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beaniedorman 's review for:
The King Slayer
by Virginia Boecker
I almost didn't read this one. After having such a hard time connecting with the story in The Witch Hunter, I was hesitant to read it in the first place. However, I like to finish a series once I start it, so I grabbed a copy from my local library and added it to my to-read stack, and I am so glad that I did. The King Slayer was so much better than The Witch Hunter!
We begin our story just about where The Witch Hunter left off, with Elizabeth facing the consequences of the people of Harrow finding out that she was a witch hunter. After that, the story takes a little bit of time to take off, but once it did, I had a hard time putting the book down. The plot of the first book seemed a bit aimless to me at times, with the characters unsure of which direction they were trying to take. Also, much of the first book happened inside of Nicholas's house, which also seemed to stifle the story a bit. In this book, on the other hand, the plot is more direct. Elizabeth and the others are on a mission and they know how they need to execute it. They travel more, they see more, the world around them is fleshed out. It helped me connect with the story so much better when there was more of a point to what was going on.
Also, the characters were more developed from their bland beginnings. I believe that this is the real change that made me like the book more than its predecessor. We see more sides of characters, feel more emotion from them. Without this, I would have felt apathetic toward them, as I did for most of the first book. Elizabeth and John are also a much more serious couple in this installment, and though they face some serious challenges, I really enjoyed their relationship.
And then there was the ending, which really pulled the whole thing together. It was big, it was epic, it was completely unexpected, and, ultimately, it was a very satisfying conclusion to the series. I am happy to say that I am now a fan of a series that until recently I didn't care about. Well done, Ms.Boecker. Well done.
We begin our story just about where The Witch Hunter left off, with Elizabeth facing the consequences of the people of Harrow finding out that she was a witch hunter. After that, the story takes a little bit of time to take off, but once it did, I had a hard time putting the book down. The plot of the first book seemed a bit aimless to me at times, with the characters unsure of which direction they were trying to take. Also, much of the first book happened inside of Nicholas's house, which also seemed to stifle the story a bit. In this book, on the other hand, the plot is more direct. Elizabeth and the others are on a mission and they know how they need to execute it. They travel more, they see more, the world around them is fleshed out. It helped me connect with the story so much better when there was more of a point to what was going on.
Also, the characters were more developed from their bland beginnings. I believe that this is the real change that made me like the book more than its predecessor. We see more sides of characters, feel more emotion from them. Without this, I would have felt apathetic toward them, as I did for most of the first book. Elizabeth and John are also a much more serious couple in this installment, and though they face some serious challenges,
Spoiler
The change in John from Elizabeth's stigma was so well executed! I had some serious feels when he turned against his genuine goodness, like Peeta in Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay all over again.And then there was the ending, which really pulled the whole thing together. It was big, it was epic, it was completely unexpected, and, ultimately, it was a very satisfying conclusion to the series. I am happy to say that I am now a fan of a series that until recently I didn't care about. Well done, Ms.Boecker. Well done.