Book Review: Conquering Fate (The Order of the Krigers #3)

Release Date: February 1, 2018
Author: Jennifer Anne Davis
Publisher: Reign Publishing
Length: 340 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author

With no choice but to face her destiny straight on, Kaia is determined to end the curse—no matter the personal cost. Sacrificing her own wants and desires, she turns herself over to the evil king, Morlet. Together, they seek to discover the catalyst for the events that started it all over a hundred years ago.

The path she embarks on tests her skills, her willpower, and her heart. Facing the darkest truth inside of her, she makes a choice that not only has unspeakable consequences, but also changes her life and the future of the kingdom forever.

    

Review:

Protagonist: The time is drawing near for Kaia to face off with Mortlet and decide the fate of her kingdom. I was genuinely surprised by how much character development Kaia has in this book, not that by the end of the previous installment she was a fully developed, self-actualized character, but when it comes to the final book in a series, I rarely find that much character development with our protagonist. In this installment, Kaia still has much to learn about herself and the world around her. There's definitely a focus on Kaia and her relationship with Mortlet in this book, though I'll talk about that in more detail in a little bit, it's how the two find themselves together that sets off Kaia's major development for this story. Kaia's whole characterization revolves around the theme of choice and those choices will be revealed as Kaia faces some of her toughest trials and tribulations yet.

Romance: So, as I said, there's a lot of this story that focuses on the romance between Kaia and Mortlet, and honestly I couldn't believe how much of the story focused on that. Now, don't get me wrong, Mortlet is a terrible person who deserves a slow and painful death for the misery he thrust onto his kingdom, but the part of him that's Espen, the part of him that's fighting the compulsion of the Skog Heks magic, I like. I felt that the author did a fantastic job in illustrating Kaia's conflict with Mortlet and how torn she is between falling for the part of him that is Espen, and detesting the person he is when the dark magic inside of him takes over. I was surprised that there wasn't a whole lot of focus on the romance between Anders and Kaia, though there still is a good amount of focus, considering this is the final installment, I expected a bit more evenly divided attention on the two main suitors in Kaia's life.

World Building: There's a bit more focus on the Heks in this story as the prologue of this book takes place long before the start of our story and introduces a rather large magical MacGuffin that becomes imperative to the main story and the curse that has plagued this kingdom for so long. While we learn more about the world outside Nelebek, we don't actually see it, which makes sense since the barrier around Nelebek is still in place, but I just wish we got to see a bit more of this world or at least what we learned about the world outside Nelebek wasn't so focused on one kingdom. Don't get me wrong, I love the world building in this book and I loved learning more about the Heks and how their race works, and I loved following this story to its conclusion, I just want more. Is that such a bad thing?

Predictability: Davis is the Queen of plot twists in my book. Not that I haven't been able to guess at a lot of her plot twists in the past, but when it comes to the Krigers series especially, I have next to no idea where the story will go and that was absolutely true for this installment. Going back over the story, there isn't much, if anything, that I was able to predict, in fact when it came to how this story would end, I had a lot of ideas as for how it might end and still I wasn't able to figure out how everything was going to go down. That's just the end, there are plenty more twists and turns in this book, twists that I didn't see coming, not even just before they were about to be revealed.

Ending: As I said, the ending of this tale is fairly unpredictable. The final confrontation with Mortlet was really interesting and it's in this final battle that even more is revealed and some very hard truths come to light. I really enjoyed the final climax with Mortlet, though after the dust has settled, for good or for bad, there is still a bit of book left that just helps to wrap everything up and shows off what happens after the final battle and how the world will continue after everything is said and done.

Rating:

I did have to debate on this a little bit, as this isn't as good as the other books in this series, but at the end of the day I still loved it and felt that this is a perfect ending to this series, though probably my biggest problem with this installment was that it's been so long since I read either of the other books that it felt a little removed from the other ones for me. I'm hoping to do a reread of the entire trilogy by the end of the year.

Book Review: Burning Shadows (The Order of the Krigers #2)

Release Date: November 15, 2016
Author: Jennifer Anne Davis
Publisher: Reign Publishing
Length: 374 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author

The Order of the Krigers has risen.

Determined to destroy the Order, the vicious king, Morlet, scours the land searching for the twelve chosen ones. He burns entire villages hoping to crush the Krigers.

He has other plans for Kaia.

In order to end the curse, Kaia must conceive a child before the Krigers can kill Morlet. However, Kaia doesn’t know if the father is supposed to be her fiancé, Vidar, or his brother, the evil king. Determined to find the answer, she sets off to the other side of the mountains with Anders. Stifling her growing feelings for the assassin, Kaia unearths secrets that force her to reevaluate her cause. Can she sacrifice so much of herself to save the kingdom of Nelebek? Can she kill Morlet when she is starting to understand and even sympathize with him? And is there really any choice at all, especially when it comes to matters of the heart?

With newfound power, Kaia’s heart and mind are entwined with the realization that choices come with a price, passion can rival hatred, and an evil looms on the horizon, more sinister than she ever imagined.

    

Review:

Protagonist: After freeing the other Krigers from Mortlet's captivity, the country of Nelebek is closer than ever to being rid of the ruthless tyrant Mortlet. However, before Kaia and the other Krigers can end Mortlet's reign she needs to conceive a child of royal blood, meaning either she has a child with Vidar or, more terrifying yet, she has to have a child with Mortlet. Yet, she's able to see the good parts of Mortlet, the parts that have yet to be corrupted by the Skog Heks magic flowing through his system. Much of Kaia's development in this book is tied into her role in breaking the curse. The symbol on her weapon means "choice" and still she feels that if she wants to do right by her country and the people she's come to care for, she has no choice. I loved watching Kaia's struggles in this book because it made her feel all the more real of a character. She's by no means a perfect character, she's flawed, she thinks too much with her heart, and she has real fears that can interfere with her mission, that being said, she still does what she believes is right and faces her challenges head on. Sometimes she comes out victorious, but other times she needs to lick her wounds and regroup. All these things make her such a great character to root for and to watch develop over the course of this series.

Romance: One of my favorite aspects of this series so far has been the way the author has approached the romance. In a way, there's a love triangle, but it's presented in a very unique and unusual way. It's obvious, even in the first book, that there's really only one true contender for Kaia's heart, and yet she's drawn to Mortlet, or at least the human side of him, Espen, and finds herself engaged to Vidar in hopes that conceiving a child with him will help break the curse, all the while fighting her growing romantic feelings for the assassin Anders. This isn't your typical YA romance, and the way the author handles it is inexplicably amazing. While Kaia's feelings for the men in her life play a role in the overall story, she never lets that define who she is. She's not trying to find a husband or someone to spend her life with, she wants to break this curse, so if romantic entanglements get in the way she won't let it stop her from doing what she needs to do, which I greatly admire in a YA heroine. That all being said the romantic tension between Kaia and Anders is off the charts amazing. It does get a tiny bit too soapy at times, but it always finds a way to reign itself in before it gets too much. Then there's the complicated connection between Kaia and Mortlet which is extremely compelling, while I'm not rooting for Mortlet and Kaia to end up in any way together, I understand her struggle and understand the fight that Mortlet's humanity, Espen, must be fighting every day.

World Building: With all the Krigers finally together you'd think that it wouldn't take that long to band together, link up their powers and destroy Mortlet, but there's much more to this story left to be told. Since much of Kaia's development involves her role in breaking the curse, that's also what most of the world building is based upon. In this book, we learn more about what transpired when the curse was first cast. Whatever did happen to the girl that Espen was so ready to give up anything to be with? Now that Skog Heks has been killed what does that mean for the rule of balance in Nelebek? Why is Kaia the only female Kriger? All of these questions and more are answered in this installment. I usually find that the second installment in a trilogy is the most world building heavy, and even though I haven't read the final book in this trilogy, this book is jam-packed with world building. While I'm sure there's still much to explore as this series comes to an end next year, I was blown away by the information we discover in this installment and I loved the way the author presented it. It never felt out of place or like a huge info-dump, but much more natural and realistic.

Predictability: Going over this story I was trying to pinpoint what twists there were and try and remember my reactions to them, however, I wasn't able to find that many. That's not to say that there weren't twists in this story, but more that they weren't presented like normal literary twists. There were definitely some twists that felt more "normal" that were either well foreshadowed or came out of nowhere, but there were other times that it was more how certain characters got out of tricky predicaments or how they reacted to trials and hardships that were in a way twists. Not because the characters were acting out of character, but because they handle it in a way that's both unexpected and yet completely something they would do that catches me off guard. Either way, there were only a small handful of times that there was something presented as a twist that I was under the impression the reader already knew or should have known, and even those moments didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story.

Ending: As this installment was coming to a close I had so many expectations for where I thought the story was going to go, and yet nothing quite turned out in the way I expected. Things were postponed until the final installment that I thought would have happened in this installment, and there were things that I expected to happen that just didn't and the way the author wrote around it was incredible. I really wish I could go into specifics here because there's a moment near the end of the book that really spoke to me because Kaia does something that I've only seen a handful of other female protagonists do and it was something that just made me love her character all the more. Again, I wish I could go into specifics, but I don't want to risk spoiling people because not only am I against causing spoilers, but it's also a moment that I feel is best experienced without any prior knowledge that it's coming. The ending itself was both incredible and aggravating. Incredible because I loved the final climax of the story and where things leave off, and yet aggravating because I hate waiting for the next installment and while I know I don't have to wait as long as people who read this as soon as it came out, August can't come soon enough. (I bet the author feels the exact opposite though lol)

Rating:

If you couldn't tell by my glowing review, I loved this book, even more than the first one, and everything the world building, the magic system, the characters, and the romance are all phenomenal. If you read the first book and were hesitant to read the second, don't be, it only gets better! (Granted that's coming from someone who wasn't hesitant to continue this series.)

Blog Tour Book Review: Rise (The Order of the Krigers #1) + GIVEAWAY!

Release Date: May 17, 2016
Author: Jennifer Anne Davis
Publisher: Month9Books
Length: 300 pages
Source: eARC from Publisher

The people of Nelebek live in fear of persecution from the evil Morlet, who reigns with a dark and destructive magic. The kingdom’s only hope lies with the Order of the Krigers—twelve warriors with mysterious powers linked to magical weapons.

For over a century, Morlet has been annihilating the Order, picking them off one by one. Eleven Krigers have been hunted down, tortured, and imprisoned in his dungeon. Now, only one remains.

Sixteen-year-old Kaia survives by keeping her head down and minding her own business. But when she finds herself in the middle of a public execution where the mysterious Morlet is in attendance, an odd compulsion she can’t resist comes over her.

Kaia looks into Morlet’s eyes.

Soon, an ancient power awakens and Kaia can no more blend into the scenery. Will she heed the call of the Krigers or will Morlet’s dark magic destroy the last of the Order?

    

Review:

Protagonist: Kaia has always known to keep her head down and out of trouble. However when she finds herself in running an errand to save her sick father she comes face to face with the evil tyrant who runs the kingdom she lives in she can no longer fade into obscurity. Now she's on the run from a terrifying enemy and learns of her destiny to help eleven others band together to fight and ultimately bring down the fearsome Mortlet. I really like Kaia, she's stubborn and fierce with a caring side to her. It's really hard to describe because she's more than just those things, she's a very well written and developed character.

Romance: So the romance in this book isn't a large plot point, and I was completely okay with that as it let this incredible plot shine all the more. So, I'm trying to figure out how to describe the romance without giving some rather large spoilers away, so I'll say this, while there isn't really a love triangle in this book, at least not one that I can take seriously, there is more than one person that comes into Kaia's life that will contribute in one way or another to the romance. The romance between Kaia and her main love interest is great though, it's slow moving, and has a lot of great tension in it. It didn't take too long for me to really start to root for them.

World-Building: Wow, this world is incredible. I said on twitter, not too long after starting this book, that the prologue to this story is incredible, it hooked me so easily and never let go. In this world there is magic, though humans don't have it unless it's given to them. Which is how the Krigers were born. They each have a weapon that links them to their magic which I found to be an incredible idea. I was eager to see how Davis would handle a magic system, since her True Reign and Reign of Secrets series don't have a magic aspect, and I have to say she did a phenomenal job. Then there's the world itself and while we don't learn too much about it, what we do learn is very well presented and there's some hints at things that I think we'll discover more in the future.

Predictability: So I'm going over in my head all of the twists in this book and there aren't all that many. There are some sudden turns in the story that I didn't quite see coming that were incredible, and even the twists that I did see coming I still really enjoyed. The sort of big twist to this story was actually pretty easy to guess, though not until after learning a key piece of information, but even then with the twist so obvious, the author didn't really try to continue to hint at it beating it over our heads, in fact even the main character starts to catch on to a few things. In the end I was probably more excited with how things fit together than whether or not I was surprised when they were finally revealed.

Ending: This ending did not take the turn I thought it would have. While I knew in my mind where the logical end point for this installment was, there were things in it that just seem to happen almost too soon. There are two more installments in this series and now I'm extremely curious as to what the next installment is going to bring. The final climax of this book had quite a few twists and turns in it, some I saw coming and a few I never quite expected. This all leads up to a rather killer cliffhanger.

Rating:

Wow, going in to this book I expected to like it, but I seriously can't wait to see what's going to happen next. The world is so richly developed and I feel such a connection to so many of the characters. If you're a fan of fantasy, this book is a must read!

About the Author:

Jennifer Anne Davis is the award-winning author of the bestselling TRUE REIGN series. After graduating from the University of San Diego with a degree in English and a teaching credential, she married her high school sweetheart. Jennifer is currently a full-time writer and mother of three highly energetic children. Her days are spent living in imaginary worlds and fueling her own kids’ creativity.

Author Links:

Website † Twitter † Facebook † Instagram † Goodreads

Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway