At first I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I ended up enjoying and loving it a lot. It was such a great read and the writing is very beautiful.

Kassandra Flamouri's impressive debut " The Chalice and the Crown " is a gritty and dark fantasy that is not for the faint of heart. The story follows talented ballerina Sasha, who we meet as she has just landed her most prestigious role to date. Her life seems to be almost perfect until she starts to experience strange dreams and hallucinations. Eventually she lapses into a coma like state , leaving her worried family and friends to sit by her bedside and hope that she will awaken. Meanwhile in her dream state Sasha is transported to another world, a cruel and vicious one, where she becomes a thrall, or slave , regarded as a mindless puppet and less than human. She begins to fight her way out from the spells that enslave her, with the help of some allies , and in doing so she may bring down an entire civilisation's way of life.
I loved how rich and vivid the world the author created was, but I wish the magic and religious systems were a little more clearly explained and better developed. I thought the ending was very interesting and it felt like the choice Sasha was making had real stakes and consequences ,which is a tribute to how well crafted and believable her character is . I also liked the little nods to Russian culture throughout the book, it worked so well with the story of a ballerina. The gorgeous cover really fits the book so well, with its rich dark colour contrasting with the light and airy ballet costume.
I mentioned earlier that this is a dark fantasy, and at times that darkness feels unrelenting. There are vividly described scenes of abuse and torture, as well as animal death , so be warned, but if that does not put you off, you are in for a dramatic and tense story, with glimpses of light in the form of a romantic story line as well as some lovely moments with Sasha's family.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher ,all opinions are my own.

I loved the concept of this story, with Sasha living in these two worlds - one in her dreams (or nightmares), and one in her current real life. As one life deteriorates, the other gets stronger, leaving Sasha to work out how she can get back to reality, and also to figure out if she really actually wants to.
I enjoyed this story and characters, and the whole complex world they live in. I'd love to read more from this author!

This book had an amazing premise and I couldn’t pass up the chance to read it! It was gripping and magical and drew me in from the get go! The main character was a little hard for me to connect with, but it still was a great read!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so gripping! The combination of magic, world-building, and a dive into madness made this one I couldn't put down until it was done. The slow fall into darkness and fantasy was really well done.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The idea of this book-alternating between our world and a fantasy type world where docile, mindless "thralls" are kept as servants-is unique. However, I couldn't get engaged with the book or feel bad for the main character, so it was tough going to get through the book.

It's always funny when a movie starts out as a dream. Not sure if I ever read a book that way, but it was a nice surprise. We are introduced to our main character Sasha who is a ballet dancer. She is currently practicing for swan lake as the lead, and of course everyone is jealous. We are also introduced to James, the witty director who makes jokes.

Sasha has had a rough life, and she is doing everything she can to keep it together. Though as she gets older she starts to become more like her mom, which could be a good thing or a bad thing we aren't sure yet. At the end of her moms life her mental health started to decline and she was having nightmares. Now with the stress of swan lake Sasha is getting them too, and she is not happy about it. Sasha starts to wonder if it is the stress of her dance, or if she is going crazy.

I was very pleased with how this book played out, and thankful that it is a stand alone. So many people do series now, and its always refreshing to read a book and then not have to wait a year for the next one.

I thought the concept of this book was really cool. I blurred the lines of reality and used the book to do that. I also like the strong female protagonist that we get with Sasha, I wish that there were not formatting errors but it was a small price to pay, I also hope that there will be more books in this series.
The one con that I will say exists was I thought that her leaving the reality of Emily, James, and Dave kind of felt under-done to me. I thought there would be more flashes back as she entered the reality of her as a thrall. But if that is my only qualm then I would say it was definitely worth the read.

I struggled to get into the book due to the real v dream-like settings. The description of the book caught my attention, but the actual story line and characters did not hold it. This was a DNF for me.

DARK FANTASY THAT EXPLORES THE LINE BETWEEN MAGIC AND INSANITY

This was a hauntingly dark book that had me guessing a lot of the time. I am a fan of dark fantasy and this was probably some of the darkest I have read in a long time.

"Something dark, something dangerous has been stalking me from the shadows of sleep and it's getting closer"
- Sasha


👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Premise: Sasha is a ballerina who suffers from nightmares. But the nightmares become increasingly real and soon she is pulled into the magical world of her nightmares. I really liked this idea of 'madness' as a result of magic from another world. It was a very interesting and compelling premise.

Darkness: This book has pretty much everything of the dark variety - slavery, madness, nightmares, repression, the whole shebang. I loved the nitty, gritty feeling of this book, the clawing darkness, the oppressive feeling I had all the way through. Sure, it had bursts of happiness and joy, but they were fleeting. And honestly, I kind of liked that.

Characters: This book has many different characters that I enjoyed, I even liked hating on the bad characters. Sasha, our heroine, is determined but also fragile - a combination I really liked. Luca, our love interest, was sweet, heroic and pretty much everything a knight in shining armor should be. Sadra, Sasha's best friend, was strong and resilient, just as I like it.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

World building: This is set in a clearly rich world, however, I was missing more knowledge of it. It has many different facets - Light, Gifts, the Pall, factions, monarchy and so much more. I was wishing for more elaboration on these different things that made up the world of this book.

The Chalice and the Crown, Kassandra Flamouri

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy, Teens and YA

I'm way past the target age range, but reviews suggested that this book would still appeal and I've loved other fantasy reads aimed at this age group. Sadly I'm on the fence about this one.

I really liked the sound of this, a very different fantasy read and was excited to start. I found Sasha hard to like though, she's really not a particularly nice girl to those around her. I know she's worried about becoming ill like her mother, but that's more recent and her behaviour seems to have always been like this.
I was puzzled at how things changed, how she actually got pulled in to the other world, it seemed one page she was in this world, worrying about illness, feeling strange and then she was in the next, though her body remained here. I didn't see the transition, needed a bit more detail there.
Then she's in a horrible situation, has become a thrall, among thousands more. For a time she simply doesn't realise who or what she is but slowly that changes. Even then she's still a hard to understand person, there are flashes of when she knows there's something wrong, but mostly she carries on. As with the best war/slave/fantasy reads there's an underground movement though and they see Sasha as someone they can help.....

I found the writing absorbing but the actual story very difficult to follow. I didn't wholly see how things worked, how they found potential thralls, how they pulled them in. Sasha still remained someone I found difficult to understand.
I felt this book had a lot going on, but jumped too quickly from one situation to the next without fully explaining how things happened or worked. As a reader I had to follow the text and guess. There were explanations for parts, but other things just had to be accepted and the reader just go with. Its hard to explain, the apostate for instance, this person/name just popped up without explanation of who or what he was, ( other than he lived on an island) and yet he was a fairly important part of the story.
Overall for me it was an ok read, not one I'd re-read, and one that left me with questions as I was reading that largely seemed to be unanswered. If things like that don't bother you, then like others you may love this unique fantasy read.

Stars: Three, an on the fence read for me. I loved parts but there were too many unanswered puzzles for me.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

The synopsis for this novel is fantastic. As soon as I read it, I wanted to read the whole book. Here I thought I was going to read a dark and gritty story, perhaps sometimes uncomfortable and difficult to get through due to its content warning, but full of depth and deeply imaginative.

I know that pushing boundaries can be risky, especially in art forms. And writing certainly falls into that category. Backlash can happen, but sometimes risks are worth taking. A few quick glimpses of the lead in captivity before she is sold into slavery does not sell the premise of this story. I don't see how she gets there, I don't see her journey, and therefore I can't connect. If she is to struggle—as one would, in these circumstances—then I want to see that so that my emotions can be engaged. The most violent instance that I read in this book, human to human, was a whipping scene. Past that, things are lightly touched upon to give the idea of the risk and danger of this world into which the lead Sasha has been thrown into, but the reader never really delves into things.

Sasha is not a likable character. Considering the fact that she is the protagonist, and the one through whose eyes we view this story, that's a hard pill to swallow. If she's not throwing a tantrum, she's running away from a situation because she doesn't like what's happening or what she's told. I get it, this is a young woman who thinks she's suffering from a mental illness, she's scared, her life is in danger, she's confused. But she has these abrupt and rash reactions to moments that she's in, that she comes across as annoying and childish. Ironically, she acknowledges this in-story more than once. And then something else happens that she doesn't agree with, and she behaves the same way.

Abrupt. That's a great adjective to describe a lot of things in this novel. I see it too often, where two or more characters come together to have a discussion, they sit down, things seem about to expand... And then the “conversation” ends in less than ten lines. Everyone gets up, walks away, and it's over. This happens not only in times of dialogue, but in scene changes, in information familiarly mentioned in-story as if the reader is already supposed to know about it. Take your time, expand, give me something to hang onto so that I remember some of these moments, many meant to be full of emotion.

That emotion is missing from so much. The characters are, for the most part and with the exception of Sasha, one-dimensional. A lot of them are props to help the story move along, to make certain points happen, but they don't really contribute much else. They are easily forgettable. The bonds between them felt weak. Save for her friendship with Sadra, Sasha doesn't really connect, and a big part of that is the fact that the scenes between characters are hurried along. After a blatantly obvious moment of instant attraction towards Luca (main romantic interest), we don't so much see their growing romance as much as we are told that it's going to happen. She keeps insisting in her head that it can't for several chapters, meanwhile he makes moony eyes at her for just as long—which involves a lot of smirking and some blushing—and then we get smacked in the face with the hard fact that they slept together at the beginning of a new chapter. Well, that was an abrupt surprise.

The writing is very easy to follow, I gladly give it that. With every sit-down moment that I had to read, I raced through it. If nothing else, this is one of those books that you might not really enjoy in composition, but you still want to find out how it comes to a close. The very last scene in the book was sweet, and it was, at the very least, rewarding to see this novel end on a good note. But there were a lot of setbacks; I wasn't fully sold on the magic system—which was not expansive—overall the book was very weakly executed for me; and the two instances of animal abuse/cruelty that appear (though minor in comparison to the rest of what happens) were poorly forewarned, ultimately unnecessary to the story, and soured some of the experience.

The Chalice and the Crown has a great concept, gave me a lot of Alice in Wonderland and Swan Lake vibes, but it left me wanting a lot more than what it delivered.

I wish I could have given this book the read I wanted to. The formatting errors are so frequent and so bad that I just couldn’t get through the first few pages. After sliding through many pages and seeing the errors continue, I gave up. Someone really needs to fix the issues here. Most notably, the words all blend together and form one long word the reader has to break apart and decipher to understand what is being said. Horrible reading experience. And what a waste, too, because the premise of the book sounds interesting.

The Chalice and the Crown is a wonderful, YA fantasy novel for fans of Danielle Jensen's Malediction Trilogy and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. While the method of transportation to the City of Roses is similar to Carroll's Alice, that is really where the similarities end.

Sasha is a young, Russian prima ballerina. Like many ballerina's she is obsessed with perfecting her craft and because of this her health suffers. She is plagued by nightmares of a distant land where she is a thrall (or slave). Dreams and reality merge when Sasha's soul is ripped from her and transported to the thrall's body. She must use on her wits and her friends to find a way to escape and return home. Along the way she finds love and friendship while trying to change the history of slavery in the kingdom.

Flamouri's debut novel (she had previously had a few short story anthologies) is well written and the pacing keeps you engaged throughout the book. She has interwoven bits of Russian culture without going over the top. For example, the pet name "kotik" or little kitten that grandma Nadia calls Sasha. Or the traditional Russian lullaby, "Bayu Bayushki", which is prevalent throughout Sasha's story as a coping mechanism for the young heroine. The only thing that would really tip you off is Sasha doesn't have a patronymic but instead has a patronymic surname (Nikolayeva means of Nikolai) which happens with first generation Russian-Americans.

Overall 4 stars for The Chalice and the Crown. I was very pleased with how The Chalice and the Crown concluded. This is a standalone YA which was very refreshing and Flamouri did a fantastic job tying up loose ends. The romance was sweet but not the focal point. There are a number of dark themes but the author does a great job cautioning any readers who may see these as a potential trigger.

This book was so different at first I didn’t know what to think about it. The premise is a little strange and after reading it I’m not quite sure I really understand what was happening. But other than a few loose ends the story sucked me in to a one sitting read. I enjoyed the story especially since it was a much different fantasy story than I have read ever before.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Wow. This book took me on a wild ride. I went into this book not knowing what to expect.

The Chalice and the Crown is a book that gets very dark at times. Our main character is Sasha Nikolayeva, a ballerina following in her Mother, and Grandmothers footsteps. She has been chosen to be the lead in Swan Lake, and as pressure builds we see a bit of Black Swan style psychological pressure, as Sasha’s mind starts to unravel she struggles with memory loss and understanding what is real and what isn’t. She finds herself in a whole other world where she, and others like her are no more than slaves., or “Thralls” mindless, and obedient, these slaves exist solely to do the bidding of those that own them. The people in the City of Roses have no idea that underneath, these slaves are real people.

I really had a lot of feelings reading this book. First, I need to praise the author for a job well done, while reading this I really felt that fear, and terror while Sasha was breaking down. The tension felt so heavy. Throughout the book I felt like I was holding my breath through moments of suspense. I also want to mention that although this book started out by having subtle similarities of some of the themes found in Black Swan, it quickly transformed into something beautifully original. I would love to see more in this world!!

Rating: 4.75 / 5 stars

Imagine yourself living in the world where your nightmares are your real life and you can't wake up from them.

This book truly blew my mind. I started reading it not really knowing what's it about. I thought it was ballet and at the beginning it reminded me a lot of Black Swan (the movie I absolutely love) both because of the ballet and mental struggles, but as I got more into the plot I realized it was about something else entirely. 

We follow a young girl, a ballet dancer Sasha, who after getting the lead role in Swan Lake and unfortunately losing her grandmother, starts having nightmares. She can't escape those nightmare and they start appearing even when she's awake, so much that she doesn't know what's real and what isn't. Suddenly, she is in this paralel world, City of Roses, where she is merely a thrall for those mightier than her. And she doesn't know who she is. 

This story is truly unique and I give major props to the author for creating such an interesting world, because I've never read of something similar before. A world where people are not people, they are slaves who don't speak and don't have a mind of their own. But Sasha is different of course, with helps of her friend and her true love, ballet, she becomes mindful and fights those manipulations. That alone shows us the power of our mind. 

Although this book is very shocking and sad in some parts, it paints a beautiful picture of friendship, family and love. I loved how there are so many different characters with different traits. Other than Sasha, Sadra is definitely my favorite character and it's because of her selflessness and because she's the most amazing friend.

The part that I really enjoyed was all the beautiful songs and stories both from the real world and City of Roses. I always love reading about imaginary legends in fiction books, and one of those is the story about the blacksmith and the chalice. Those stories make books even more captivating. 

Although the ending wasn't really what I expected, it was very well made and it wrapped up the story perfectly. This whole book was unpredictable but that's what made it even better. 

I highly recommend it to everyone who enjoys fantasy. I'm glad I read this because it's truly one of the most unique books I've ever read.

*I received a copy of this e-book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I tried really hard to get into this but it was not what I had pictured. Im very disappointed.

The Chalice and Crown was a really good and entertaining story! I thought the story was entirely unique and a fun read. We follow Sasha through a "portal" of sorts, which is her mind rather than some sort of object. It was a really nice concept and Flamouri's writing style is really nice and easy to follow. My only hesitation to give more stars is that I felt the world and characters could use more development. At times, I felt like information was given in a rushed manner. I also thought the relationships Sasha forms seemed a bit rushed as well.

Overall, I'm glad I read the book! It was a fun read and I very unique. I loved the storyline!

The Chalice and the Crown is a beautifully written. A dark and vivid read that takes your breath away with the sinister and deceptively beautiful world it creates.
A must read.