Deck Review: Wings & Crowns Tarot Deck

Get a closer read on your own heart through a tarot deck pulled from the pages of your favorite romantasy novels. Choose a Major or Minor Arcana card to bring to life both familiar faces and new names from series including A Court of Thorns and Roses, Three Dark Crowns, The Empyrean, The Legendborn Cycle, The Folk of the Air, and more.

Adorned with dazzling, full-color illustrations, this deck’s rich imagery draws on the archetypal dragons, fae, witches, and more, each card offering new ways to interpret your own world and the possible outcomes of your choices.

You’ll also find a comprehensive guidebook filled with practical advice and insightful interpretations of these whimsical cards. Whether you’re seeking guidance in love and matters of the heart or looking to deepen your understanding of yourself and others, this deck and its guidebook can serve as tools in navigating unfamiliar landscapes—magical or otherwise.

You can see the full flickthrough on Tiktok or youtube. I did two spreads, an interview spread and the Main Character spread, and I posted a comparison between this deck and two others.

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📌 Specs & Quick Summary

Deck Name: Wings & Crowns

Publisher: Insight Editions

Deck Size: 78 cards, full Major and Minor

Card Dimensions: standard size in a two-piece box

Card Stock: Nice feel, not too thick, back design is debossed

Guidebook: 126 pages with upright and reversed meanings, spreads and general tips.

Spreads Included:

• By chance we meet
• The love triangle
• The slow burn

Skill Level: As a pip deck with renamed suits, beginners may find it tough to get to grips with.

Great For: Romantasy fans, intermediate or higher readers, art fans

Quick Verdict: Rich, lush and full of longing glances.

I. First Impressions

Unboxing & Packaging: The deck comes in a standard two-piece box decorated with images from the cards. There's a nice feel to the cards, and the back design is debossed so you can feel the dips with your fingers.
Overall Vibe: The colours are very rich and lush; it immediately felt like high fantasy, with women in long dresses and men in suits. Like a lot of fandom decks, the Minors are pips, which always makes me pause for a moment.
Initial Reactions: I'm always a little bit wary of a pip deck, but this one is highly illustrated, so I had hope. I love the colours and feel. This feels like a deck that will tell stories, not just individual cards.

II. The Cards

The cards feature this, reversible back design:

Major Arcana: The Major Arcana has Strength at 8 and Justice at 11. Each card has the standard name, but also a new name to describe the trope it’s illustrating. I haven’t read all the works mentioned in the LWB, but the new names felt like they fit very naturally with the imagery and tone. The names are printed across the bottom of each card, with Roman numerals at the top.

Minor Arcana: Three of the Minor suits have been renamed; we have Swords, Letters for Cups, Wings for Wands, and Crowns for Pentacles. The new names do make sense, but they add an extra translation step, especially for beginners. Ace to Ten in each suit shares a colour scheme, with the Courts having individual colours and designs. Crowns are in two shades of green; Letters are a deep, rust red; Swords are a blue green, and Wings are a deep rich purple. The pips are slightly illustrated, not a full scene but more than just pips - for instance, the letters on the 7 are arranged to look like the Big Dipper. The cards have their names across the bottom and a Roman numeral at the top.  

Handling & Durability: These are a standard tarot size and shuffle nicely. I haven't seen any signs of chipping or bending as I use them.

III. The Guidebook

Writing Style: The guidebook leans into the drama of romantasy, with a chatty style and an emphasis on doing tarot the way that works for you - I love it when a deck is open like that. There's some general information about the structure of the deck before we move into the main part of the book, the card meanings.
Card Meanings: Majors have two pages, one with an image of the card and the other with a short mantra, upright and reversed meanings. If the card is based on a specific person, it's listed here. Minors are listed with the Courts first, each card getting a single page, with a small image of the card, upright and reversed meanings.
Spreads & Extras: The book includes four spreads, the three listed above and the one I posted at the top, and some general care tips.

IV. In Use

Intuitive Connection: I’ll be honest - I struggled with this deck at first. Partly that’s the pip structure, which always slows me down. But more than that, this is a deck that speaks in stories. It doesn’t want to be read card-by-card; it wants the spread as a whole. Once I realised that, the deck opened up and started talking to me. It's pretty blunt!
Reading Style: The deck isn't rude or mean. But it's designed on drama, on larger than life situations, and that definitely shows in the readings. I can imagine the characters eye-rolling while they watch the cards fall into place.

Best Uses: Emotional or mental questions. This isn’t a deck for mundane, day-to-day questions - it thrives on emotional and relational readings. Think soulmates, turning points, and big feelings rather than ‘what should I do this afternoon?'

V. Final Thoughts

Strengths: The artwork is genuinely stunning, and the deck commits fully to its romantasy identity without feeling half-hearted or inconsistent. Once you adjust to its storytelling approach, readings feel clear, direct, and surprisingly decisive.

Weaknesses: The pip structure is the main hurdle, particularly for newer readers, and the renaming of suits adds an extra layer of translation that may not suit everyone’s reading style. It’s not a flaw so much as a specific design choice - but it does shape how accessible the deck feels in practice.

Value for Money: For what it offers visually and conceptually, this feels like a solid investment. It’s a well-produced deck with a clear identity, and the guidebook supports its approach rather than just repeating it.

Recommendation: This will appeal most strongly to romantasy readers, tarot readers who enjoy narrative-led interpretations, and anyone drawn to decks that prioritise tone and storytelling over strict traditional structure. It’s less suited to those who prefer straightforward, classical RWS readability.

Closing Impression: Wings & Crowns is less about finding the right answer and more about recognising the story you’re already in - and deciding, at last, how you want it to end.