The Bitter Crown is the direct sequel to The Lost War, second book on the Eidyn saga (out of four books according to the author), written by Justin Lee Anderson, and published by Orbit Books. After the shocking ending of The Lost War, the fog over the conspiration is over, and recovering the control over Eidyn without provoking a new civil war; confronting king Janaeus requires planning each movement, and the loyalties are not clear.

We are back in Dun Eydin, but all is different after the revelation of how Janaeus changed the memories and usurped the throne of Mynygogg; Aranok is struggling with his loyalty, as for him, Janaeus was always a friend. The Blackening still needs to be stopped, but the answer is hidden behind sorceries and curses. In a bold movement, Mynygogg decides to split the group and send them to different places in the kingdom in order to stop Janaeus and avoid the war.

Anderson goes far from painting black and white characters, taking a more interesting route in my opinion, showing how all are nuances of grey; we can't be sure of the actual intentions of many of the characters, especially those that are still under the effects of Janaeus' spells. Allandria's arc is one of the most compelling, seeing her doubting which of her feels is just the effect of the memory trick or which is part of her.

Worldbuilding is less intensive than in book 1, taking advantage of the work done previously, but still explores unknown places for the reader alongside the new quest. The pacing is benefitted from this change, as Anderson takes the previous job to rather explore the characters' motivations and actions.

The Bitter Crown is the sequel that the SPFBO winning novel The Lost War deserved; at this point, I should vehemently recommend you to read this series if you like D&D based fantasy with excellently written characters.