until its release to finish reading by listening to the audiobook, which I enjoyed immensely. The character voices, emotions, and bond between characters were beautiful and heartwrenching to listen to, and I would highly recommend it!

I really loved the premise of THE CRIMSON CROWN and was excited to read it, having enjoyed Walter’s last duology, especially the second book, Misrule. However, I just don’t think this one in particular was for me. I thought the pacing was a little slow and the characters a little flat. I do think the story was intriguing though, and would definitely appeal to other readers. I’m also still interested enough in Walter’s ideas to pick up another book from her in the future.

Indulgent fun, but lacks substance.

I'm a big fan of Walter's MALICE, a queer reimagining of Snow White from the villain's perspective. The sequel MISRULE I was ultimately disappointed with, but I was willing to give THE CRIMSON CROWN a shot. Unfortunately this one failed to live up to expectations – mostly for the same reasons I disliked MISRULE.

The narration follows a rote pattern and hand-holds you through every decision protagonist Ayleth makes. There's a clear order to the way her internal narration is written that makes it feel mechanical, repetitive and predictable. Ayleth digests the information, asks herself questions we as readers could've already parsed ourselves from the text, and then laments on what her inner voice is telling her, sometimes with the wind howling or birds calling or thunder booming in the background. There's no variation, and very quickly it becomes boring.

That unfortunately makes Ayleth quite annoying as a character – further compounded when she doesn't have any standout qualities that make me want to root for her. You know from the first chapter she's going to learn that bringing her dead sister back is a bad idea so her internal journey feels predictable. She also misses extremely obvious things that should clue her into the plot.

Her and Jacquetta have very little chemistry as a result of this too and I failed to see how either of them liked each other in the first place. Like Ayleth, Jacquetta had no real personality and feels deliberately placed there to fill her obligatory role as love interest. She lacked something that made her believable to me. Their enemies-to-lovers second chance had none of the nuance behind it, and their reason for hating each other in the first place is so pathetic you wonder how Ayleth had the energy to hold a grudge for so long. Both of them also evoke a Not Like Other Girls energy, being the only women within the court that aren't social parasites.

This isn't to mention how the plot evolves, especially in the first half of the book. You have to suspend your disbelief really hard for the number of coincidences that get Ayleth to the palace, including not one, but TWO instances of her saving someone from falling debris. It read like Walter didn't know how to get her there and puppeteered this silly set of circumstances to make it happen. The last ten or so pages is when this book really finds its footing, but in the end slogging through the tepid build-up isn't worth it.

If you can switch yourself off to how little depth this book has and just enjoy the decadent, lavish descriptions of court life and political machinations, you might just enjoy this book, but for me I wanted more.

WILL I READ ON? No.

After being a big fan of the Malice duology, I was really excited to pick this up.

For a standalone, I found it a bit slow going, but otherwise, I enjoyed it.

I was incredibly excited to receive a copy of this book to read! I have always been a huge fan of fairytale retellings and villain origin stories, so couldn’t wait to read this!

Ayleth is a compelling main character and I enjoyed her story. Although the ending and her succumbing to ‘evil’ felt a little rushed, I do feel that it set up well for a second book (I would particularly be interested to read about her decent further and why she hates the princess in the original tale, as that is not an aspect of this book). I was able to relate to Aytleth, particularly in her relationships with her family and her ‘coven’ and feel that the author captured her feelings around them very well.

Although the ending came a little quickly, I enjoyed the twist and it felt satisfying. I had my suspicions on what was revealed but this was more due to the foreshadowing than anything else!

I also really liked Jacquetta’s character and appreciated the sapphic aspects of the novel. It added to the story and worked well.

I ADORED Nettle. Of course, I am a crazy cat lady!

Overall, I rate this 4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 5 and I really hope there is a second book, to explain some of my unanswered questions from the first

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc


Unfortunately at 16% in I had to dnf because I felt like it was taking to long to actually get anywhere and make progression in the book especially for a stand alone.

The way it was written had a lot of foreshadowing so you could make a guess as to what was to come. Everything that had happened was in the club of the book so I felt as though it was just too slow paced

I love any retelling or alternative spin on a classic fairy tale and this is just that. Thank you for my advanced kindle copy.

I enjoyed this a lot, but I was hoping to see a slow progression into evil. I wanted to watch as Ayleth slowly became the character of the evil queen. But it felt like the change all happened right at the end. I’m hoping there’s more in the next book to show her fighting the evil inside her and explain why she turns against the Princess.

I also think the next book might be more satisfying in general. This one would have been really good as an original story, but it didn’t quite have the feel of a fairytale retelling. I did think this was because it needed a lot to get her from her origin to being the evil queen from the fairytale though, so I have high hopes for the next book!

As an original story though, I really really enjoyed it. I loved Ayleth’s character a lot. Seeing her try to get her sister back and the romance with Jacquetta was powerful. It was a really strong book.

Really looking forward to see what happens next!

I was so grateful to have received this wonderful book by Heather Walter to read early in exchange for an honest review.

2 days late but I also want to say Happiest of release days!!!

If you love retellings of Fairy Tales and Sapphic romances then this book will be right up your alley! As this is a withcy retelling of Snow White telling the perspective from the rise of the 'Evil' Queen!

I personally am rooting for our main character Ayleth as I really really liked her and feel she is a very misunderstood person and has had so much expectation placed upon her from her mother. OBEY Nettle the cat at all costs or she will come for your laundry.

I would highly recommend this book especially if you want a cozy book to read during the Autumn months.

3.5*

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I'll start by saying that I really did enjoy the story and the ending has me gripped and excited for the second book in the series! We love a villain origin story!

The writing itself was just a little bit off for me. I didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters (Nettle is not included in this, I loved Nettle). I think I just needed a little more to buy in to the reasoning for some character decisions and why the story was moving the way it did.

I am excited to see where Ayleth goes next and I hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel.

I like to say that I have a broad taste in books. It's not entirely true. However, there are a few story types I like more than others. Fairytale retellings are for sure among those. I've never read the Malice duology by this author, although the first book is on my shelves, but I actually didn't doubt I'd love them. I therefore enthusiastically requested a review copy from this book from Netgalley and luckily Del Rey granted me a copy.

The start of the book was very promising. I was intrigued by the short introduction of the first part of the story, I liked getting to know the heroine of the story, I loved exploring the setting and all the witchy elements really caught my interest. However, during the story I noticed that I was losing my interest. Instead of looking forward to continuing reading I was dreaming about picking up other books. It was like I was waiting for something to happen that eventually never happened.

I've spent all day trying to pinpoint what happens. Normally I love a lot of prominent elements in this story. Politics, mystery, a touch of romance, betrayal and cunning plans. I think however that the book lacks a clear direction. Our heroine travels to the capital to find the bloodstones, but it feels like she spends very little time on actually looking for them. It feels like our heroine allows herself to be constantly distracted by other things and is never getting any closer to her goal.

And it's a pity. Because I like the plot and the setting. I just think that the book also contains a lot of scenes and elements eventually leading nowhere and not playing much of a role in the bigger whole. There are therefore too many pages between the moments our heroine is getting closer to the bloodstones or learning more about what's going on with the Malem surrounding her. Which is a pity. Because I really really really wanted to love this book to pieces.

i support lesbian rights and lesbian wrongs.

this is the first book in a duology retelling the story of the evil queen in snow white. this one focuses on her backstory and how she changed from Ayleth to the queen.

Ayleth is the daughter of a coven leader. she was her second born daughter, but with her older sister dead she is now the heir. however, she doesn’t have any magic. she is also disliked by other witches as they believe she may have helped cause her sisters death, which she also blamed herself for.

to try to prove herself, she goes on a trip to the white palace to bring back objects that will help the witches, but while their she meets her first love who she believes abandoned her.

this book was incredible. i loved Ayleth as a character, and the setting and magic was amazing. i highly recommend it and can’t wait for book 2!

I was not expecting to love this book as much.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall. Who’s the wickedest of them all? 🍎
I’m such a sucker for a new spin on a classic fairytale. And Heather Walter is one of the best in the game in my personal opinion