Book Review: Why You Should Make Nicola Tyche’s Completed ‘Crowns’ Trilogy the Next Romantic Fantasy on Your TBR, Starting with ‘North Queen’
Romantic Fantasy book lovers, listen up. As of this writing, there are currently only 680 reviews of North Queen by Nicola Tyche on Goodreads, and that is an absolute travesty. I’m hoping to remedy that and convince you to read this completed trilogy, with an additional two book villain origin spin off?! I just know Romantasy readers on Booktok and Bookstagram would love this series. It’s a super bingeable, easy read. And for North Queen being a debut book, it has some teeth. Definitely one to get you out of a reading slump. If you love Romantasy, it will probably feel familiar. In fact, it did at times remind me a bit of The Winter King by C.L. Wilson. Now, I’m currently only on book two (which I’m honestly loving even more than book one!), and this review will specifically cover book one, North Queen. If you love the idea of an FMC who wakes up in the middle of a forest with zero memories, finds out she’s actually been missing for three years and is the future Queen of her country who has to get married to a King of a neighboring country to secure an alliance for help in a war against a Shadow King bent on their destruction, you’ll love this. Oh, and the guy who rescues her in the forest? He’s her childhood friend, and essentially bodyguard who’s also in love with her, but she has no clue who he is. Are you smiling yet?! Yeah, it starts off with a bang. Don’t worry, this will be a *mostly spoiler free review. That’s all within the first few pages. So let’s talk about what else you can expect.
P.S. The trilogy is also on Kindle Unlimited.
Things to Know:
Romantic Fantasy
Some spice
Love triangle
Forced Marriage
Court Drama
Morally Gray MMC
Magical animals
Mortal Danger
Trigger: SA attempts
This was one of those reads that felt impossible to put down. I needed answers, and the court drama?! I was eating it up. The yearning from Alexander was palpable. The broody Shadow King and his faithful, angry Commander? Swoon.
Norah is not always the most likeable character, but she’s not unlikable. I know, that makes zero sense. I suppose, she sometimes makes rash decisions and doesn’t always think them through. She can come off a bit naive at times, but maybe that’s just a side effect of the amnesia? She was told to tell NO ONE of her amnesia and then proceeds to basically tell everyone she speaks with. So there’s a few little instances where you want to shake her. But overall, I did like her. She’s thrust into an impossible situation and handles it with grace. She doesn’t back down, and knows her worth. Love that. While the first 150 pages or so didn’t feel like a ton was happening, it didn’t read slowly. And once the action started, it really didn’t let up.
Is this story predictable? Oh 100%. But that didn’t bother me at all. I knew what I was getting into, and I enjoyed it.
For the spice fiends, yes, there is some tastefully done spice, that felt earned.
There were some little things I can definitely nitpick about. I’d love to have seen a bit more time for Norah and Mikael’s relationship to develop. She’s also a little wish-washy as a character sometimes. Like girl, you can’t wait for him to get back, but two sentences later, she’s like, “we’re leaving tonight!” I also would have loved to see more magic in book one. It’s hinted at, but not really ever explained. I’m hoping that expands as the series continues! There was also something a bit shocking for me that’s revealed right after a marriage takes place, and it really threw me for a loop. But Nicola does handle it. And Mikael literally never calls Norah by her name, which I felt was a bit weird.
Overall though, there’s some great banter, swoonworthy moments, and mortal danger (one of my favorite tropes), so I had a great time absolutely binge reading this book, and immediately started book two, Shadow Queen. I also LOVED the audiobook, which does have multiple character narration. I was not expecting that, and it was a welcome surprise. Definitely would recommend an immersive read. I’ll for sure be back with more thoughts on the rest of the series when I finish each book. Until then…will this epic romantic fantasy be going on your TBR?
You can find the audiobook for book one on Audible or Libro.fm (protip, you can get two free audiobooks on Libro.fm with the code SWITCH right now).
Many thanks to Nicola for providing me with a copy and audiobook of North Queen to read. All opinions are my own.
Favorite Quote:
“Or maybe two imperfect people in an imperfect world, fighting for the good of our kingdoms.”
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“Have I not given you everything?”
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