The Crown of Stones Complete Trilogy by C.L. Schneider
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an epic series that you won’t regret adding to your collection!

Magic-Price:
Ian Troy is a man that was raised to have no conscience and when his magic takes a tragic turn, he suddenly finds one. Unfortunately for him, he spends the next 10 years’ time on regret, shame, and suppressing his magic. With a past enemy rising to power seemingly overnight, he struggles with keeping his magic under control while trying to keep Rella, the country he was raised to protect, safe. As he begins the trek to save what he was raised to protect, he finds out that everything is not always as it seems. Much of his past is a lie and secrets are revealed! Will he figure out who he is and what he can do in time to save Rella?

I enjoyed this read. At times, I felt like there was a lot going on. However, I feel like the author did an excellent job in world building and weaving in its backstory throughout the story. I enjoyed how she wove together the relationships between characters. I appreciated how I didn’t always see the twists and turns coming, too. This was an excellent beginning to what promises to be an epic trilogy! Looking forward to book 2!

Magic-Scars:
Ian Troy has been captured, tortured, and drugged. The king and his father are at the center of him forgetting who he is and what all he has done. After he’s rescued and presumed dead by the latter, he slowly comes back to himself and what he finds isn’t to his liking. He has to come to terms with the things that he has done and also what has been done to him in order to find the power within himself to thwart the king and his father’s evil plans. Can he find his friends and keep them safe before they can be used against him? Can he find out how to harness the power of the crown of stones before his father?

This is a pretty intense book. Ian does some really awful things. Granted, some of them are not completely his fault, but he still has to pay the price of them. I feel like the author did a good job of walking him through coming to terms with who he is and what he’s done. He had to make some hard choices and pay for them. In a world where everyone seems to be out for themselves, Ian Troy seems to always be thinking of others more than himself. Thankfully, he has loyal friends that stick with him through the horror and violence.

Just so other readers know, there are several scenes that are explicit.

Magic-Borne:
Ian Troy has taken the power of the crown into himself to keep his father from using it against the realm. As he continues to figure out the cost of that decision, he is faced with a dire vision of a future he’s not sure he can change. However, to save those he loves, he will do what it takes to see peace. Or will he? Inevitably he and his friends face death and destruction in the final showdown with his father. Will the cost be too great for Ian? Or will peace finally reign?
This was the final book in this series of Ian Troy and The Crown of Stones. It was a good closing to an epic ride, but also left it open for the next series to spin off. Ian’s sacrificial love for those who are part of his inner circle, is that of deep familial love. He drew people from different backgrounds together and built a chosen family that fought and sacrificed for each other. There were times that he was surprised that others would take up for him, even though he would -without question- stand for them. I think a lot of people think the same way. We would sacrifice for the ones we love but are surprised when they choose to do the same for us.
I enjoyed this series. I was a little sad that it was the ending, but then happily surprised to find out that there is a spin off in the works!

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