Jones' epic quartet is concluded in this book, which brings together the past, present, and future inhabitants of Dalemark to bring about the reign of King Amil and the ultimate defeat of Kankredin. We are told the story from the perspective of Maeqin, a girl from the future who is sent back in time by Wend (of the Undying and one of the four siblings from the Spellcoats) to play the part of the girl who would unite Dalemark under one crown. It seems like an easy replacement - she does know what the future looks like after all - but the plot is much more complicated than that! Jones' storytelling abilities are put to the ultimate test as she must miraculously make all of the various torylines make sense, and as per usual she does not disappoint! ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2018/05/201825-crown-of-dalemark-diana-wynne.html ( )

Mitt and Moril meet up as they journey with a group of people following Noreth, apparently the daughter of one of 'the Undying', and the rightful heir to the long-absent crown. Flash-forward 200 years, to Maewen, a new heroine sent back in time to take Noreth's place on the journey to find the crown. No spoilers! Great read. ( )

In this last book, many of the elements of ‘The Spellcoats' become more clear, as it is shown that many of the characters and gods mentioned in that story have become part of Dalemark's mythology and legends – it explains why it was decided to print it there, out of chronological order!
Here, Maewen, a young girl from ‘modern' Dalemark is convinced/tricked to go 200 years back in time and impersonate a young woman who has disappeared – but who was convinced that gods spoke to her and that she was destined to be Queen of all Dalemark, reuniting the conflict-riven North and South. Maewen has doubts about this, as she meets characters that she was familiar with from paintings that she saw displayed of famous people from Dalemark's history – but she has never heard anything about this supposedly-important young ‘Queen.'
Still, she feels she has very little choice but to go along with it, and as time goes on, she finds herself becoming emotionally involved in the situation she finds herself in – one that, for the reader, is yet more entertaining, because it involves characters we've met before in the other novels of the quartet. ( )

Oh, DWJ! You started out with a girl savior and then of course it has to be the boy after all!

I always enjoy DWJ's books, and this is no exception. She keeps plots humming along nicely, with lots of interesting observations. I will say this was not my FAVORITE of the Dalemark Quartet, but it was good to wrap it all up. ( )