Middle Grade Monday: The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Image: Scholastic Inc.

The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours. Read by Charlie McWade. Ascendance Series #4. Scholastic Audio/ Scholastic Inc., October, 2020. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library.)

Middle Grade Monday features The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The Ascendance Trilogy turned into a series with this new addition to Sage/ Jaron's adventures. Ms. Nielsen thought Jaron's story was over in 2014 when the third and final book of the trilogy released, but some five years later, Ms. Nielsen says she heard Jaron saying, "I'm bored," and so Ms. Nielsen went to work. 

While this book can stand alone, if you enjoy a willful, snarky main character who is as infuriating as he is entertaining, you won't want to miss the first three books. With later books in a series, I try not to say too much in summary in order not to spoil. I will say that I wasn't as enamored by Jaron this time around, but his young fans will love this installment. I found a fair amount of repetition and a good deal of reliance on coincidence that stretched credulity a bit. 

The narrator continues to do a good job bringing Jaron to life.