*I received a physical copy from Imprint via Hear Our Voices book Tour. All views are my own
We did it! We have finally made it to the finish line! I have officially completed the Nightmare-Verse series by L.L. McKinney, and I will get sooooo many points from Netgalley for clearing out these back titles on that list! Winning! Just as I did for A Dream So Dark, I jumped back into the fray with the final installment of A Crown So Cursed. Again, as a warning, this review may share spoilers from the other two books, A Blade So Black and A Dream So Dark, so if you have not read those two books yet, why are you looking at the third review in the series? You did this to yourself.
"In the third book in L.L. McKinney's Nightmare-Verse trilogy, Alice gets one last chance to save Wonderland from itself.
Alice and the gang are trying to recover from recent events—but members of her crew start having weird dreams. The same dreams. It seems the evil in Wonderland may not be as defeated as they thought—because someone's building an army of Nightmares to attack the mortal world. But before Alice jumps into battle, she discovers she has a personal connection to Wonderland, and she must face what it means for the fight ahead."
It would not have been right if I didn't complete the series via audio. After a four-year hiatus, I'm happy to see Jeanette Illidge and Jacob York are still on the roster for this series. We also have a new edition of one of the characters, voiced by Thomas Durham, who is replacing Matthew Barnes. The narration took 13 hours and 34 minutes. It sounds long, but I flew through this story and didn't even feel the hours tick by. Way to keep up the allurement!
Before I start my review, I am grateful that I started this series late in the game. Do you know how annoyed I would've been if I randomly found out that a third book in a series I thought was done came out four years after a pretty much closed-ending sequel? Baby, I would've had to reread the entire series to remember who the characters were, let alone what they were fighting for.
A Crown So Cursed has to be my favorite book out of the entire series. We finally got some answers to those long-awaited burning questions, and it was more action-packed than the other books could produce.
ACSC picks up two weeks after the events in the ADSD, and things are getting more curiouser and curiouser. Super Saiyan Nightmares are now popping up in the daytime, terrorizing Alice and her friends. These forces end up splitting up the group and landing them in Wonderland, where everyone finds out that there is a looming war and the essence of the Red Queen making her way back into play.
We finally get an answer to Alice's growing powers throughout the series, which I was half-shocked by. I figured Alice would somehow connect to Wonderland through her father or someone, but I did not expect it to be *Spoiler* her grandmother. Dropping that bomb in the bucket garnered more questions, and I wish to see more of a background story about Nana K and her reign in Wonderland. It was clearly the big piece of the puzzle. The world-building is once more immaculate. McKinney did her thing by describing the topsy-turvy dynamic of what Wonderland is and placing it in plain sight in the real world. Oh, and Alice's mom is still my girl! She's more receptive to Alice and her side quest shenanigans, but she's still a mom and will always be there to protect her baby. With a frying pan.
I could've done without any of the relationship aspects in this series. It was all over the place. Everybody suddenly became trisexual. There were several Love cults. I can't even call them triangles—because everyone was fraternizing with someone at some point. McKinney was trying to add too much of a "love who you want to love" aspect to the story, and it all came out as a jumble of confusion.
Overall, I rated this book 3-stars. That's it. That's the end of the story. It's been two months since I finished the book, so I'm already starting to forget most of what happened in the series. Take that as a sign if you want. Even though this was one of the best books out of the three, it may have more to do with me trying to hurry up and finish the series.
The overall experience with the Nightmare-Verse series was subpar to me. I was bored for the most part and probably would've abandoned the series if I hadn't tried it out so late. There is a rumor in the publishing world that there may be another installment in the series, possibly a prequel from what it sounded like. If so, I hope it shines a brighter light on Nana K and her reign. So much was happening with that plot line that I'd expect a stronger focal point on how Wonderland got to where it is today. Whether the prequel rumor is true or not, I'm happy with the story's outcome, and we can finally put it to rest. I give this series 3-stars all around.
A Crown So Cursed is available now!
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