story craft

A Crown of Chains by Erin Phillips

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Reasons to Love
-Esther retelling
-Phenomenal worldbuilding
-Not your typical HEA
-Raw characters
-Fairies and other mythological/fairytale creatures

Themes: hope, regret, identity, love, morality

Content notes: Although it isn’t shown on the page or discussed in detail, there are mentions of sexual assault; racism between fantasy races is a prominent theme; and the book also contains some descriptive and bloody fight scenes.

Format: Paperback

Genre: Christian YA Fantasy, Biblical Fiction

Favorite quote: “Hope can be just as painful as it is precious.”

Review:
A Crown of Chains is not your typical, happily-ever-after fairytale—even though fairies, kings and queens, and other mythical races are part of the story. While it is fantasy, this retelling of Esther is anything but fantastical. Erin Phillips’ writing digs in, asks hard questions, and helps us see ourselves (and our darkness) in each of the characters in different moments.

Phillips’ prose is clear and compelling; her characters are raw and believable, and her story provided a semi-answer to a question I asked recently as I was reading through the book of Esther: Did Esther and the king ever truly love each other?

While the point of Phillips’ book wasn’t really to answer that, through Roxana’s eyes, Phillips helped me look at Esther in a new way. What if her happily ever was just surviving? What if her happily ever after was in a deeper trust of the God she’d only known in Scripture before? What all did she give up when she became queen, and did she want to be queen—even a little? What was it like for the other girls?

In this story of bravery, brilliance, brutality, and grace, Phillips gave me something much deeper than a happily-ever-after. Despite bringing a huge dose of reality to Roxana’s world through issues like racism and sexual assault, Phillips brought levity and light through the enticing world of fairies, giants, satyrs, humans, and unlikely friendships and allies. And, of course, the presence of Ehyen.

Her words wove tightly around my heart and made me ache for those who experience these kinds of hurts; made me consider the state of our world and my role in it; and encouraged me to look at my heart and see what darkness might lie there too.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve all walked through a season that showed us, just like Roxana, that “in darkness we gain a deeper understanding of light’s brilliance.” We learn where to turn to find the light, and that we can return again and again—no matter how long it’s been, what we’ve done, or what has happened to us. And after a very dark year, this story helped me see the light’s brilliance again.

Thank you, Erin, for another delightful and thought-provoking read. I’ll never look at Esther’s story the same way, and that’s a beautiful thing.



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