Illusionary The unforgettable second installment of historical fantasy series, Hollow Crown

Illusionary by Zoraida Cordova is the second book in the Hollow Crown duology and it immediately continues after the thrilling end of the first book. I was so excited for this installment and I really liked it. . It started off with a scene in the castle and we get this from the point of view of King Fernando and that was so intriguing and directly provided an entrance into this book and kept me interested from the first pages. . Another aspect I really liked was that we get to see more of Prince Castian and he was already intriguing in the first book and herein he becomes an actual protagonist and I definitely became a fan of him. He also has a darker history and trauma like Renata and both want to overthrow the tyrant king and therefore they have to work closely together. This created a lot of tension and they figure out their feelings along the way and maybe see that the other is more than the enemy. . Renata was an incredible protagonist and she is such a brave, fierce and strong heroine. She also continued her emotional development and figured out her powers more and I really liked to follow that. In addition, you learn even more about the Moria and explore more of the world. Personal scenes where followed by intimate moments and action scenes and that made it such a good installment. I also had the feeling that by the end every character became a better version of themselves and I loved that. . Overall, Illusionary was very enjoyable and a very good sequel that I liked even more than the first book. 4 stars. (ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for a review.)