The Runaway King - The Ascendance Trilogy, Book 2

Jennifer A. Nielsen

Scholastic Press

2013

352 páginas

11h 44m

ISBN-13: 9780545284158

A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen's blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE!

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?

The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King!

Resenhas (1)

4 (Muito bom)

A book about trust and friendship

I read a lot of reviews about this book while reading it, mostly because I wanted some spoiler on what was going to happen since the author spends almost half of the book building suspense and piling up problems to be solved on the other half.
I was surprised that people thought that Jaron and Imogen's blooming love was tepid, like they were expecting more heat from fourteen year old characters. Jaron is not, despite trying to appear or be in so many moments, an adult. He is a kid, an impetuous, courageous kid with a LOT of responsabilities. His plans are more of ideas, he seems to know what is the expected outcome, but he is not as cunning as he wants us to think, and that's where I think is the majesty of the author and where she deserves her props. We think, we conclude ALWAYS what she wants us to, she leads not only the story, but our thoughts of it.
I think is clear she doesn't wish us to see Jaron as the most inteligent, the most cunning king, she wants us to see a boy that thinks he is all that. Because we read from Jaron's POV and he likes us to think that he planned everything, we want us to think highly of him, he is always trying to appear royal and worthy, even in his narrative of the events. He wants us to think that he thought everything through when in fact he didn't. He admits that several times in the first and in the second book. He is a kid that is stumbling through what must be done and that's ok, not every hero needs to be exceptional.
The lesson Jaron needs to learn is to trust in others, to not be alone and that he does learn by the end, that being a king is solitaire in its responsability, but he doesn't have to do it alone and so the burden can be lessened.
It was luck, so much of it was luck, but in the first book too. He was chosen by luck and even though he keeps repeating the devils must be against him, the truth is they are in his favor.
As for Imogen and him, I repeat, they are fourteen, they don't know what is to love or how to do it or the phisicality of it, they feel it and much as teens when they first fall in love they barely recognize it. I remember the first time I was in love and it was just a inocent feeling of wanting to be by that specific person's side, of wanting their company above all other people. How it felt just to hold hands or feel my heart speed up.
There is beauty in this inocence and there is poetry in preserving this part of them as kids, as untouched and new. They are fourteen and in this aspect, the romantic one, they get to be kids a little longer. It was one of my favorite aspects of the book.