The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to the Two Twisted Crowns Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on July 18th and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 07/18
18th: Prologue - Ch 3
19th: Ch 4 - Ch 7
20th: Ch 8 - Ch 11
21th: Ch 12 - Ch 15

Week of 07/22
22nd: Ch 16 - Ch 19
23rd: Ch 20 - Ch 23
24th: Ch 24 - Ch 27
25th: Ch 28 - Ch 31
26th: Ch 32 - Ch 35
27th: Ch 36 - Ch 39
28th: Ch 40 - Ch 43
29th: Ch 44 - Ch 47
30th: Ch 48 - Epilogue


PARTICIPANTS
~ Dia
~ Juliane
~ Brianna
~ Sophie

Started this one a couple days late - up through end of chapter 11:
I hate how easily it is for me to forget stuff I read not even a month ago. lol I remember some of the big things but not details. (view spoiler)[I completely forgot what happened to Hauth. I forgot that Elm was technically a prince. Regardless, I think the sequel does an okay job at reminding you of important things as it gets into the new story. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Elspeth. Also - is there romance brewing between Ione and Elm? (hide spoiler)]

Hi everyone :-)
I'm also way behind unfortunately and only up to chapter 4
@ Brianna I did have the same problem regarding remembering where we left of, in my case it was regarding Ione haha (view spoiler)[I cannot for the life of me remember what happened to her after the truth game in part one, but she is so much of a mystery to me by now, the way she reacted to Elm and the soldiers being in her house was so weird.
I do enjoy Elms POV since he is even closer related to the Royal family and I'm wondering if he wouldn't be the heir to the throne if Hauth does not recover. (hide spoiler)]

Juliane wrote: "Hi everyone :-)
I'm also way behind unfortunately and only up to chapter 4
@ Brianna:"

(view spoiler)[Yes! It was mostly picking up with Ione that I struggled with in regards to where her story ended because I could not remember what happened when we last saw her. (hide spoiler)]

I did finish this one and am excited to see other's thoughts about what happened! I will say I do think duologies are the best length of a series like because it's not over super quick but not excessively drawn out.

sorry I'm late to the discussion, I've been so busy I haven't had time to read.

up to end of Ch 13
it took a while to remember the events in book 1, but a few chapters in and I remembered mostly what happened. I think the writing in this book is so much better.
I am a fan of Ione/Elm hahha I had a feeling something like that might happen because of what a horrible person Hauth is. wow I didn't expect the Maiden's extra perk!
I'm also intrigued by this "safe" place the Nightmare has send Elspeth. I wonder how she'll get out of there.

end of Ch 28
I am enjoying reliving the past through Elspeth as she is now privy to the Nightmare/Taxus' memories. It is an interesting storytelling technique that I've not really come across before.

I wonder who are the people who have just attacked them

I'm also excited to see how Elm will set out with his plan and what the consequences of it will be.

Dia wrote: "end of Ch 28
I am enjoying reliving the past through Elspeth as she is now privy to the Nightmare/Taxus' memories. It is an interesting storytelling technique that I've not really come across befor..."

I agree that the way Elspeth learns the past is a unique storytelling technique that I also hadn't see happen a bunch previously. I also think they do a fair job of differentiating between Elspeth and Nightmare considering same body and all.

you finished this so quickly Brianna! but I can understand why because I've just finished it too.

I absolutely loved this book more than the first one. i enjoyed every moment, the pacing was good for me.

(view spoiler)[ i am so happy with the ending. I'm usually not a fan of things going well as that's too predictable, but I didn't find this predictable at all. i didn't see lot of the things coming. despite the happy ending, I think there were enough hurdles sprinkled in that it didn't seem easy for the Ravyn/Elm/Elspeth camp. (hide spoiler)]

I'm sorry to be so woefully behind but finally managed to get some listening done today and managed to get up to chapter 17.
It's surprising to me how little time people, especially the royal family, seem to spend researching all the cards powers, like the revelation with the maiden card.
I feel bad for Elm, always having been the spare and mostly being met with scorn by his immediate family like his father and brother. I also agree its really fun seeing his developing relationship with Ione.
The place where Elsbeth resides is so interesting but also seems so tragic seeing that the Shepherd King seems to have surrounded himself by the memories of his long gone family, no wonder he is so set on revenge even after all these years.

Juliane wrote: "I'm sorry to be so woefully behind but finally managed to get some listening done today and managed to get up to chapter 17.
It's surprising to me how little time people, especially the royal fami..."

I feel like the people have been told the same story over and over that they never felt like they should do more research so to speak. I also think the women who had the Maiden Card either didn't realize or didn't want the men to find out since there could easily be abuse of that power.

As Brianna said, it seems like they all only depended on the fairytale they've been told as kids and never thought to question it. I guess people are living in fear as well. Also, it seems like people try not to flaunt their cards (though it is obvious with the Maidens) as they might get stolen? So they'll probably keep any findings secret and since the royal family never used it for themselves, they never figured it out.

Having read what Hauth intended to do with the Maiden card I agree it was definitely better no one really knew about such a power. I have to admit I didn't even think about the possibility of immortality through that card at first.
At the end I really loved this and also felt the pacing and length worked really well for this story.
All the endings felt well thought out and justified for the various characters.

Which of the two did y'all like the best?

Brianna wrote: "Which of the two did y'all like the best?"

Thats a good but very hard question haha
At this moment I would spontaneously say part one by a very small margin.
Simply because I enjoyed so much finding my way into the story by discovering this world, its characters and especially its magic system.

What about you?

@Juliane I also didn't think about the maiden having a secret power!

I prefer book 2, I rated book 1 quite high but Gillig exceeded my expectations with book 2. I really liked nightmare's backstory. i also enjoyed reading about the other characters and not just Elspeth's. It also showed us the flaws with the characters, and that the Rowans were not inherently bad to begin. I like Ione & Elm's romance better than Elspeth and Ravyn too.

I think I liked the 2nd installment better as well. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoyed the 1st one but there was something about the 2nd one that just stronger. I think it was mostly because of the Nightmare. I enjoyed his backstory but also how his story was told. I think the highlight of the first was how it shared the magic system and characters - it was unique but in the best way!