It’s a rare thing for me to start a series after all the books have been released. It’s kinda of thrilling to be able to read from beginning to end without having to wait years to finish. So with that in mind, I’m going to one big review after I have completed the trilogy. However I do have some thoughts. Lately, we have seen how some dystopian and fantasy novels could be prophetic, this is kind of a terrifying thought. The Tearling was founded by people escaping to the New World because the America we know had fallen in disrepair. The gap between the rich and poor had widen so far that there was no middle class left. Cities were nothing more then slums. Food was scarce. Martial law was enacted and women were forced out of the workforce to become mothers and housewives. So they sailed across the ocean, to where we don’t know where, looking for better lives only to losing all our advancements in medicine and technology. Basically the Tearling have traveled back to the Middle Ages and three centuries, Kelsea has inherited a Kingdom that is illiterate, sick, poor and at the Mercy of the Mortemense, the more powerful nation across the border. The Mort is ruled by the Red Queen, who is just a mysterious as she is terrifying. Kelsea, only 19 but is brave in her convictions. She knows her life may be short but she still sets out to do what’s best for her people, even if it means going against the Red Queen and her more advanced army. It is an intriguing start to the series and I’m already enjoying book two.
Very Quick Review: The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
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Stacks is taking a little holiday so don’t expect many updates in the coming weeks. Keep reading and enjoy your summer everybody!
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
*** This review may contain Spoilers ***
This was a fun book to read if a little uneven. The sequel to Riders, Seekers picks up a week after the first book ended. Daryn has returned from Georgia after watching Marcus, Jode and Gideon reunite but too scared to face them. She’s still blaming herself for abandoning Bas to the other realm with Samrael, the leader of the Kindred. Gideon is still conflicted because he’s mad at Daryn for her role in Bas’ situation plus losing his hand but he’s also madly in love with her. The trials of teenage love. It’s been eight months and time is running out get Bas back so Daryn, Gideon and the other Riders of the Apocalypse must reunite to go into the Rift, face their demons and save Bas. Now I say it was fun because mixed with all the teenage angst were some funny moments. I truly appreciate Gideon’s snarkiness and sarcasm. A little uneven because it didn’t feel the momentum of the first part of the book didn’t stay to the last part. The book spends half of the book trying to find Bas and then we find him and find out that he was just the bait. Samrael was only using him to get Daryn and the real conflict begins. I sort felt that all the trials that happened before were kinda meaningless now. It seemed like a long way to go to get to the payoff and we did it wasn’t as satisfying and felt rushed. I wish we had spent less time on the Bas search and more on the Samrael/Daryn debate of forgiveness and who deserves it. Other then that, it was a good book.
