Yet again, just like Monday, we have a second book – which means I don’t think you should read this review until you have read the first book, in this case The False Prince.
You can check out my review of The False Prince here.
This is a trilogy with so many twists and turns, I REALLY recommend not reading this review unless you’ve read The False Prince. I don’t want you to ruin the fun for yourself! There will be inevitable spoilers here, if I want to give any idea of what The Runaway King is about.
Final warning… SERIOUSLY…
It’s only been weeks since Jaron took the throne after being threatened, tortured, and forcibly educated to impersonate the missing-and-thought-dead youngest son of the now-murdered royal family.
When all along he was the true Jaron to start with.
Now, on the day of the funeral for his family, he finds himself the almost-victim of an assassination attempt by someone he once thought of as a friend.
And he’s being forced into yet another deadly situation.
Despite his people’s resistance to the thought, rumors of war coming to Carthya are very real – and the young king is coming to realize that abandoning his kingdom may be the only way to save it.
Unsure who is trustworthy, Jaron draws on his years of being Sage and tries to find a way, any way, to rescue his country from almost certain ruin.
Will he ever return home? Or will he have to lay down his life to ensure that home’s freedom?
As you can tell by my review of The False Prince, I was a fan of the first book. There’s always a certain apprehension when you enter into the second book in a trilogy – sometimes it feels like meaningless filler, sometimes it ruins all the stuff you loved about the first book, and so on.
The Runaway King was a FANTASTIC second book!!!
Here we have a suspenseful adventure with stumbling blocks that aren’t irritating but instead are nail-biting. We have a new chapter now that Jaron is king, who recognizes that his new status does not take him out of danger – but places him more in the center of it.
Jaron is a truly likable hero without being invincible or too much to believe. He has an honor that makes him determined to save his people even as his kingdom is infected with corruption and lies. He can be foolhardy and reckless, but he almost always has a plan – as Nielsen’s writing is superbly intelligent.
Nerve-wracking political intrigue, adventure, espionage and exceptional three-dimensional characters make The Runaway King a page-turner to the maximum!
There are twists, turns, and craziness! How can the shocks be so non-stop?!?
Then it can all of a sudden be touching, or subtly romantic! Those softer moments just elevate the status of The Runaway King to me even more.
All I can really boil it down to is: AWESOME.
And: I. Want. Book. Three. NOW!!!
Who’s with me?
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