The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: eARC via NetGalley courtesy of Penguin Books Australia
Please note there may be spoilers of book 1 as this is a review of book 2 in the Age of X series. If you’ve not read book 1 yet, check my review of Gameboard of the Gods, here.
I loved loved loved Gameboard of the Gods and was super excited to see The Immortal Crown coming out. I’ve to admit of not being a big fan of the cover, though… it’s beautiful and all but… it doesn’t match my cover of book 1 so am so very sad about that. On the other hand, am keen to be back in the RUNA for a few days.
I’m a big fan of Mae Koskinen because she kicks ass big-time and yet so very vulnerable emotionally at the same time. She’s amazingly good at what she does, loves deeply, protective, and resourceful. I love the tension between her and Justin and their chemistry which made all their interactions just, oh, so delicious! That’s really what drawn me to this couple –the tension of wanting something you couldn’t have.
The pace of this book is definitely faster than the first book –that’s probably mostly due to the fact that quite a few pieces of the world building was done previously. I find, however, that I really only care about the Justin’s & Mae’s POVs and every time the story switched to Tessa, I was just really impatient. Tessa’s perspectives provided a more complex storyline which we will probably see being better developed in later books but in this book, they slows down the action quite a bit.
I don’t like Arcadia at all! It might be a great setting for a covert sort of mission but it was really an unpleasant place to be, even vicariously. I understand the tale being woven required an awful place to heightened tension and makes the mission all the more dangerous and exciting. It is no different than all those epic fantasy tales where we sometimes long to live despite the danger. The difference is though, you will not want to be in Arcadia. I think I may just insert a disclaimer here in reference to my extra sensitive state with pregnancy…I’m not usually so delicate
The ending has left me um-ing and ah-ing as I’m in 2 minds about it… Most specifically the character being introduced which firstly made me go, ‘ta da da dum’ and then, a little disappointed that a well-known character being inserted here. By well-known, I don’t just mean easily recognisable but is popular in today’s culture due to some current works. However, I’m suspending full judgement until I see where Richelle Mead is taking us to next. There were a couple of other twists which served my craving for next book a lot better. Bring on 2015 & book 3!
My sincere thanks to Penguin Books Australia for copy of eARC via NetGalley
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