Book: Veiled Court by C.N. Crawford
Reviewed by Michelles_Cosy_Booknook
Rating: 4.5/5
Deadly trials. Fey politics. Gothic decadence. A morally questionable man with a filthy mouth? I'm in!
Veiled Court by C.N. Crawford completely pulled me into its dark, dangerous world and refused to let go.
While this book is part of the Avalon Tower series, you can absolutely read it without having picked up the previous installments first. That said, I personally wished I had, simply because I’m the kind of reader who loves having every scrap of lore and backstory available to me.
Syn Malleore is a former assassin who escaped the Fey realm and built herself a quiet, ordinary life in London. But with tensions rising after the war between humans and Fey, hiding is no longer an option. Forced back into the deadly world she fled, Syn becomes tangled in mistaken identity and is thrust into the role of Baroness of Listenoise — where survival means competing in brutal trials to determine the next Fey ruler.
The world-building in this book was phenomenal. The Fey court feels lavish, cruel, and utterly intoxicating, dripping with gothic Victorian atmosphere.
And Syn? I loved her. She’s ruthless, fiercely independent, and laser-focused on obtaining the Grail — the only thing capable of saving her sister from the poison slowly killing her.
She will do whatever it takes to survive, yet beneath all that sharp-edged determination is someone still capable of loyalty, connection, and protecting the few people she lets close.
Then we have Tristan and Rion du Lac.
Tristan never fully worked for me romantically. Despite Syn’s attraction to him, their dynamic leaned far more sibling-coded in my eyes.
But Rion? Oh, Rion was a problem.
Dark, secretive, teasing, morally grey, and armed with the kind of dialogue that deserves an 18+ warning label. Every scene involving him crackled with tension.
C.N. Crawford’s writing is genuinely addictive — lyrical without becoming heavy, sharp without losing emotion, and packed with delicious banter that made this ridiculously easy to binge.
If you love:
⚔️ Deadly trials
🖤 Enemies to lovers
🔥 Slow burn tension
🗣 Wicked banter
👑 Dark Fey courts
✨ Gothic fantasy vibes
…then Veiled Court absolutely deserves a place on your TBR.
Thank you to the author for the advanced copy of Veiled Court. All thoughts are my own.