Initial Impressions:Firstly WOW what a flipping ending. Fantastic. 
 I definitely enjoyed this better than the first book now that I have a feel for what's going on and who the characters are. 
 The book was definitely enjoyable but I still never slipped into amazing mode although clearly there were moments! 
 Very cool ending and holy crap. Now I'm anxious for the next book already which was not something I anticipated feeling close to the end before that point. 
 Review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide 5/27/14: I really enjoyed The Immortal Crown! I'll admit that I had a bit of a hard time during parts of the first book, GAMEBOARD OF THE GODS. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but I wasn't always sure exactly what the overall feel was supposed to be since the only experience with Richelle Mead's books that I had was all vampire-based. It took me a while to fall into the feel of this new series, but that was a definite advantage heading into THE IMMORTAL CROWN -- I already felt connected to both the setting and the characters. 
 I haven't been into mythology-based books lately because many of the retellings I've been picking up just haven't been fitting my personal tastes or I didn't feel they were adapted well. I had a very brief moment in the beginning of THE IMMORTAL CROWN where I was really unsure about where the gods would take this book and series, but as soon as that doubt creeped in, an instance popped up -- a supernatural instance at that -- and totally grabbed my attention, throwing my doubts right out the window. 
 I feel like everything in this book really stepped it up a notch -- the plot thickened, the characters grew on me even more, and many more surprising moments caught me off-guard, a few really flooring me (like the ENDING whaaaat!!!), really heightening my enjoyment of the book and the series overall that much more. I was enjoying The Age of X just fine, but the ending of this book especially really reeled me into the series and not just the book, making sure I would come back for more (and oh, did it ever). 
 The relationships in this book really made it for me, and not just romantic relationships. Justin and Mae have a great partnership, both feeding off of romantic/affectionate feelings, but also just working together really well as a professional team. I just adore Justin's relationship with Tessa as a sort of mentor and guardian and even though he isn't always the most responsible person, he always makes sure she's safe and he really cares for her a lot. I also love how the relationships with the gods are really amped up in this book and start to come into play a lot more. It definitely piqued my interest and I cannot wait to see where this goes in the next book. 
 I think this series is growing the further I get into it and I'm anticipating a really great third book in this series! The more I get to know about the characters, the plot, the mythology, and the relationships, the more I just want of them all! I already can't wait to continue on in the series, ESPECIALLY with where it left off!