OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Rachel Gillig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Shepherd King series. If she is not ensconced in blankets dreaming up her next novel, Rachel is out walking in beautiful central California with her husband, son, and their dignified poodle, Wally.

FORMAT/INFO: Two Twisted Crowns was published by Orbit Books on October 17th, 2023. It is 437 pages long and is told in third and first person from multiple POVs, including Ravyn, Elspeth, and Elm. It is available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: For centuries, people have searched for a way to lift the magical cursed mist that haunts the kingdom of Blunder. Now, after years of work, Elspeth, Ravyn, and their companions are on the brink of finally uniting the twelve Providence Cards in a ritual that will break the curse. But to find the last card, they'll have to venture into the heart of a cursed forest and strike a deal with the Spirit of the Wood, one that could cost them everything.

Two Twisted Crowns is the kind of sequel that takes the solid foundation of book one and then smashes the finale out of the park. To set a comparison point, I found One Dark Window a bit mid. On the one hand, I loved the atmosphere and many of the central concepts, including the cursed mist and a main character who has lived with a spirit in her head for most of her life, a spirit that can be exceedingly dangerous if it takes control of her body. But I also found the main character of Elspeth a bit grating as she would continuously waffle back and forth, begging the spirit Nightmare to save her life then berating it for acting too violently.

Which leads me to the first way that Two Twisted Crowns is better than One Dark Window: instead of Elspeth being the only POV, the book widens to four POVs. This reduced Elspeth's time while giving me the chance to fall in love with other characters, some of whom had only lurked in the background of One Dark Window. In fact one of them, Prince Elm, I barely remembered from the earlier book, but here he was my favorite character of the story. He's the kind of character who is a bit broken and cynical from the terrible things he has endured over the years, yet ultimately keeps fighting to do good. He also gets a fantastic love story that builds up over the course of the book and was one that I appreciated more than Elspeth and Ravyn's pairing.

One of the only (minor) complaints I have about Two Twisted Crowns is that for most of the story, there are two storylines happening in parallel that felt like they were from very different books. There's Ravyn, Elspeth, and others traveling into the cursed wood to find the Twin Alders card, and Prince Elm trying to keep an eye on his dangerous royal family members. One storyline was full of riddles, mysterious creatures, and mystical tests, while the other was royal balls and sinister plots. It could be a bit of whiplash to go from the very magic infused quest to the more grounded court life intrigue.

And yet despite the whiplash, I was equally invested in both storylines. I always felt a mix of joy and frustration at chapter endings, as they inevitably ended on a cliffhanger before switching POVs, leaving me desperate to know what happened in the first story while being happy to find out what happened after the cliffhanger in the OTHER plot. Best of all, both stories crash together in a fantastic finale sequence, full of peril, high stakes, and emotional moments.

CONCLUSION: Going into Two Twisted Crowns, I had a feeling I would at least like this second book; I was not prepared for how I would absolutely love it. I'm not ashamed to say I cried at one point at how beautifully one element came together. It is a sequel that is better than its predecessor in every way and a worthy conclusion to this atmospheric duology.