Review: Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

Title: Rebel Spring
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Published: December 3rd 2013
Source: Paperback
Pages: 416
Series: Falling Kingdoms #2

The sensational high fantasy series that is like Game of Thrones for teens

Auranos has been conquered and the three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But alluring, dangerous magic still beckons, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the world. . . .

CLEO is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people MAGNUS stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia LUCIA is haunted by the deadly outcome of her breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms JONAS watches at the palace gates, a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius When Gaius announces that a road is to be built into the Forbidden Mountains, formally linking all of Mytica together, he sets off a chain of cataclysmic events that will forever change the face of this land.

REVIEW

I started this book off thinking that I would love it for sure and I was so excited to read it but sadly, this disappointed me :( If you read my book review of the first book: Falling Kingdoms, you would know that I absolutely loved the first book and I was so excited for the rest of the series. I was hoping that some of its world building issues would be addressed and I really liked that there was minimal romance in the first instalment.

Similar to the first book, we get the multiple POVs but the similarity seems to stop there.

20 pages into the book, there was the stinky smell of a love triangle and I became really weary. And lo and behold! There is a love chain and a love triangle in Rebel Spring. What is a love chain you might ask. A love chain is when A likes B but B likes C and C likes D etc. I swear that I am not exaggerating one bit. At least 5 characters were  involved in this chain and there was even a love triangle somewhere in there. The romance was very strange and distracting from the plot. Usually I am pretty okay with love triangles and I can tolerate them but a 5-6 people love chain!? Come on now. I was spending half of the time trying to figure out who is falling in love with who after meeting each other for the first time. (YES THERE IS INSTA LOVE TOO)

The pacing was bad in this one. Nothing actually happened and I had to force myself to finish the book after putting it down for one week. The pacing of this was very very slow compared to the first book and there were hardly any twists, unlike in the first book where there was a twist every few chapters. This was very disappointing. There was a lot of faffing around and back and forth about whether someone should do something or not when the answer is already so painfully obvious. This was very predictable and was just not as enjoyable as I was expecting it to be. There were some parts that I was not expecting but it was over so quickly that I forgot all about it in the next chapter. The pacing in this instalment was either too slow or too fast. There were too many fillers and the ending felt rushed.

I felt very distant from most of the 'good' characters, they were so flat! The only character POV I really enjoyed was Magnus and Lucia, as per the first book. I was just not interested in the other characters, especially Cleo. She was so boring and we were in her head most of the time, bleagh. I really enjoyed Lucia and Magnus, I am really interested in their character arcs! I might just read the next book for them. 

World building was alright, it did not really add much to what we already knew from the first book but it was sufficient.

VERDICT

If you cringe and die the moment you hear of a love triange and insta-love in your books then you'll want to steer clear of this. The romance was just so convoluted and unbelievable and it ruined the book for me since it bogged down the pacing as well.

I highly recommended the first book but now that I've read this second book I am not so sure about it anymore. I am still deciding if I should read the third book, I just can't even bear the thought of reading about the weird love chain. 

Recommended for die-hard fans of Morgan Rhodes or the series (?)

Plot: 3/5 

Pacing: 2.5/5

Originality: 3.5/5 

Writing style: 4/5

Characters: 3/5 

Feels: 2/5
Enjoyment: 3/5

Cover: 4/5

Overall rating: 

READ MORE

Review: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Title: Falling Kingdoms
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Published: December 11th 2012
Source: Hardcover
Pages: 412

In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed? It's the eve of war.... Choose your side.

REVIEW

The prologue was amazing! The only other book that has really sucked me in right from the prologue is The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. It was such a great peek into the world, writing style, plot and pace of the story. If you are hesitant about starting this book, read the prologue and if you enjoy it, you will most likely enjoy the rest of the book. :) I simply love it when I am hooked from page 1 of the book.

All the characters were so well-developed and everyone had their own arc! We follow 4 different characters' POV and it was amazing getting to look at the issues/drama from the different angles! You will find yourself rooting for every single one of them even though they have conflicting opinions. The writing was just that good! It is a very interesting and refreshing way to tell a story and I really appreciated it!

My favourite character is probably Magnus. He has so much inner conflict and I just find him so intriguing. His love interest situation kinda disturbed me but I am surprisingly open to how it plays out and I have faith that Rhodes is going to handle this really well. The way Magnus describes his love for her just makes me feel his pain and I'm willing to overlook to unconventional aspect of it.

Cleo has so much room for growth. We can see her slowly growing in this book and if she keeps continuing in this direction I think I am going to love her! I think that Cleo is supposed to be a strong female character by the end of the series so we are witnessing her progress towards that. I love how realistic the book was in portraying her, she was not perfect and could not just go around doing whatever she wanted to just cause she was the MC. She knew her limits and did not behave like the usual bratty YA female characters. I also really loved how the other characters belittled her because she was female and did not praise her for being rash or when she was making stupid decisions. THANK YOU FOR THE MANY DOSES OF LOGIC, RHODES.

Jones was kind of annoying and idiotic, he was the only one that I didn't really get but thank god he had very small parts in this book so I could easily overlook him. Maybe he'll play a bigger role in the future? For now he seems to only be there to drive the plot along.

This is high fantasy done right. Rhodes was smart to only have 3 kingdoms in her world and I think that was a good move. The number of characters and kingdoms were kept to a decent number so that things didn't get overly convoluted *ahem*Snow Like Ashes*ahem*. This is YA and with the comparatively shorter length, unlike adult fantasy, there just isn't even enough time to really flesh out an eight kingdom world. Keeping it simple is key, quality > quantity. Final Kingdoms was very well-paced, it wasn't bogged down with unnecessary info-dumping and the injection of world building was spaced out very well. HOWEVER, I had issues with the lack of depth in world building. I wanted to know more about the day-to-day life of the commoners outside of the palace so that I could really imagine the world. We also never really got to witness all that talk about the citizens being overly religious and whatnot in the kingdoms. I felt a little disconnected to the world, there was a lot of telling and very little showing when it came to world building. I am really hoping that this will change as the series progresses!

The number of plot twists really kept me on my toes! Shocking things happened throughout the book (like GoT) and I can see why this is compared to Game of thrones but tbh they should not have marketed it as such. Many people went into this expecting the depth that GoT has and were obviously disappointed. The plot started off a little shaky but it got better as the story progressed.

VERDICT

Falling Kingdoms is definitely a great start to an amazing series with a decent cast of characters, great pacing and amazing storytelling. World building is a little lacking, it is not lacking per say but it would've been nice if there was more depth to it. The writing was a little dry at times but the plot really made up for it. I already have the next 2 books checked out from the library and I can't wait to continue on with this! I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates a well-paced high fantasy and is looking for a very exciting read!

Plot: 4/5 

Pacing: 4.5/5

Originality: 4/5 

Writing style: 3.5/5

Characters: 4/5 

Feels: 4/5

Cover: 4/5

Overall rating: 

READ MORE