Review: The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Title: The Immortal Crown Author: Richelle Mead Series: Age of X #2 Reading Level: Adult Publisher: Dutton | May 29, 2014 Pages: 432 Add it: Goodreads Buy it: Amazon | Book Depository   Synopsis:  The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series. Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion. Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity. Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

The Scene: Same confusing and dizzying world that Richelle Mead built in the first book, Gameboard of the Gods. Except not so confusing because you learned most of everything world building related in said first book. This time, majority of the action takes place in enemy country, Arcadia where women have like no rights and are treated like trash. Add in gods, supernatural shenanigans, sex trafficking, kidnapping, and politics to this book and you've got a pretty good sequel.

The Girl: Mae is basically the same in the sequel; cold, calcualting, and ruthless. The only exception is that she's waaay more open to Justin and the supernatural. I like Mae well enough but I still couldn't quite click with her character. As I've said in my review of Gamboard of the Gods, I blame the third person POV. Don't get me wrong, many authors do this well, great even. I just think it's not Richelle's thing. 

The Boy(s): Justin and Mae's relationship actually got somewhere in The Immortal Crown. Justin has a lot of faults, yes, but he really is sweet and when it comes to Mae, even sweeter. But, because of that ending I'm stuck in between smiling at him and cursing at him. Cliffhangers suck.

The WTF?!: I'm really not a fan of politics in general so reading about a book chock full of it was kind of a downer for me. Also, for some reason, I hated it when it came to Tessa's POV. She grates on me, I've no idea why. I understand how her storyline is going to connect with Justin's but her story just seems so irrelevant.

The Buzz: All in all, The Immortal Crown is a solid sequel to Gameboard. I enjoyed parts of this book more than its predecssor. I liked the action parts especially Mae's journey in Arcadia to get back to the RUNA. Some of the storyline was good but it was still a bit too much for me. Richelle really built up a complicated world that, in my opinion, takes away from the story. I think there needs to be more action involved and the story drags sometimes. The third person perspective also dampens the buzz factor for me. There are some bright spots though so I'm hoping the third book will be better. Plus, I've got to read it because...cliffhangers you know. :)   

Rating

TTT - Top Ten Most Unique Books I've Read

This list was kinda hard to compile, but here ya go!

Obsidian was very unique to me in that it's about aliens. I normally don't read anything about aliens so I thought this was pretty different, but cool. Also, man this book is HOT. It's really really good.

The concept in this book was totally off the charts. It was actually kinda confusing with a lot of world building and sci-fiy stuff. It was definitely unique. Check out my review here.

Cinder had a very different premise. Books like these, I think you either love 'em or hate 'em and I fell in line with the latter. The very unique twist on Cinderella with robots was pretty daring though. My review can be seen here.

I love this book and it's unique take on Alice in Wonderland but with zombies! Oh, and COLE HOLLAND.

I never even heard of the concept of PSS in a book so it took me a bit by surprise. It was one of those books though that took you by surprise and made you love it. Check out my review here.

You might be thinking that it's just another vampire book. But, no it's a vampire book on an island with vampires and Watchers, aka kickass girls who protect said vampires. READ. IT.

I read this book when I was like 13, so a long time ago. I remember that the format was in emails that the main character, Emily, writes to her friend. I've never really read any books with this type of format but I ended up really loving this series. If you're in for a light and hilarious read, pick up the Emily series by Katie Maxwell. 

This whole series had such a different concept that I've never read about. Dragons. And I really ended up liking it until the last few books.

Lord of the Flies was so different from other books I've read and definitely unique compared to other books I've read for school. I ended up enjoying it though it is a bit creepy.

This book wasn't necessarily different from other young adult books out there but the twist on King Arthur was a bit unique.

Thoughts:

What are some unique books that you've read? 

WOW = Waiting On The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Waiting on The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Release Date: May 29, 2014

Synopsis:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series.

Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

I am sooooo excited for this book. I love Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series plus the first book in this series was pretty good. And The Immortal Crown looks even better!

TTT = Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get My Hands On

1. I loved The Lightning Thief so I can't wait until I read this one.

2. Two things: vampires and Katie Maxwell. 'Nuff said.

3. I thought Claudia Gray's Spellcaster was just okay but I'm hoping Steadfast is better.

4. I thought My Fair Godmother was such a cute and funny read. So, naturally I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel.

5. You can't really go wrong with Gena Showalter's books so I'm looking forward to Unraveled.

6. I haven't read the first Dark Guardian book in a long time but I still want to read Full Moon.

7. Blue Bloods was just okay but I think it has potential to be a good series. That's why Masquerade's on  my list.

8. I'm a little curious to see what happens in Captivate because honestly I thought Need was a little odd. 

9. This one's about Helen of Troy. I really like Greek mythology and liked the first book so why not?

10. Oooh, I'm so excited for The Immortal Crown. Let's just say I'm a HUGE fan of Richelle Mead's books.

Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: Age of X #1
Reading Level: Adult
Publisher: Dutton Adult June 4, 2013
Pages: 448

Synopsis:

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.


Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

My thoughts:

First off, Gameboard of the Gods is very, very different from Richelle Mead's previous books. It's not like Vampire Academy, Bloodlines, Georgiana Kincaid, or her Dark Swan series. Don't get me wrong, I can see some similarities between her other series but overall the first Age of X novel walked a different tune.

That is not to say that this book was bad. It was actually pretty good (as I gave it a 4 star rating) but I had to warm up to it. I was fluctuating between giving it a 3 or 4 star but I ultimately chose a 4 star because I think it has potential.

Back to the warming up part. It was slow. At first, in the beginning I had to force myself to read it. I think it was slow due to these reasons:

1. The world, the build-up, basically the whole introduction of this new setting. To be honest, it was kind of confusing at first with all the gadget, politics, and religious talk. But, I understand it because, like most first books in series a lot of the stuff has to be explained in order to get the gist of the whole thing for later in the book and the next ones after that.

2. The characters. For some reason, I didn't really get invested in Justin, Mae, or Tessa for that matter. I think this was largely due in part to Mead's use of third person POV. It just felt really impersonal. Still, like I said before it got better in the last half of the book. I actually felt a little for Justin and Mae.

Despite the differences from her previous books and the slow start, Mead debuts a promising new series. I, for one, am going to read the second book in the Age of X series. Hopefully, it'll be good.


What are your thoughts on Gameboard of the Gods? Did you like it?