Rebel Spring by Morgan RhodesSeries: Falling Kingdoms #2
Published by: Razorbill on December 3, 2013
Genre: Fantasy, Magic
Pages: 416
Source: Purchased
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Rating: ★★★
Love, power, and magic collide with war in the second book of the Falling Kingdoms series
Auranos has fallen and the three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now united as one country called Mytica. But still, magic beckons, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the world...
When the evil King 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 events that will forever change the face of this land, forcing Cleo the dethroned princess, Magnus the reluctant heir, Lucia the haunted sorceress, and Jonas the desperate rebel to take steps they never could have imagined.
I have to admit, the first half of Rebel Spring bored me. It wasn’t horrible, but I wasn’t excited about it. My lack of interest and enthusiasm was clear, and I had forgotten a lot of what happened in Falling Kingdoms, which didn’t help things. It seemed to drag on, without a ton happening. It mostly felt like palace politics, then rebel politics, then back to palace politics, etc. I was bored, and a lot of it just felt trivial. There was a bit of skimming, I’m sad to say.
Once the book hit 50%, I started to get more interested. At that point I still didn’t LOVE it, but my interest was mildly sparked.
Finally, when I got to the end (90% or so), I was actually really interested. Finally things were happening and pieces were being moved into place. I was disappointed that we didn’t get more info at the end though. The last chapter actually had me REALLY excited! …but then the book ended. Blah.
I think one of the parts I liked most was View Spoiler » And I applaud Morgan Rhodes once again for killing off an unexpected amount of characters! You awesome, ruthless woman! I didn’t expect some of the deaths, so they were surprising.. but at the same time I didn’t get torn up by any of them either.
So I guess with all that in mind, I’d say that Rebel Spring is very clearly the second book in a series. It wasn’t bad, but it was mostly just moving a few pieces around the board to lead up to something bigger. I am disappointed that I didn’t like the book more. It wasn’t bad, but I was missing that passion and excitement that I felt during the first book.
The Verdict
I was not the biggest fan of the first book (like a 2.5 read, if I had to rate it) but I want to like this series because…because. Fantasy, awesome cover, intriguing-sounding story. And yet. *sigh*
I don’t know if I would continue with this series since I thought Falling Kingdoms was okay-ish but reading your review I guess I’ll still check this one out from the library if I see it.
I hate second books sometimes because it has to expand on the first book and also set everything up for the third book, so it can definitely be boring. I’m sorry that happened in this situation, though. I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction and certain fantasy books, so when politics get in the way of a plot (which can happen often), I’m really bored and I consider DNFing a book.
Fantastic review, Ashley! <33