I had arrived early for my own assassination. What a great first line. Typical Sage/Jaron. He always makes really snarky comments, and the opening line of this book was no exception. The Runaway King is Book 2 of the Ascendance Trilogy. The first book is The False Prince, which I enjoyed. "A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen's blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE! Just weeks after Jaron has taken the throne, an assassination attempt forces him into a deadly situation. Rumors of a coming war are winding their way between the castle walls, and Jaron feels the pressure quietly mounting within Carthya. Soon, it becomes clear that deserting the kingdom may be his only hope of saving it. But the further Jaron is forced to run from his identity, the more he wonders if it is possible to go too far. Will he ever be able to return home again? Or will he have to sacrifice his own life in order to save his kingdom? The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King!"
What is it with trilogies? The False Prince was a great stand-alone book, but The Runaway King is a good sequel. I received a review copy from Scholastic, and I enjoyed this one just as much as the first book. In The Runaway King, the plot thickens. The first chapter was a bit confusing, but after that, I was quickly immersed into this world that I last visited in September.
Some new characters are introduced, and old ones expanded upon and revisited. I do wish that in this series, the lands themselves had been more characterized; they're just kind of generic fantasy lands on a map. But that's not the most important think about a series, and this series is still pretty good.
Jaron is definitely my favorite character. He's smart, snarky, and really awesome to read about. I also like Imogen, and all of the other characters for that matter.
I love fantasy novels with lots of intrigue and politics, and that's one of the main topics of The Runaway King. All of the various regents and royalty and politicians are against Sage, from those of his own country to those of the neighboring Avenia. The political intrigue may not be as good as in some other books that I could mention, but it's pretty interesting (not to mention suspenseful). The book got better and better as it went on. It also ended on an infuriating cliff-hanger, and I'm now eagerly anticipating the last book (who knows when it's coming out).
Just like The False Prince, this one is absolutely full of surprising twists and turns. It was less good than the first book, in the beginning, but it got much much better later on. It didn't disappoint. I wasn't expecting it to be great, and it wasn't. But it is a good sequel, and I would recommend it if you liked the first book.
Read The Runaway King:
- if you liked the first book (The False Prince)
- if you like fantasy
- if you like books with political intrigue
 | ||||
| Very Good! I would recommend this book! |
No comments:
Post a Comment