Book Review: The Runaway King

Title: The Runaway King

Author: Jennifer A Nielsen

Genre: Fantasy

Book Blurb:

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?

Review:

And my reading-awesome-books streak continues! *Does victory dance*

Jennifer Nielsen wows me again with the second installment of the Ascendence Trilogy. Usually, the second book in a trilogy is usually the worst book (I sometimes feel like authors just throw them in to bridge the gap between the beginning and the conclusion, and are therefore, not really needed.) This is not the case with The Runaway King. I loved this book just as much as I did with The False Prince.

Jaron continues to live up to my expectations in terms of sassitude (sass + attitude) and honorable moral values. He easily makes it onto my top ten fave character list.  Jaron also continues to leave me in awe with his clever reasoning and planning (though I will admit he does have more than his fair share of luck--both good and bad.)  You also beging to see some feelings develop between Imogen and Jaron, but the romance isn't overwhelming, so thank goodness for that! Though Nielsen does kinda pull the star-crossed lover trick out of her hat in The Runaway King, regarding the Jaron, Imogen and Amarinda love triangle situation. 

And the plot...oh my...the plot.  If I had to pick the two best things Nielsen is best at in crafting a novel, it would be: 1. Creating awesome protagonists and 2. Creating a kick ass plot. 

I loved Nielsen's use of dramatic irony in The Runaway King. Knowing that Jaron was eating and sleeping right in the camp of his enemies had me zipping through the pages to make sure he didn't get himself killed. Also, there was the return of an old character from the first book. However, this character (named Roden) is now showing his not-so-nice side. Honestly, in the first book he was quite likable. In this book, not so much...

I guess my biggest quip (if you can even call it a quip) is the way the Pirate King dies...it's so, I dunno, unexpected and undramatic. (Yes, I'm all about the drama!)

***Spoiler Alert*** After so much being said about how invincible the Pirate King was, I found it kind if implausible that Roden more or less kills him by accident. At least I didn't think he was planning on killing the King.

But anyways, this book was still soooo awesome and I read it in one day. Final thoughts? Read the book! Feel free to chat with me about this book after you're done reading it (or any other books I've reviewed, actually) in the comments or on Twitter! I'll be waiting....tehehe (and I mean that in the least creepy way possible lol, thought I guess the gif below begs to differ.)

Oh, and before I wrap out this review....be sure to check out Sofia's review on The Runaway King at Loving The Language of Literacy.  She posts awesome reviews and is always fun to chat with.... especially if you're a Legend fangirl!

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