A Reign of Rose picks up right where A Promise of Peridot left readers, dangling on a cliff of despair, with King Kane Ravenwood despondent about the death of his beloved Arwen and doing anything to get the attention of the fabled White Crow, a solitary Fae living atop a snowy mountain said to be able to turn him into a full-blooded Fae, instead of the measly half-Fae he is now. Of course, according to the prophecy, only a full-blooded Fae will be able to use the Blade of the Sun to kill his wicked Fae father, Lazarus, and now that Arwen has died, so has Kane's hope. You know what they say, "Be careful what you wish for." Let's just say that the path to being a full-blooded Fae is fraught with danger and surprises, and not the good kind.
Except little does Kane know, but Arwen is very much alive and in the clutches of the self-same Lazarus and his witch Octavia, who are viciously draining her of her lighte magic day by day, in the hopes of making more strong Fae monsters in which to enslave all of Evendell. Oh, and Lazarus wants heirs from Arwen. Eww. So yeah, things are pretty dire all around.
Once all of this comes to light and the pair are reunited, it becomes their focus to never be parted again, yet somehow still accomplish stopping/killing Lazarus, without one of them losing their life in the process. To accomplish this, they'll have to team up with more than a few unsavory characters, some of whom have betrayed Kane in the past, such as Queen Amelia, ruler of Peridot and Aleksander Hale, leader of the blood Fae, the Hemolichs. They'll also need assistance from Hart Renwick, self-proclaimed rebel king and a thorn in Lazarus' side, and the beautiful but unstable Scarlet Queen from the Quartz of Rose kingdom. They'll concoct mad schemes, have daring escapes and close calls, and they'll risk it all to save each other and the entire population of Evendell and Lumera from the evil fate that Lazarus has planned. Throw in a dangerous blood oath or two, and some tragic losses, and you have a rousing conclusion to a whirlwind trilogy.
I'll be honest, I didn't realize this was the conclusion of the trilogy as I was reading, and even up to the end, I could certainly see the series continuing and being left on yet another devastating cliffhanger, as has become Kate Golden's specialty. However, the story wraps up quickly and nicely, and while there are a few loose threads, they don't leave the reader hanging, merely provide a possible entrance back into the world of Evendell, should Golden decide to do so.
A Reign of Rose was a good conclusion to this series and I enjoyed it. Is it once again spicy? Yes. That's not my thing, personally, but if you are looking for 7 page sex scenes, this book's got you covered. You can still greatly enjoy this series if that's not your thing, as I obviously have, because it's got love and romance, action, danger, intrigue and some really exciting fight scenes... and dragons! And yes, we finally get to see Arwen transform, and of course, it's perfect.
If you love fantasy, but not necessarily romantasy, you'll likely still really enjoy The Sacred Stones series. It's a great mix of everything you'd want in a fantasy series.
