Book Review: Crown of Cinders (Wings of Fury #2)

Author: Emily King

Althea’s head is still spinning from her discovery that she’s Hera, daughter of Cronus, the terrible Titan king. After Althea failed to cast Cronus down into the deepest pit of Tartarus, the king calls upon his powerful allies, the elder Titans who reign supreme over the heavens, earth, and seas. To force Althea to surrender, the elder Titans rain down wrath upon the mortal world with earthquakes, famine, pestilence, hurricanes, and all manner of destruction. Lukas, Althea’s friend and confidant, hides her and her godly siblings, but they can’t run forever. She must recruit allies from the younger Titans before the afflicted mortals turn them into Cronus in exchange for peace.

Poseidon and Hades are also in hiding. Althea sets out to find her brothers, but hunting them down without getting caught and persuading them to stand against their all-powerful father will be next to impossible. Althea has a lot to learn about her newly restored crown and Titaness powers. She must divide heaven and earth to protect her mortal home and friends and unite her brothers and sisters in the war to end all wars.

[Wings of Fury (#1) Review]

Crown of Cinders is the sequel to Wings of Fury. This story takes place six months after the ending of the previous novel where Cronus is now gathering his strength after the last battle and is preparing for a full war against the Upstart Gods (his children). As there are a lot of characters to track in this story, I liked that there is a family tree at the beginning of the novel. There was also an amazing map, so I could picture the placement of all the different locations. Since this novel is a direct sequel, it is best to read the first before beginning this one to avoid spoilers and to gain a complete understanding of the tale.

The story continues to center around Althea, who is now coming to terms with her new identity as Hera, although she prefers to use her mortal name. She is now with Theo and they are currently together at Midnight Mansion, the home of Helios. Staying with them are Althea’s sisters Bronte (Demeter) and Cleora (Hestia). The three sisters continue to be protective of each other and I loved seeing their characters develop even further through these interactions. Zeus is now married to his betrothed Metis, although he is not faithful from the start in their relationship.  Now that the four children of Cronus are together, it is time to locate the remaining two brothers. This leads the group on a mission to locate Poseidon and Hades. I loved the introduction of these two Gods are they were enjoyable characters.

Throughout the novel Zeus and Hera’s relationship is explored with Zeus becoming more possessive over her. The two of them continue to have love for each other and their relationship was very interesting of how it mirrors the mythology. Zeus was not as likable to me compared to the first novel, but he still fit well into the story. Cronus and his gathering of the elder Titans to bring destruction and chaos served as an excellent common enemy for the group of Gods and helped provide tension to the story. The adventures to the new locations, such as the Isle of Keos and the Underworld, were entertaining and the characters continued to be unique takes on their known counterparts.

Overall, this was an entertaining and unique take on the origin of the Olympian Gods. There is a nice balance between the known mythologies with some changes to fit the story. Some pieces of Hera and some of the other characters do not fully match many myths, but they work well in the context of the story. For me, it worked well with these changes, but they may not work for every reader. There were some situations that felt a little too convenient, but they did help keep the plot moving. The world is interesting and while this novel served as a great conclusion to a duology, there is more room to expand, if the author wishes.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, 47North, for the opportunity to read this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**