Book Review: The Owl’s Crown by L.B. Black

Genre(s): Paranormal Fiction

Lawrence is a mortician—and a vampire. He lives amongst humans and goes about his business, seemingly without issue, until he receives a magical message that inexplicably ties him to the fate of a human witch known only as the Owl King.

Evie is the Owl King. She’s young and lacks confidence in many of the magical arts. She became the Owl King after her mother’s death, and not long after, she received a letter from a man she’d believed was dead—her father.

As she investigates and seeks information on her father, she meets Lawrence. His tie to her wasn’t of her design—it came from the owls—but the fact that he’s a vampire makes her wary. Neither want to work with the other, but circumstance forces them to do so.

The Owl’s Crown is listed as a paranormal romance, but the romance element, while present, doesn’t overpower the rest of the storyline. It was woven into the larger story quite well, and didn’t feel forced, but authentic. I really liked how it was done (and I don’t say that often when it comes to romances.)

There is a lot of magic involved in the book, though it’s not thoroughly explained. I did like that Evie wasn’t a super powerful witch, and that she was forced to improvise most of the time to get her spells to work. It was an interesting twist, especially since she’s cast in the role of a hero.

There were several different sorts of magical creatures/constructs featured as well, and again, they weren’t explained in great detail. I would have liked to know more about the achlis and its significance to Warren’s plans in particular, since it seemed the creature was central to his goals in some way. Maybe that will be explained in the later books of the series?

The action scenes were done well, as was the climax/showdown toward the end. And while there wasn’t a “happily ever after”, there was a definite “happy for now” ending.

Overall, it was a fun read.

Author’s Twitter handle: @authorlbblack

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