No better way to gain the loyalty of the people, right?Īt any rate, most of the book is spent in the pirate camp, presumably because Nielsen felt that to lock up Jaron in his castle, having him do kingly things, would be boring. He will do this while pretending that he is actually locked in his rooms for a week or two, throwing a temper tantrum. So this is bad and Jaron must infiltrate the pirates before they assassinate him. (Mostly they seem to hang out on their well-established base and, er, threaten outsiders who wander in? Which happens quite often considering their base is so super secret and no one is supposed to leave it alive.) Anyway, somehow both the pirates and the king of Avenia now want Jaron dead for reasons that do not make any sense. These pirates, though based in Avenia and subject to usage by the crown, ostensibly have nothing to do with the rulers of Avenia and do their own, piratey thing.

In this book, readers learn of a complicating factor–the Avenian pirates. In book one, readers learned that Avenia is a backwards, barbaric country full of bloodthirsty people eager to get their hands on Carthya’s lands. Nielsen to set up easy bad guys for her heroes to show off against. The politics in the Ascendance series are almost comically bad, in a way that allows Jennifer A. The Runaway King tries to capture the magic of its predecessor, but Jaron comes across as juvenile and foolish–and one can easily sympathize with the grown-ups who want him off the throne. Jaron does not win here because he is the cleverest he wins because everyone else is so ridiculous.

Convoluted shenanigans ensue, but most of it feels like it is lacking heart. Having effectively abandoned his people, King Jaron decides that his best course of action is to join the pirates and take out their leader. The story is based around the faulty premise that, having received a death threat from the Avenian pirates, the king of Carthya can only save his realm from war by going on the run. While The False Prince strains credulity, book two in the Ascendance trilogy throws all logic entirely out the window.

The runaway king book