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lovelyloro's review against another edition
4.0
Such a great series. Though the more I read the more I'm convinced of the influence of Megan Whalen-Turner; Gen and Sage are long lost brothers I tell ya! What I wouldn't give to see those two wits duel. Great story, great characters, the politics of this novel are well thought out and executed making it an interesting read on top of a fun one. Can't wait for book 3 to see how she wraps things up.
nana_darling's review against another edition
5.0
WOW! This book was absolutely amazing and Sage/Jaron is even more awesome then before! I loved everything about it and I have no complaints. This book was amazing and everyone should read it!!!
ellaschupbach15's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
dayamarie's review against another edition
3.0
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as first. The time spent in the pirate camp seemed to drag on. I still enjoyed the stores and want to finish out the series.
irey41's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
eesh25's review against another edition
3.0
A couple of months ago, I read The False Prince, and I was really impressed by it. The thing that I remember the most about it is how accessible it was, as a high fantasy novel, to younger readers while never talking down to them. In this sequel, that part remains intact.
With Jaron as the king and Connor in prison, we see more of the Carthya'a political situation. Unfortunately, the book is far from perfect.
I spent a while thinking about what went wrong. The best I came up with is that it felt like we were seeing the characters do what the author wanted them to do since she knows where she wants the story to go. And she didn't bother giving the characters proper reasons. Like, a lot of very dumb decisions were made by Jaron in this book. And even though he's still a kid and he can be reckless, he's not stupid. He wouldn't make decisions like the ones he did without having a reason for why and how he thought they would work. And there was just none of that in the book.
In many ways, The Runaway King follows the second-book-in-a-trilogy path. It acts as the bridge between the first and third book, expanding on the former and setting up for the latter. And because of that, I liked both the beginning and the end.
But we were provided very little information as to the characters' motivations. While other things just conveniently happened. It's like the author started playing chess, got annoyed with the rules, and decided to disregard them so she could just put the pieces wherever she wanted.
Not to mention characters like Imogen and Amarinda, who barely have personalities at all.
I do like where the author is going with the story, and I still think Jaron is a great protagonist. But the author kinda skipped a few steps with this book, and I'm hoping the third book will do better. Especially in terms of motivations and plausibility. And that the romance will either be done better or scrapped completely. Because right now, I'm not buying it.
Overall, this was an okay read. Fairly short and easy to get through, but when you start thinking about it, there are a lot of holes in the story. Still, I'm looking forward to the third book.
With Jaron as the king and Connor in prison, we see more of the Carthya'a political situation. Unfortunately, the book is far from perfect.
I spent a while thinking about what went wrong. The best I came up with is that it felt like we were seeing the characters do what the author wanted them to do since she knows where she wants the story to go. And she didn't bother giving the characters proper reasons. Like, a lot of very dumb decisions were made by Jaron in this book. And even though he's still a kid and he can be reckless, he's not stupid. He wouldn't make decisions like the ones he did without having a reason for why and how he thought they would work. And there was just none of that in the book.
In many ways, The Runaway King follows the second-book-in-a-trilogy path. It acts as the bridge between the first and third book, expanding on the former and setting up for the latter. And because of that, I liked both the beginning and the end.
But we were provided very little information as to the characters' motivations. While other things just conveniently happened. It's like the author started playing chess, got annoyed with the rules, and decided to disregard them so she could just put the pieces wherever she wanted.
Not to mention characters like Imogen and Amarinda, who barely have personalities at all.
I do like where the author is going with the story, and I still think Jaron is a great protagonist. But the author kinda skipped a few steps with this book, and I'm hoping the third book will do better. Especially in terms of motivations and plausibility. And that the romance will either be done better or scrapped completely. Because right now, I'm not buying it.
Overall, this was an okay read. Fairly short and easy to get through, but when you start thinking about it, there are a lot of holes in the story. Still, I'm looking forward to the third book.
hallethedinoreads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sumayyaha's review against another edition
4.0
2ND READ Still 4 stars like the first time I read it.
I mentioned this in my first review but I LOVE Jaron's character development in here and how at the end his people were cheering for him, it really seemed to lift his spirits. The only thing I was not a fan of was Jaron leaving Imogen or rather Imogen leaving Jaron. It still breaks my heart a little that he accepted it. And the ending just gave me anxiety again, I need to read the second one right now even though I know what happened.
I mentioned this in my first review but I LOVE Jaron's character development in here and how at the end his people were cheering for him, it really seemed to lift his spirits. The only thing I was not a fan of was Jaron leaving Imogen or rather Imogen leaving Jaron. It still breaks my heart a little that he accepted it. And the ending just gave me anxiety again, I need to read the second one right now even though I know what happened.
sumayyaha's review against another edition
4.0
Firstly *Yes this has spoilers*
But you probably know that. Now...
I gave this *4 stars* although I would prefer 4.5, it's more reasonable.
I loved how much character development was in this book. I mean Jaron was questioning if he could ever be a good king while doing something all kings could only dream to achieve. Amazing
I still love Jaron.
I even like Roden now.
Love Fink.
Love Tobias.
On the edge about Amarinda.
I love Imogen.
I took away one star because of how Imogen left Jaron! I'm still a little salty at Imogen. But I still love her. Even saltier at Jaron for accepting it. I know the ship would be frowned upon in their kingdom but really I'm still mad. So That explains the minus one-star thing.
*Still reading the next book* by the way still think *the first book will always be the best*
But you probably know that. Now...
I gave this *4 stars* although I would prefer 4.5, it's more reasonable.
I loved how much character development was in this book. I mean Jaron was questioning if he could ever be a good king while doing something all kings could only dream to achieve. Amazing
I still love Jaron.
I even like Roden now.
Love Fink.
Love Tobias.
On the edge about Amarinda.
I love Imogen.
I took away one star because of how Imogen left Jaron! I'm still a little salty at Imogen. But I still love her. Even saltier at Jaron for accepting it. I know the ship would be frowned upon in their kingdom but really I'm still mad. So That explains the minus one-star thing.
*Still reading the next book* by the way still think *the first book will always be the best*
mariahistryingtoread's review against another edition
1.0
This book felt like it was trying to break its own record for how bad it could get. The dropoff from the first one is massive. The first one is solid read not without its flaws but still fun. Unlike The False Prince, however, The Runaway King had absolutely *nothing* good to make up for its shortcomings.
This time around, Jaron is now King and he's stuck cleaning up the mess left by his ineffectual father. But, he's surrounded by people who seek to use him for personal gain and/or throw him off the throne entirely.
The biggest problem with this book is Jaron. His character is very poorly written and this has a butterfly effect on every other part of the novel. He's also a domineering, immature brat which inevitably made a majority of the book a chore to get through.
I didn't like him much in the first one, but I put up with a lot because his actions and personality make sense in the context of his background. There also is this arc of Jaron moving past his mistakes as a child to grow into a young man worthy of the crown. The Jaron at the end of the False Prince seemed primed for the undertaking. The Jaron in this book was punishment for getting my hopes up.
He's so needlessly nasty to so many people specifically to those he claims he cares about. He flies off the handle the moment anyone questions him. He casually puts his friends in their place when challenged by throwing it in their faces that he's the King. It's so gross that he literally flaunts his status as a means of manipulating their disagreements. What kind of friend does that? Also Jaron's whole arc in the first book dealt with this already. Why are we back at square one retreading the same storyline?
I don't expect him to be a cheery, polite kid all of a sudden. I understand the sarcasm is supposed to be part of the charm, but after the first book where it was literally a part of the plot that Jaron needed to learn tact it was annoying to have Jaron go right back to being a mouthy little twerp again; especially since this time he was on a massive power trip as well. From the beginning I struggled to be on Jaron's side because he was so obnoxious. He treats everyone like they're stupid then tries to be all *surprised pikachu* when they hate him.
This is particularly grating because it exposes how Jaron, in his infinite wisdom, cannot follow a basic tenet ofmedieval-ish leadership; keep your friends close, but enemies closer. Jaron is so clever, yet he can't figure that out? Even if events unfolded the same, the point I'm making is that it suits the narrative a lot better if he's playing the game yet it's not enough. This not only highlights Jaron's purported intelligence, it also ups the stakes while emphasizing how bleak the situation is; despite him maintaining his composure the regents really don't care because their ultimate goal is to depose him regardless. Instead, I'm left confused as to why any reader would be in favor of someone so hateful being able to control the lives of millions.
Also, a person being unnecessarily argumentative speaks to their insecurity. Instead, it's presented as Jaron being just so witty and funny. It's not cool to constantly rib on people who don't deserve it. Friends are a different story, but even then Jaron crosses the line multiple times to me. It wouldn't be a problem if someone called him out on it and he took it to heart. Unfortunately, it's intended to be a loveable character trait so Jaron is allowed to be as rude as he pleases.
So Jaron sucks as a character. Now onto how this affects the plot.
The central conflict is that the Pirate King wants Jaron dead. If Jaron doesn't give himself up to them in like 10 days, then the Pirates will sweep in to decimate the kingdom. The Regents plus Gregor - the Captain of the guard - either don't believe Jaron or are willing to bury their heads in the sand to get rid of him. Alright, straightforward plan for power with the usual obstacles.
Jaron's plan is to secretly join the pirates as 'Sage' and convince them to join his side.
This kid tells the Court it's impossible to reason with the Pirates because they only want his death. Then he turns around and is like 'the only plan that could work is the one where I reason with the Pirates'. This is a huge writing problem regardless of the fact that Jaron acknowledges how dangerous the plan is. Jaron has nothing to negotiate with, no knowledge of the Pirates in terms of location, size, or general behavior, no tangible reason to actually convince them should he find them at all.
I can understand pursuing a goal against all odds because it's the right thing to do. What doesn't jive is that this plan had so little to go on it became absurd.
Jaron's plan is too sparse to be believable. It's too big an undertaking to throw him into without some kind of starting point to go off of. As the reader I can't help but think he's just being stupid. There wasn't supposed to be any other choice except I couldn't buy that because the writing didn't do anything to suggest Jaron had truly exhausted all his options. He refuses to entertain talking to Gregor or Amarinda. He refuses to consider making compromises with his Regents. And by the end it feels like this was all done in service of the twist which made me even more upset because the twist was the worst part of an already bad time.
It takes way too much time to reach the Pirates. There's a plot involving a group of Thieves before Jaron reaches the Pirates that 100% could have been cut entirely. Jaron needs someone to take him to the Pirates but he literally could have met Erick or Fink (pick one neither is strong enough of a character for me to feel one way or the other) became reluctant allies and then immediately go to the Pirates all in a few pages. Instead he wastes like a day and a half (several chapters) doing useless nonsense to 'prove' himself to a bunch of random minor characters It literally is all so that we can meet one character to use for the ending. Which again, we could have gotten the character without the fluff. The Pirates are dull. None of them are given any development. The Pirate King is a generic Big Bad character who is unceremoniously struck down without doing anything of consequence the entire book. For all the scary Pirate talk they rolled over almost immediately.
There's an assassination attempt at the beginning of the book. And I do not understand why the Pirates didn't just kidnap him then? Shift the events of the book a little to have all the necessary pieces happening before the assassination and then have him kidnapped to kick off the big plot. Now Jaron is alone against his will, and my complaints about Jaron not having a plan or being reckless go out the window because he was taken off guard so naturally he wouldn't have a plan. Again this plot would up the stakes and creates a dire situation for Jaren to showcase his smarts. This plot would mean no twist, but I am all for that because again it's dumb.
The worldbuilding is terrible. I have no sense of what it's actually like to live in these countries. Despite living for four years as an orphan Jaron is shocked by how disenfranchised his people are. This kid lived as one the lowest tiers of society. This fundamentally just does not work. There is no way he could live as a peasant and not hear about how the kingdom was being run. Yet, Jaron is just now hearing about some of these problems? That's total garbage. He isn't some spoiled king kicked off his pedestal here, he's supposed to be streetwise and jaded from living this reality for *years*. Why wouldn't he already have specific opinions on the Regents? Like why doesn't he know which Lords pay well or abuse their staff? Or what market prices are like? Or if it's been a bad year for crops? All of that stuff is what a kid who actually lived as a peasant would know, adds layers to the world, and widens the divide between Jaron and the Regents. None of this was a big deal in The False Prince because it was a tighter, contained story. In this one, it's really obvious how little thought went into creating a realistic kingdom from top to bottom.
Count me in as another person who doesn't care about Imogen. I dare you to describe her using a word that's not a synonym for nice. This series would have been better off making her 'the one that got away' due to Jaron's treachery in the first book (or heck his treachery in *this* book) or not including her at all. She exists purely as a love interest first then a character. And the paternalistic, controlling way Jaron treats her makes me hate him more. He doesn't respect her choices, her agency as a person or act like this is a person who he cares about. The way he leverages his position as King in an attempt to force her hand makes it clear that the power dynamics are too imbalanced for this 'relationship' to work. He literally threatens her with bodily harm to make her do what he wants but it's cool because he's making this huge sacrifice *for* her. When he thinks she hasn't done what he said he actually has the nerve to say 'how dare she'??? Like my guy you are not her Dad. You're supposed to be her friend. It's so repulsive. Their transition from friends to quasi-lovers is way too fast. They have no chemistry even if you ignore the parts where Jaron bulldozes over her.
Imogen and Amarinda are never allowed to get in on the action. Amarinda is pushed into the background only to come in clutch at the end unseen because like I said before Jaron refuses to simply talk to her. I already covered how Imogen is useless. She's a sounding board for Jaron never able to provide real insight constantly pleading with him to run (of course, the girl would keep pushing for the safe i.e. 'cowardly' option). There's a lot of toxic masculinity being low key encouraged or at the very least not discouraged with Jaron's bad behaviors. His refusal to communicate, dismissal of other peoples' advice, and general mullishness are just a few unhealthy habits taught to young men that are maintained in this book. It would be one thing if like in the first book these are framed as negative attributes Jaron needs to overcome. Instead it's framed as positive because Jaron is successful in large part due to these qualities. The book tries to tack on some lesson about trusting your friends at the end but it rings false because of how rushed it is. The whole book is like 'Jaron can do it all alone! Watch him!' and then for like 5 pages at the end it tries to highlight the contributions of his so-called friends. While simultaneously saying that it all still was technically due to Jaron being so clever.
The last like quarter of the book is where any semblance of reality went out the window entirely. Jaron gets his leg broken and then straight up scales a mountain AND gets into a sword fight.
I know I've been very critical of this book so far, but let me make it clear I do know that it's a middle grade book so I expect to suspend my disbelief at a lot of the situations. But, this was just too much to accept. It also was very telling that I had been spoiled about the leg breaking part and I actually was looking forward to it happening because I wanted Jaron taken down a peg so badly. Too bad for me Jaron is a 15 year old God.
Worse than that the whole twist is ludicrous. So Jaron actually did have a plan all along. It was to convince Roden to join his side and be Captain of the Guard. Somehow he just knew he'd be able to overthrow the previous Pirate King, bait Roden into a sword fight, convince Roden to join his side, and then take over the Pirates as the new Pirate King thereby singlehandedly averting war since the Pirates would now be under Jaron's rule instead of the neighboring Avenia. I shouldn't have to tell you how impossible this would be based on how much of it relies on other people doing exactly what Jaron anticipates they will to an insane degree. One, this all hinges on Jaron's assumptions of a boy he has only known for 2 weeks. Roden has been with the Pirates for a month. Jaron knew him half that time most of which was spent at odds over who would win the crown, yet Jaron gets him to swap over after one conversation? What about all the evil misdeeds Roden has surely committed in that time? The men he had to have slaughtered or stolen from or aided in imprisoning? All of that is totally glossed over. Roden just is a totally viable option as a Guard because Jaron says so.
These two people barely know each other. I don't care that Jaron needs a Guard he can trust, this book does not in any way build Roden up to be that person. He ends the first as an actual villain, then appears for maybe like 4 chapters out of 43 in this book. I didn't like or dislike Roden in this book but that's because his character was not allowed to show up until the very end because if they'd actually shown him interacting with Jaron then it would have ruined the big reveal. The alternative, however, is that the rest of the book is ruined because the reveal reontextualizes just how selfish and stupid Jaron really is to put all his eggs in Roden's basket.
Now two, like I said Roden spends almost the entirety of this book away at sea on a raid. Jaron went by Sage because he knew Roden would come running when he heard the name. How did he know the Pirate King would pass his name along down the ranks for Roden to even hear? How *did* Roden hear it? It was my understanding that they were out at sea. How was a message physically even sent? Regardless of that, what if the Pirates were delayed for some unforeseen reason? Or if Roden died at sea? Jaron's whole plan relies on too many pieces he can't actually account for moving exactly how he *wants* them to, not even as he predicts them to. The result is that Jaron no longer feels particularly clever or resourceful; he's only lucky.
And in hindsight so many events I deemed useless or padding suddenly are relevant at the end to tie up loose ends. But, it's not satisfying because it was so randomly inserted in and so obviously done in a hasty attempt to imply that Jaron has so much foresight when really it's plot contrivance.
At the start of this book it was a 2 star read, a drop from the first book, but not too bad. (Fyi I haven't written my False Prince review as of yet, but it's 3 stars) As it progressed, however, it kept getting worse until I actually had to take a break from reading I was so befuddled by the direction it had taken. If you're older reading this or have read a ton of middle grade, I would recommend this one only for those who absolutely loved the False Prince and simply want more content. For the actual demographic of this book I think it would be fine because it satisfies its primary function of being relatively fast paced, little gotcha moments wrapped in wish fulfillment that kids will eat up.
This time around, Jaron is now King and he's stuck cleaning up the mess left by his ineffectual father. But, he's surrounded by people who seek to use him for personal gain and/or throw him off the throne entirely.
The biggest problem with this book is Jaron. His character is very poorly written and this has a butterfly effect on every other part of the novel. He's also a domineering, immature brat which inevitably made a majority of the book a chore to get through.
I didn't like him much in the first one, but I put up with a lot because his actions and personality make sense in the context of his background. There also is this arc of Jaron moving past his mistakes as a child to grow into a young man worthy of the crown. The Jaron at the end of the False Prince seemed primed for the undertaking. The Jaron in this book was punishment for getting my hopes up.
He's so needlessly nasty to so many people specifically to those he claims he cares about. He flies off the handle the moment anyone questions him. He casually puts his friends in their place when challenged by throwing it in their faces that he's the King. It's so gross that he literally flaunts his status as a means of manipulating their disagreements. What kind of friend does that? Also Jaron's whole arc in the first book dealt with this already. Why are we back at square one retreading the same storyline?
I don't expect him to be a cheery, polite kid all of a sudden. I understand the sarcasm is supposed to be part of the charm, but after the first book where it was literally a part of the plot that Jaron needed to learn tact it was annoying to have Jaron go right back to being a mouthy little twerp again; especially since this time he was on a massive power trip as well. From the beginning I struggled to be on Jaron's side because he was so obnoxious. He treats everyone like they're stupid then tries to be all *surprised pikachu* when they hate him.
This is particularly grating because it exposes how Jaron, in his infinite wisdom, cannot follow a basic tenet ofmedieval-ish leadership; keep your friends close, but enemies closer. Jaron is so clever, yet he can't figure that out? Even if events unfolded the same, the point I'm making is that it suits the narrative a lot better if he's playing the game yet it's not enough. This not only highlights Jaron's purported intelligence, it also ups the stakes while emphasizing how bleak the situation is; despite him maintaining his composure the regents really don't care because their ultimate goal is to depose him regardless. Instead, I'm left confused as to why any reader would be in favor of someone so hateful being able to control the lives of millions.
Also, a person being unnecessarily argumentative speaks to their insecurity. Instead, it's presented as Jaron being just so witty and funny. It's not cool to constantly rib on people who don't deserve it. Friends are a different story, but even then Jaron crosses the line multiple times to me. It wouldn't be a problem if someone called him out on it and he took it to heart. Unfortunately, it's intended to be a loveable character trait so Jaron is allowed to be as rude as he pleases.
So Jaron sucks as a character. Now onto how this affects the plot.
The central conflict is that the Pirate King wants Jaron dead. If Jaron doesn't give himself up to them in like 10 days, then the Pirates will sweep in to decimate the kingdom. The Regents plus Gregor - the Captain of the guard - either don't believe Jaron or are willing to bury their heads in the sand to get rid of him. Alright, straightforward plan for power with the usual obstacles.
Jaron's plan is to secretly join the pirates as 'Sage' and convince them to join his side.
This kid tells the Court it's impossible to reason with the Pirates because they only want his death. Then he turns around and is like 'the only plan that could work is the one where I reason with the Pirates'. This is a huge writing problem regardless of the fact that Jaron acknowledges how dangerous the plan is. Jaron has nothing to negotiate with, no knowledge of the Pirates in terms of location, size, or general behavior, no tangible reason to actually convince them should he find them at all.
I can understand pursuing a goal against all odds because it's the right thing to do. What doesn't jive is that this plan had so little to go on it became absurd.
Jaron's plan is too sparse to be believable. It's too big an undertaking to throw him into without some kind of starting point to go off of. As the reader I can't help but think he's just being stupid. There wasn't supposed to be any other choice except I couldn't buy that because the writing didn't do anything to suggest Jaron had truly exhausted all his options. He refuses to entertain talking to Gregor or Amarinda. He refuses to consider making compromises with his Regents. And by the end it feels like this was all done in service of the twist which made me even more upset because the twist was the worst part of an already bad time.
It takes way too much time to reach the Pirates. There's a plot involving a group of Thieves before Jaron reaches the Pirates that 100% could have been cut entirely. Jaron needs someone to take him to the Pirates but he literally could have met Erick or Fink (pick one neither is strong enough of a character for me to feel one way or the other) became reluctant allies and then immediately go to the Pirates all in a few pages. Instead he wastes like a day and a half (several chapters) doing useless nonsense to 'prove' himself to a bunch of random minor characters It literally is all so that we can meet one character to use for the ending. Which again, we could have gotten the character without the fluff. The Pirates are dull. None of them are given any development. The Pirate King is a generic Big Bad character who is unceremoniously struck down without doing anything of consequence the entire book. For all the scary Pirate talk they rolled over almost immediately.
There's an assassination attempt at the beginning of the book. And I do not understand why the Pirates didn't just kidnap him then? Shift the events of the book a little to have all the necessary pieces happening before the assassination and then have him kidnapped to kick off the big plot. Now Jaron is alone against his will, and my complaints about Jaron not having a plan or being reckless go out the window because he was taken off guard so naturally he wouldn't have a plan. Again this plot would up the stakes and creates a dire situation for Jaren to showcase his smarts. This plot would mean no twist, but I am all for that because again it's dumb.
The worldbuilding is terrible. I have no sense of what it's actually like to live in these countries. Despite living for four years as an orphan Jaron is shocked by how disenfranchised his people are. This kid lived as one the lowest tiers of society. This fundamentally just does not work. There is no way he could live as a peasant and not hear about how the kingdom was being run. Yet, Jaron is just now hearing about some of these problems? That's total garbage. He isn't some spoiled king kicked off his pedestal here, he's supposed to be streetwise and jaded from living this reality for *years*. Why wouldn't he already have specific opinions on the Regents? Like why doesn't he know which Lords pay well or abuse their staff? Or what market prices are like? Or if it's been a bad year for crops? All of that stuff is what a kid who actually lived as a peasant would know, adds layers to the world, and widens the divide between Jaron and the Regents. None of this was a big deal in The False Prince because it was a tighter, contained story. In this one, it's really obvious how little thought went into creating a realistic kingdom from top to bottom.
Count me in as another person who doesn't care about Imogen. I dare you to describe her using a word that's not a synonym for nice. This series would have been better off making her 'the one that got away' due to Jaron's treachery in the first book (or heck his treachery in *this* book) or not including her at all. She exists purely as a love interest first then a character. And the paternalistic, controlling way Jaron treats her makes me hate him more. He doesn't respect her choices, her agency as a person or act like this is a person who he cares about. The way he leverages his position as King in an attempt to force her hand makes it clear that the power dynamics are too imbalanced for this 'relationship' to work. He literally threatens her with bodily harm to make her do what he wants but it's cool because he's making this huge sacrifice *for* her. When he thinks she hasn't done what he said he actually has the nerve to say 'how dare she'??? Like my guy you are not her Dad. You're supposed to be her friend. It's so repulsive. Their transition from friends to quasi-lovers is way too fast. They have no chemistry even if you ignore the parts where Jaron bulldozes over her.
Imogen and Amarinda are never allowed to get in on the action. Amarinda is pushed into the background only to come in clutch at the end unseen because like I said before Jaron refuses to simply talk to her. I already covered how Imogen is useless. She's a sounding board for Jaron never able to provide real insight constantly pleading with him to run (of course, the girl would keep pushing for the safe i.e. 'cowardly' option). There's a lot of toxic masculinity being low key encouraged or at the very least not discouraged with Jaron's bad behaviors. His refusal to communicate, dismissal of other peoples' advice, and general mullishness are just a few unhealthy habits taught to young men that are maintained in this book. It would be one thing if like in the first book these are framed as negative attributes Jaron needs to overcome. Instead it's framed as positive because Jaron is successful in large part due to these qualities. The book tries to tack on some lesson about trusting your friends at the end but it rings false because of how rushed it is. The whole book is like 'Jaron can do it all alone! Watch him!' and then for like 5 pages at the end it tries to highlight the contributions of his so-called friends. While simultaneously saying that it all still was technically due to Jaron being so clever.
The last like quarter of the book is where any semblance of reality went out the window entirely. Jaron gets his leg broken and then straight up scales a mountain AND gets into a sword fight.
I know I've been very critical of this book so far, but let me make it clear I do know that it's a middle grade book so I expect to suspend my disbelief at a lot of the situations. But, this was just too much to accept. It also was very telling that I had been spoiled about the leg breaking part and I actually was looking forward to it happening because I wanted Jaron taken down a peg so badly. Too bad for me Jaron is a 15 year old God.
Worse than that the whole twist is ludicrous. So Jaron actually did have a plan all along. It was to convince Roden to join his side and be Captain of the Guard. Somehow he just knew he'd be able to overthrow the previous Pirate King, bait Roden into a sword fight, convince Roden to join his side, and then take over the Pirates as the new Pirate King thereby singlehandedly averting war since the Pirates would now be under Jaron's rule instead of the neighboring Avenia. I shouldn't have to tell you how impossible this would be based on how much of it relies on other people doing exactly what Jaron anticipates they will to an insane degree. One, this all hinges on Jaron's assumptions of a boy he has only known for 2 weeks. Roden has been with the Pirates for a month. Jaron knew him half that time most of which was spent at odds over who would win the crown, yet Jaron gets him to swap over after one conversation? What about all the evil misdeeds Roden has surely committed in that time? The men he had to have slaughtered or stolen from or aided in imprisoning? All of that is totally glossed over. Roden just is a totally viable option as a Guard because Jaron says so.
These two people barely know each other. I don't care that Jaron needs a Guard he can trust, this book does not in any way build Roden up to be that person. He ends the first as an actual villain, then appears for maybe like 4 chapters out of 43 in this book. I didn't like or dislike Roden in this book but that's because his character was not allowed to show up until the very end because if they'd actually shown him interacting with Jaron then it would have ruined the big reveal. The alternative, however, is that the rest of the book is ruined because the reveal reontextualizes just how selfish and stupid Jaron really is to put all his eggs in Roden's basket.
Now two, like I said Roden spends almost the entirety of this book away at sea on a raid. Jaron went by Sage because he knew Roden would come running when he heard the name. How did he know the Pirate King would pass his name along down the ranks for Roden to even hear? How *did* Roden hear it? It was my understanding that they were out at sea. How was a message physically even sent? Regardless of that, what if the Pirates were delayed for some unforeseen reason? Or if Roden died at sea? Jaron's whole plan relies on too many pieces he can't actually account for moving exactly how he *wants* them to, not even as he predicts them to. The result is that Jaron no longer feels particularly clever or resourceful; he's only lucky.
And in hindsight so many events I deemed useless or padding suddenly are relevant at the end to tie up loose ends. But, it's not satisfying because it was so randomly inserted in and so obviously done in a hasty attempt to imply that Jaron has so much foresight when really it's plot contrivance.
At the start of this book it was a 2 star read, a drop from the first book, but not too bad. (Fyi I haven't written my False Prince review as of yet, but it's 3 stars) As it progressed, however, it kept getting worse until I actually had to take a break from reading I was so befuddled by the direction it had taken. If you're older reading this or have read a ton of middle grade, I would recommend this one only for those who absolutely loved the False Prince and simply want more content. For the actual demographic of this book I think it would be fine because it satisfies its primary function of being relatively fast paced, little gotcha moments wrapped in wish fulfillment that kids will eat up.