Jennifer Nielsen kept the same frantic pace with The Shadow Throne, the final book in her Ascendance trilogy as with the first two, but this third book felt flat, predictable and a bit silly. Jaron, now the king of Carthya, knows that Avenia captured Imogen only to use her as a tool against him, yet he insists on going himself to free her.
Of course he gets captured, then tortured, which was the weakest and least readable part of the book. King Vargan and his army commanders vacillate between wanting Jaron to cough up his military plans, or to force him to agree to bind his country to King Vargan of Avenia or, apparently they just wanted to hurt him.
Jaron acts like a clever thief, not like a king and the book is weaker for it. Some of Jaron’s escapades are entertaining, as when he blows up the cannons sent to destroy his capital. Some escapades reminded me of the nick-of-time rescues in the old Robin Hood television show. He has an healed broken leg the whole time he’s prancing around Carthya and Avenia, dodging armies, rescuing friends, blowing up dams.
The characters didn’t seem important, more like pawns set up to fill the action. I didn’t much like Jaron, he was a bit too selfish to be the real king he felt he was meant to be. The ending where he somehow pulls a rescue out of the woodwork was fun reading but contrived.
I read The Shadow Throne right after finishing the second book, The Runaway King. It was sort of like the feeling you get after eating a bunch of Halloween candy, yummy at the time but you really do know better. I mostly enjoyed it even while recognizing the faults and despite getting bogged down in the very long section where Jaron is imprisoned. (You can read my reviews of the The Runaway King here, and of The False Prince here.)
The Shadow Throne: Book 3 of The Ascendance Trilogy is the final book in the series, and wraps up the loose ends. If you read the first two books you’ll want to read this just to find out what happens but be warned, it isn’t as good as the first two novels.
3 Stars
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