For such a short book (150 pages) this was actually pretty solid and overall I enjoyed it but honestly I personally would have preferred it if it had been longer to make room for more world building

3⭐️
There has to be more right?
There is no other way to describe how I'm feeling other than I am absolutely captivated by this world.
I must admit as a non-English native speaker it was a little hard to catch on the world building, because let me tell you, it was INTENSE, but in the best way possible.
I had to re-read some passages to fully grasp some concepts, but once you understand you only want to know more.
The general feeling I had while reading was absolutely magical, which is a testament of how skillfully the story is written since there are no obvious magic shows.
The power that is described is something born from connection with nature and the cosmo, something that the Kattakans, the antagonists of the story, have forgotten. I really hope I got this right, because, to be honest, I do not think I fully understand the extension of that power. WHICH IS WHY I WANT TO KNOW MORE.
I can only describe it as a feeling of wonder, like the feeling a child gets seeing a rainbow for the first time.
The way the author wrote of the Ba'suon, their culture and their beliefs, make me entirely attracted to this world. And want to know a bonus? THERE ARE DRAGONS! (or "suon" as they are called by the Ba'suon).
The reason why I am not giving this book more ⭐️ is because I feel like it was very focused on the world building and the characters were left behind a little. I wanted to know so much more about Mika's family, Lilley's past in the war and Raka's scars; I feel like we could have gotten so much more about them, so the only flaw would be that it was too short. But seeing that this is just book one of the crowns of Ishia, I am choosing to be optimistic that we'll get more; it certainly has the potential of becoming an amazing piece of high fantasy.

"Your people used many things for war. Bodies both suon and Ba'suon. The land. One another."

"Don't that anger you?"

"If I let my anger run wild, it too would devastate everything in my path. And what of the world then?"

[Review contains spoilers]

Karin Lowachee is honestly one of my favorite authors and deserves so much more recognition in the sff space. She has such a natural grasp on the pure emotional beauty of words and the pathos of storytelling. Also, Lowachee really was just out there championing diversity in her work way before such stories were sought after by big publishing houses. Just read any of her short fiction and you'll see what I mean. Needless to say, I literally back-flipped outta my chair when I came across the news that she was tackling a fantasy series.

Méka, a woman of the subjugated nomadic people known as the Ba'Suon, returns to the homeland from which her forebears were driven to carry out an ancient task. To curtail the destructive powers of a king dragon and maintain the balance of the natural world. In pursuit of this goal, she will come face to face with the consequences of the devastating war that has left her people and the land riven.

The Mountain Crowns' setting was so unique. It was sort of giving me some Western vibes? As in frontiersmen and gold rushes and expeditions into uncharted territories. Not gonna lie though - Lowachee has no qualms about tossing you right into the middle of things. I was grasping to orient myself in this world for the first few parts, but the more I just went along for the ride, the more things started to click into place and it eventually felt like I was really living in Ishia. Love when an author has enough faith in the intelligence of readers to piece things together themselves. And the dragons! They are depicted here as simply an integral part of the natural world. This book is also almost very ghibli-esque with its emphasis on the human spiritual connection to nature. I found that to be a beautiful thing.

Lowachee's character work is always an amazing thing to behold. Méka was such a fantastic protagonist. Seriously this is how you write a "strong" heroine!! Really loved what the author had to say here specifically:

"Specifically with The Mountain Crown, I wanted to write a woman who is grounded in her spirituality, who is contained, who is purposeful in her movements, who outsiders might consider stoic, who is capable without being flashy, who (Western) readers might consider passive as if it’s a fault (it isn’t). I wanted to write about her culture that seeks other avenues besides war, that is connected to nature on an atomic level in a conscious way. I wanted this story to unfold in its own way, with a character who wasn’t pushing to be pigeonholed as a specific type of personality. I think my focus on these aspects of both character and story are because I’ve become interested in narratives that explore people and ways of living that aren’t the commonly considered Western narratives of “active” protagonists and constant “action” to drive a plot."

And it's not just Méka who carries the story. The way the author slowly unravels the depths to each of her unwitting companions too was sooooo masterful. Somehow, Lowachee was able to make even a character who doesn't show up physically in the book have so much presence. I would have kept reading just to learn more about each of them. I loved all of the characters and wish I could just move onto the next book ASAP but alas 😭😭😭. The only thing that kind of threw me off slightly was this last minute love triangle that came up imo a little out of nowhere near the end that felt like it was introduced to justify a plot point. But in all honesty that is such an insignificant quibble.

While this novella certainly is a thrilling adventure, there's also a lot of heavy stuff here about colonization. There's a very poignant and sad undercurrent to all of the events in The Mountain Crown, but there is also so much here to reflect on thematically-speaking. I felt the depths of pain and rage - at the destruction of family and cultures by imperialism, at the far-reaching traumas of war. But I also felt the depths of love as well. Anyway, I'm getting carried away. I'm confident this trilogy is going to be a masterpiece.

I really enjoyed this book a lot and was super excited, well because dragons!!
The writing style was great even though you could work on the pacing a bit since I'm a fan of fast paced books and I missed that sometimes. The characters were amazing and I was able to built a connection to them quite fast.
Overall I liked the plot and I wonder where this is going to head in the next books!

I love books with dragons and this one really stood out. Loved the characters so much I wanted to be there with them. Thank you for everyone that recommended me this masterpiece.