This second entry in Jennifer A. Nielsen's Ascendance trilogy begins immediately following the events of The False Prince, and proceeds at the same breakneck pace.
The newly installed King Jaron, tired of all the politicking going on in the guise of honoring his family at their funeral, steps into the courtyard and climbs a tree. He spies a suspicious character, waits until the fellow is directly below, then jumps onto his back. It turns out to be Roden, one of four orphans who vied for the throne (in The False Prince)--as Jaron describes him, "Once my friend. Then my enemy. Now my assassin." Roden is not only armed but has back-up: he has joined the Avenian pirates that were commissioned to kill Jaron four years ago, and delivers this message: Jaron must surrender to Roden and the pirates in 10 days. If he does, the pirates will leave Carthya "untouched." But if Jaron refuses, the pirates will destroy Carthya to get to him. Jaron suspects that Avenia's King Vargan is also part of the nefarious plot--since the pirates could not destroy Carthya without the aid of the Avenian Army.
Gregor, Carthya's captain of the guard, wants to avoid war and place Jaron in hiding. Jaron believes that if he follows that strategy, his regents will betray him and Carthya. After all, Bevin Conner was once a regent of Carthya, and he was the one who killed the royal family and conscripted the four orphans in order to install one as the prince of Carthya. So Jaron takes matters into his own hands. Fans of the series will be pleased to see that Tobias, one of the other competing contestants for the throne, now resides in the castle with Jaron, as do Mott and Imogen, both former servants to Conner who befriended Jaron. All three play a role in Jaron's plan--sometimes unbeknownst to the narrator hero.
Nielsen ups the ante, as Jaron sees no other way to convince his kingdom he's fit to reign than to come face to face with the pirate king who'd planned to kill him four years ago. The author's skill for plotting and characterization lives up to the high standards she set with The False Prince. She also continues to develop Jaron's depth and compassion as he travels through Carthya and discovers his father's negligence to his people. Readers will want to start this on a weekend, when they can read straight through with no interruption. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: Nielsen builds on the excitement and suspense she set in motion with The False Prince, as the newly installed King Jaron comes face to face with the pirate king who tried to kill him four years before.