(If I was rating based on the last 1/3, I'd rate 4/5. But...the first 2/3 bring the overall rating down.)
STATUS: Third and final book in The Ascendance Trilogy
AUTHOR: Jennifer A. Nielsen
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure
PUBLISHER: Scholastic
LOVE TRIANGLE: Yes—although more like a square. Jaron’s
heart belongs to Imogen, but duty requires him to marry Princess Amarinda (who
has an “unlikely” suitor).
PAGES: 317
I’ve struggled with this trilogy…on the one hand, there are
some things about this series that really bother me. But, on the other hand,
I’ve read all three, which means there’s nothing super serious that bothers me and I'm clearly invested in the story
and knowing how it turns out.
Fun Fact: these books are classified as YA in my local
library, and not in the “Juvenile” or Middle-Grade section. But, when I flipped
to the publishing page to check to publisher, they are technically categorized as “juvenile” – at least according to
Scholastic. (Goodreads is no help either, as The Shadow Throne appears in both YA and MG lists.) So the
ambiguity of the genre may help explain why I'm both a fan and not-a-fan of
these books, which I’ll get to below.
Basic Plot: The war that we’ve been building up to in the
previous two novels is finally here: King Jaron of Carthya faces a devastating
war against his enemies led by King Vargan of Avenia. We finally find out
whether Jaron chooses Imogen (his heart) or Amarinda (his duty); whether Roden
will step up and become the military leader Jaron believes him to be; what
becomes of Tobias and Fink; and, ultimately, the kingdom of Carthya’s fate.
Really, Shadow Throne is absolutely a
“series finale” and is in no way a stand-alone novel: most of the plot is the battle/military strategy, so it
won’t make much sense if you haven’t read the first two books in the series.
Okay. In my review of The
Ascendant King, I talked about the character of Sage/Jaron and the
transition between the two books. In the first book, we get Sage for the
majority of the novel and briefly Jaron at the end when he reveals his true
identity. In the second book, we start and end with Jaron, but get flashes of
Sage in the middle, as Jaron infiltrates the thieves and pirates. In the third
book, however, we get Jaron – and only Jaron. “Sage” is only present in the
reader’s knowledge of Jaron’s past: there is the usual trickery and elaborate
plans which miraculously and fortuitously come together at the end, again
providing a connection to “Sage.” So I don’t really feel the need to rehash
those grievances again here: I actually found myself liking Jaron a lot more in
this novel, perhaps because he had finally accepted his kingly/royal persona.
But I think I also finally put my finger on the thing that
annoyed me with the first two novels—but, if the audience is more middle-grade
than YA then I suppose this makes sense.
There is a lot in this series
that is just too convenient, and by
that I mean two things: first, there is only conflict when it’s relevant to the
plot. Like most fantasy series, Jaron & Co. do a lot of journeying to
various places for various reasons. And they do run into a fair amount of
trouble: but every obstacle that’s relayed in the plot contributes to the
overall twist somehow. (For example, in this book, Jaron & Co. are on their
way to the pirates, and they pass the Thieves Camp – nothing much happens here,
except that Jaron “bribes” a thief to take a message back to his castle. It’s a
seemingly minor incident—but only when you get to the end do you realize that
we only read about it because it was relevant to the Big Reveal.) Otherwise,
Jaron & Co. travel smoothly, uneventfully, easily. In fact, after The
Pirate Encounter, they travel back through Avenia and almost to the castle completely uneventfully. For a
middle-grade series, I suppose that’s to be expected: but I went in thinking
these were YA and comparing them, a little unfairly, to the Great Fantasy Works
like Lord of the Rings: that
Fellowship encountered an obstacle at almost every turn and nothing went easily
for them. Every incident may have affected the plot – e.g. Gandalf falling to
the Balrog – but you never got the feeling that Tolkien was only describing
relevant events so that the ending made sense. Again—I know it’s unfair to
compare every fantasy writer to Tolkien, but it’s the first example that came
to mind. And again—I know there’s probably an audience factor here.
But back to the “convenience” issue: second—character growth
and development is almost instantaneous
here. Spoilery Example here: when Jaron learns that Tobias and Amarinda are in
love with each other – and it’s important to add that the reader knows (or, at
least, is provided with a fair amount of hints and context clues ahead of time)
and that Jaron himself has been suspicious – he is really angry. He lashes out at both Tobias and Amarinda and acts
like a hurt and embarrassed teenager. But when Amarinda confronts him and
forces him to question how he loves
her (that is, does he love her or is he in love with her) this is what happens:
“Of course I love
you.’ My words were like a confession, and it felt good to say them. ‘But as I
would a sister, or a dearest friend. I am not in love with you.’ And with those
words, any anger I had felt toward her and Tobias vanished. I could not
blamer her for withholding emotions that I did not feel either. And if I truly
felt any affection for her, then her wishes would be my priority. I had to
accept that her happiness came from someone other than me.”
King or not, Jaron and Tobias (and Roden) are still all
teenage boys – and here, Jaron is showing an amazing amount of self-actualization
and maturity that belies his relatively young age. And this happens a lot in
the series: complex emotional issues are instantly resolved and everyone is
happy. And that is most certainly a complex emotional situation: Jaron may not
love Amarinda, but he has lost someone important and Amarinda is the only woman
left and he’s essentially resolved to marry her. So there’s that.
Again, this kind of emotional complexity isn’t as important
in a Middle-Grade novel, so if they’re not YA novels, then I’m slightly
mollified.
And, all that being said, I did rather enjoy this final book
in the series. The first 2/3 or so were a little jumpy as Jaron & Co. did
their journeying and setting up for The Big Reveal, but I thought things picked
up in the last 1/3 when Nielsen narrowed her focus and zeroed in on The Battle
and Jaron’s internal conflict. There was a bit of disconnect with the
lightheartedness of the earlier novels and the sudden commentary on the cost of
war: that is, Jaron wiped out most of Mendenwal’s army in a few paragraphs and
that carnage was a bit “off.” But, in the end, they all lived happily ever
after and that’s what I love in my fantasy novels. I’d recommend these to
middle-schoolers, no problem; I think they’d be a great gateway to more
emotionally complex fantasy works.
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