Raasch & Revis; The Crimson Throne

The Crimson Throne is told in first person by two main characters in alternating chapters. Samson is a street-wise English hooligan with a heart of gold. Alyth is the most powerful Leth (half-human/half-fae) in Scotland; her magic protects Queen Mary from many threats, both magical and conventional. The story advances as either Samson or Alyth narrates the events as the story unfolds.

I believe The Crimson Throne falls into the Romantasy genre. Unfortunately, the authors seem only interested in the romance and not the fantasy part of the tale. The world building makes little sense, and the plot is equally suspect (see some of my complaints in the Spoilers section). Instead, Alyth and Samson are instantly smitten with each other as soon as they meet. Even when they are in a seemingly perilous situation, all they can think about is making goo-goo eyes at each other. This certainly drains the tension from their dramatic circumstances.

The story is set in Great Britain in the 16th Century (It is 1566 when the story opens). Queen Elizabeth sits on the throne of England; Queen Mary sits on the throne of Scotland. But this is not a conventional historical novel, because the world also interacts with the land of Fae. Powerful magic characters from the Seelie Court can cross into human lands and cast spells or work whatever mischief they desire.

Alyth is a Leth. Her father is the king of the Seelie Court. Although there are other Leth in Scotland, Alyth is by far the most powerful. Alyth is tasked with keeping all of Scotland safe from any threats. She must maintain the wall between England and Scotland that keeps out the dreaded Red Caps. Red Caps are evil fae who live on violence and mayhem. Alyth must also act as advisor and bodyguard to Queen Mary. The primary threat to the Queen comes from her evil husband, Lord Darnley.

Samson grew up as a street urchin in London. His father is Lord William Cecil, spy master and advisor to Queen Elizabeth. Since he was a child, Samson has been fae-cursed. It means that occasionally he is overcome with an uncontrollable blood-lust; he will attack until his opponent is a battered corpse. Lord Cecil will sometimes send Samson on missions. As the story begins, Lord Cecil is directing Samson to cross into Scotland. A rumor says that the item that cursed Samson is in Queen Mary's possession. If Samson can steal the item back, the Lord Cecil thinks he may be able to undo the curse.

And so Samson heads north to cross into Scotland, a country whose border is protected by Alyth. Seems likely that these two young people will meet...

I wish an editor had reviewed this manuscript. On page 150, Samson describes how he is being choked: "Black spots prickle the edges of my vision. From lack of oxygen?" Joseph Priestly didn't discover oxygen until two centuries after the events in this novel.

On page 190 : "Alyth just goes back to watching me. Searching, searching. Those eyes with the lights reflected are whole galaxies." Galaxies were not discovered until the 20th century. Although Andromeda galaxy is visible to the naked eye, it appears as a faint cloud and is not distinguishable as a mass of stars.

On page 212 : "He looks as if he wants to press me on that but then just mutters, 'Witches don't do house calls, got it'." House calls? I don't think the profession of doctor even existed in the sixteenth century.

I know you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but for The Crimson Throne what caught my eye was the edges of the pages. Printed on the ends of the paper is a beautiful pattern of swords and flowers; it looked pretty cool sitting there on the shelf. The back of the book and the first two pages contain a long list of positive reviews from New York Times best-selling authors (none of whom I had heard of) so I gave The Crimson Throne a try. Don't make the same mistake I did. I do not recommend this book.

*** Warning - Spoilers below ***

I wish Raasch & Revis had given some more thought to the plot of their novel. There were several plot points that confused me.

Samson is the son of Cecil, he is a half-fae Red Cap. Now that he is twenty-plus years old, Cecil plans to unleash Samson upon Scotland as part of his scheme to destroy the Scottish. Cecil has had Samson taught to read and write, so clearly there is some long term investment in making Samson into a Red Cap weapon. Yet, Cecil also allows young Samson run wild on the dangerous streets of Southwark, where any mishap could have resulted in Samson's death. Why would Cecil risk his long term investment in Samson? Raise Samson amongst Red Caps and groom him to hate the Scots.

Why doesn't Samson see auras and the fae folk when he is in England? He is not wearing Cecil's amulet at that time.

I did not understand Samson's relationship to Oskar and Hal. Are they all part of a gang? Why did Samson care about them?

On page 287, evil Lord Darnley says to Samson: "You were supposed to die, you realize. After you crossed the border, we arranged to kill you, as you were useful only in testing the crossing." On page 54, after crossing the border, an exhausted Samson sees that one of Cecil's human henchmen has followed him across the border. Why doesn't this henchman just shoot an arrow into the unarmed Samson, or stab him with a sword? Why the elaborate scheme of transporting a valuable Red Cap cauldron over the border, giving it to the village butcher of a border town and then hoping that Samson will pass by close enough so that he can be killed by the flying Sluagh? And why was the butcher using the cauldron to attack his fellow villagers when his instructions were to kill Samson? I hate when evil villains concoct elaborate schemes to dispatch the hero when a simple knife thrust would be the sensible, expedient plan.

I thought we were told that the Red Caps and the High Blade allied with the Romans. How then can Queen Elizabeth be the High Blade, when she was born a thousand years AFTER the last Roman left Britain? Why does the border wall keep the Red Caps out of Scotland? The Romans built Hadrian's Wall to keep the Scots out of England; the Scots didn't build the wall to keep the Romans and English out! The Romans were the allies of the Red Caps. None of this made any sense to me.

The Red Caps want desperately to get into Scotland so they can murder and kill - violence is what fuels them and keeps them alive. But the Red Caps are fae, so presumably they are able to travel in the lands of fae. Alyth travels between Scotland and Fae-land all the time; why don't the Red Caps do the same thing? If the Red Caps are confined to England for some unmentioned reason, why don't they just kill and murder the English humans to satisfy their lust for blood? Why are they so determined to kill only Scottish humans?

I thought it was a lame plot device that Alyth's powerful father, king of the Seelie Court, simply cannot be bothered to come to her aid. If the Red Caps destroy Scotland, then it would have bad ramifications for the Seelie Court.

Title:

The Crimson Throne

Author:

Sara Raasch & Beth Revis

Category:

Fantasy / Science Fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

February 20, 2026