The Runaway King - The Ascendance Trilogy #2 product reviews

Wow. This book is even better than I could've anticipated. Since I have read the first book I guessed that this book would be good but The Runaway King has exceeded all my expectations. The book is stuffed full of adventure and excitement. The beginning of the book sets everything in motion by an assassination attempt on Jaron the king and also the main character in both books of the Ascendance Trilogy.

The book includes some foes that were also included in the first book and also lots of new characters that could well be friends, or enemies. This time the however the danger is even more prominent and serious.

I enjoy the way that the book starts suddenly and draws you in keeping you reading by adding more excitement on each page. I love the way that this story has so much excitement and passion in it. There are so many surprises in this book that it is hardly possible to fit any more in! The way that the tension grows with each chapter is perfect.

The very first words make you want to find out more. Then as the story gets more detailed in the seventh chapter you can finally see the trap that Jaron has been put in. On one hand someone wants his life and on the other his court don't believe anything that he says about incoming war from Avenia.

Having read the first book in this series, The False Prince, and being riveted to my seat the whole way through, I knew this book was going to be amazing. That's high expectations to be going into a book with, but I honestly have that kind of faith in Nielsen's writing. She writes for kids/young adults but these are so good even as an adult I would happily buy her books!

The main character in this book is Jaron, who we got to know in the first book. He continues in his journey to become the sort of king his country deserves. I have a crush on Jaron and don't mind admitting it. I think you should have a book crush occasionally. Jaron is written so well. He is strong, defiant, confident and funny. He always knows what to say to every low brow comment or insult. He provokes as much as he endears.

In this book, he goes through more battles, and challenges. He loses more blood and there are some moments where you really aren't sure he will make it to the end of the book. But that's the stuff that keeps you reading. You rush from page to page, sentence to sentence consuming the lot and before you know it you have come to the end. So much tied up here, and yet so many loose threads and the big cliff-hanger. I hope we don't have to wait long to read the final book!

Phew! What can I say... A much faster paced book than The False Prince was, due to the onslaught of new characters and being thrown even further into the world of Carthya and the newly crowned King Jaron.

I grabbed this off my shelf to read, having gotten it to review, and straight away you are drawn into the book with the starting line of "I was early for my own assassination". Not long after this we meet foes from the previous book, meet new people where Jaron must figure out who is really a friend and who is not, and thrust out into Carthya in an attempt to stop the end of his kingdom.

This is a really well paced book, you do have a LOT happening, and there is little time of rest in this book, yet it is written so well that you don't feel like your being rushed through the book. I finished this book in half a day and enjoyed it so thoroughly that when I got to the end and was left with a cliffhanger that I let out a very loud growl of frustration. Needless to say I can't wait for the third and final book in this series to come out.

If you enjoyed The False Prince, then you will really enjoy The Runaway King. It seems that this series is only getting better, which in a way makes it a shame that there is only to be one more book.