Demon Queen Trials Box Set: Complete Trilogy

by C.N. Crawford

The Demon Queen Trials Complete Trilogy. I never thought I'd be singing happy birthday to myself in a dungeon. And yet when a sinfully sexy demon crashes happy hour, that's exactly what happens. He’s known as the Lord of Chaos, and he’s mistaken me for my succubus doppelgänger.Happy birthday to me.When he tastes my blood, he finally understands I’m mortal. And I realize we have something in we both crave revenge. So we make a I can stay in the forbidden city to hunt for my mom's killer. In return, I’ll help him get the vengeance he craves. I just have to pose as a sexy succubus. One problem--he's my number one suspect.And that’s increasingly hard to remember as he teaches me my seduction. With each heated touch I drift further into peril. And if I fall under his seductive spell, death awaits me.This box set includes all three 1. City of Thorns2. Lord of Embers3. Garden of Serpents

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Romantasy, Fantasy Romance, Audiobook, Magic, Demons

682 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2023

About the author

To get sneak peaks at the next book, sales, and news about releases, Sign up here.
To join C.N. Crawford's fan group and chat to the authors, Click here.
To stalk on instagram, Click here.
For a free standalone novel, Sign up here.

C.N. Crawford are Wall Street Journal bestselling authors of romantasy books, including books with fae, demons, and magical academies.

We write fantasy romance, urban fantasy, and portal romance. Our books often include trials, banter, and enemies to lovers stories.

CN Crawford’s books are perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, K.F. Breene, and Laura Thalassa.

Note: We are actually two people--a former biologist (Nick) and a former school psychologist (Christine).

Reviews

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really appreciate that this book was so short. I'm tired of books dragging on and on 😂

[Yasmin Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had just come from reading a 5 star young adult sci-fi fantasy with high hopes only to read the opening line… “I tried not to stare at the frat boy”, it didn’t bode well and I really hoped for so much more than this type of book. Turns out I didn’t have to worry too much because by the end of the page, I was introduced to a strong female lead who called men out on their shitty behaviour “Why give up that level of obnoxiousness when it was his defining trait?” I had a lot of hope for Rowans spunky attitude. After all, this was an educated girl who knew her worth and also the level of immaturity that surrounded her, she wanted growth and she wasn’t going to get it being surrounded by simpletons like Jack Corwin.

World building 🌍

The first two chapters are dedicated to bringing this book to life through the eyes of Rowan Morgenstern. With her psychological and artistic mindset alongside an unhealthy obsession with demons, we are introduced to the demon City of Thorns which was built over 400 years ago and has seven wards, each one associated with a demon. The iron entrance to the medieval demon city was decorated with a skull in the center and the streets were narrow clearly made in a time before cars—strangely beautiful and forbidding at the same time. And the stunning castle-like university buildings that reside within city are organized the same way names after demons such as Lucifer himself.

There is a rule however, no communication between other demon cities which mean demons can arrive in a new city, but they can never speak about the old one. It was one of the conditions of surrender in the great demon wars years ago, sealed by magic. The Puritans thought that if demons spoke to each other, they could grow strong and rise up against the mortals again.

There were only two kinds of mortals allowed in the city: the servants born into their roles, and students who could afford its horrific entry fee. Every year, Belial University in the City of Thorns accepted around three hundred mortal applicants. At Belial, they learned to suffuse their careers with the magical arts. In cases like Rowan, education wasn’t the real reason she wanted to get into the demon university. She wanted revenge against the demon who killed her mom.

In all honesty I could keep going on because the level of world building in this book is phenomenal, you really are immersed into this fantasy world - and I haven’t even introduced you to the underworld or the infernal trials yet!



CHARACTERS

The most interesting part of this story is the revelation our young female MC - Rowan - is a doppelgänger! However, before I explain who Rowan is let’s start with Mortana. A long-lived, well experience and vengeful demon succubus who will kill her family in a heartbeat and lie to her lovers just to steal what she wants the most. The issue is, Mortana went missing many decades ago and has a 20 year old doppelgänger who lives in the mortal world who goes by the name of Rowan Morgenstern.

Rowan strikes a deal with the Lord of Chaos, Orion - he will help her find her mums murderer meanwhile she pretends to be Mortana in the demon city to help Orion find a way to kill the King. The issue is Rowan is a beautiful mortal, not a seductive immortal succubus. Orion doesn’t trust Rowan isn’t actually Mortana coming back to gain revenge and kill him; so they make a blood oath. Whilst Orion has magic to protect him, Rowans own superpower is nothing but human anxiety and trust me when I say she is a bundle of chaotic nerves when pretending to be a lion dressed as a lamb and equally a Lamb dressed as Lion.



Meanwhile Orion is the Lord of Chaos, one of two eligible bachelors in the demon city, although he’s an outsider—a duke from the City of Serpents in England, so he was a filthy rich leader of a demon ward there and yet, no one knows why he left. Orion shows typical narcissistic behaviour and an unreasonably high sense of his own importance with a burning need to have attention and power. Rowan doesn’t know if he is lying or truthful, hates or her or likes her and it really doesn’t help that he is an incubus who thrives off sexual hormones. It’s not until much later, we realise that there is much more to Orion than what we initially thought. Like Rowan, he is out for revenge because he also lost his mum and is seeking vengeance for her murder that took places several hundred years ago. The only difference, Orion was imprisoned at the age of 5 and made to watch her be killed.

As the story evolves and the books progress, we learn about Orion’s past and why he struggles to live in a modern world of mortals when he is a demon consumed with vengeance for his mums and brothers death. We see cracks begin to show in his emotional armour and equally what he will do to seal them back up. The problem is, Orion has been marked as a leader from birth and wants two things: 1) the crown and 2) what he thinks he can’t have, Rowan. Or at least he could have until he broke her heart and kicked her out of the City of Thorns, exiling her to the mortal world and the demon hunters.

OVERALL..

This is 3 part addictive series which is very easy to binge read, I did so myself in just under three days. Was this book the best, in my opinion no. There were highs and lows and most certainly too many psychological scientific references to the brain which made for an irregular flow to the storytelling, instead I felt like I was in my Psych class again having to cram for a test - no thank you!! (I understand the author wanted to show that Rowan was different to other heroins, she was an onion with layers and her character had depth however, there could of been small nuggets of information to draw of the psych concept rather than random paragraphs of psyche references. This is not any real persons internal monologue, I don’t think anyone would actually talk like this).

The most disappointing part was the lacking content and description in the supposed smut scenes; when you think we’ve just had pages of fantastic world building and in contrast when it gets to a sexual scenes driven by a succubus and incubus true nature, we literally get things like “stoked her leg”.

“Why do I get the feeling that you want more. His deep purr made me melt into him”BECAUSE WE DO 🙄 look at it this way, if we didn’t care about the story or the characters, we wouldn’t want more.



There was some major laughable moments and character quirks that I absolutely loved….

“Are we going to kill the demons with burritos and penicillin?”

“Yes, so in the event of a demon apocalypse, come here. I’ve got several large bags of beans and rice and some fish antibiotics.”

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich kann nichts anderes sagen außer ich LIEBE LIEBE LIEBE es!!!!

[Sissy Satterfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

City of Thorns
Holy Hell! I was so engrossed in this book that I blew through it in less than a day. Orion and Rowan were such a force together. The intrigue and the realizations of both characters was outstanding!!! I Loved this book and I do not want to wait for the next, says my inner impatient kid. The ending was Great, and I need more, Please.
Lord of Embers
Wow! I loved this part of Rowan's destiny. The push and pull between her and Orion kept me wondering what was next. I Loved watching Rowan grow and become who she is meant to be! Rowan does not give up. I am excited to see what she does from here, I feel that it will be epic!
Garden of Serpents
This book had me reading until 4am because I could not put it down. I have loved Orion and Rowan together from the beginning. Rowan's belief to do what she thought was right made this story even better. Humans can be very evil in their own right and this story brings it to light. Lots of ups and downs and plenty of action, steamy, along with an ending that is outstanding!!! I LOVED IT!!! Must Read! No Spoilers!

[debturk1970_bookvibes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fantastic 4.25 Star Box Set!😢💘💥⭐️
Demon Queen Trials Box Set: Complete Trilogy
By: C.N. Crawford
Audiobook 🎧
Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb
Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
(Read Using Kindle Unlimited)

I genuinely forgot how witty this series is, in between all of the unaliving and destruction.🙈😂

Rowan is epically nerdy and proud of it. Orion, the Lord of Chaos, thinks she's someone from his past that ablitorated his people and his soul in the process. He wants his vengeance. Rowans way of convincing him she isn't her, had me giggling like a loon!😅

This a great trilogy. I did feel book 2 dipped a little, so two 4.5 star books and one 4 star book, for me, others may disagree.🤷🏻‍♀️ It has an epic romance, enemies to lovers, found family, betrayal, trials - there's something for everyone!😍

This narrator did an excellent job. You don't notice it's only a female narrating in this dual pov series.👏⭐️

I HIGHLY recommend picking this up. It's absolutely worth the money.😍

Debbie, 1970, UK

[L Gazikas · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this series has some interesting ideas, it really misses the mark. The writing is immature, basic and repetitive and yet the author felt the need to include explicit scenes. The level of writing is reminiscent of Twilight and should be marketed as YA and yet the 5 scenes we get move it out of that category while being completely unnecessary and honestly bring down the book. The dialogue is so abysmal it's almost unbearable to read, with the exchanges being so forced I found it truly painful. The plotline itself isn't bad, and I was curious to see what happened, but the pacing was off making. Overall, an interesting idea with poor execution and if it was any longer I would have stopped reading.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is painful to write. I enjoyed the dramatized version of the audiobooks! But, there aren’t any narrators, or sound designers who could’ve save this series from the tragedy of a trilogy.

We didn’t have time to grow close to the best friend character (who had her own arch of self-discovery and romance that we didn’t get to witness!). We didn’t have time to fall for the second love interest-at least not enough for the betrayal to break our hearts. We didn’t have enough time to appreciate the epilogue.

While the world-building is wonderful, I feel like this author was asked to write a complex, ACOTAR-type romantasy epic in three books. It’s too bad she answered in the affirmative.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to all three via GraphicAudio. Not sure if that format lent anything to this other than having a different narrator for each character (which I love). All-in-all, a good series. Thought there would be more spice, especially given their characters, but I did enjoy the teasing of their whole relationship. I liked Rowan's characterization and how she was a psych major to allow her to tap in to a different side of herself when needed. I liked how both Rowan and Osiris both carried the same kind of guilt, but they both faced it at different times. And I liked how the whole mystery played out. A fun, paranormal romance in a demon world, but still on the lighter side.

[Noelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demon Queen Trials

I’m always amazed by how much I enjoy C.N. Crawford’s stories. Every time I finish a book or series and have trouble moving on to something new, I turn to Crawford’s books—they never let me down.
They’re such easy, fun reads, full of witty banter, gripping suspense, and just the right amount of spice. And honestly, who doesn’t love a story with demons? The worldbuilding and characters always pull me right in.
The audiobook versions are fantastic too, especially with Amanda Cobb narrating—she brings so much energy and emotion to the story. Highly recommend both reading and listening!

[Megan Kozlowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series wasn’t horrible. But it kind of felt lacking. Maybe I’ve been reading too many smutty books, but I felt like a trilogy about incubus and succubus that there would definitely be more sex. The first book definitely had some. But the two books after that lack like they literally have nothing, other than basically teasing about it. The first book definitely was good. I had a lot of hopes for it. The second one definitely was mid and the third one was fine. Once again, it was lacking what I was expecting to be pretty smut, considering what it’s about.

[Laura Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

truly enjoyable intrigue

Enemies to lovers romance. Personal growth and awareness. Surprise situations. Intense attractions. Misinformation and betrayals. A complex story heightened by the addition of audio. I listened to the graphic audio this time and enjoyed the story even more. Loved the last chapter of the book.

[Michelle Van Vleet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this series!! So so good. The chemistry between the FMC and MMC was awesome. Their struggles with each other building trust and communication had real struggles that were believable. The series wove such a wonderful world, and the world building and the connections to characters were so well developed I did not want it to end!

[Nikademous · Rating 5 out of 5]

a captivating series

I will say I liked book two and three much more than one, but as a whole series I couldn’t be happier that I read it.
I also love that the name Nicodemus is used, my husbands name is Nikademous. Love it

[Abbie Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written, and I loved the strong-willed, clever, brilliant, merciful, and beautiful heroine. Orion was tragic in every beautiful way. This storyline was action-packed and gorgeous, and the enemies-to-lovers was amazing. I loved every minute in this fascinating fantasy.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected but Good

This series of books has adventure, mystery, romance. You wonder whay will happen around the next turn of the page. I was glad that this was sold in a box set. And glad of the HEA.

[Brantley-Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this box set! Gave me all the feels ❤️

[Julia Sikich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book it was very silly and had a decent story line but what the hell was that ending???? It was totally a cliff hanger and I’m kinda now vibing with that?!

[Jenny Rose Arsenault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story from Beginning to end! I couldn’t get enough of Orion and Rowan ❤️

[Michelle Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Rowan frustrated me now in the audi book than when i read it first, I really liked how the narrator brought her and Orion to life.

[Stephanie Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to it on Audible. The narration was decent. The plot full of twists and turns. I loved the unreliable narrator take with the characters.

[Sherri Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable

I really enjoyed this book and loved the characters. I'm glad everything worked out for them and they were able to get rid of some of the bad people.

[Rosalind Bath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demon queen

Absolutely brilliant trilogy. Very hard to put down! I highly recommend this series, great characters and storyline. You will loose sleep totally worth it.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this series. Probably not quite 5 stars but certainly 4 felt too stingey. I wish more authors would release their completed series as a single title. Makes life much easier.

[Kristi Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the world that was built and the plot of this book. The romance in this book definitely gave it flavor. The series had good flow and was entertaining. I had no problem with reading the whole series straight through.

[Katherine Bony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great catchy series, keep in mind I’m easily hooked in general. But good story line and characters. Definitely on the smutty side of fiction

[Jenny Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a bit confusing at times, while the main character tried to figure out whether she was mortal or not, and the mmc was just too grumpy at times. The romance and yearning was ok, the spice was good, and the plot was a bit drawn out at times. It was a quick and entertaining read, but there maybe wasn't much depth to it. All in all a solid three stars.