331 p. Scholastic Press, March 1, 2013. 978-545284158. Arc from publisher at ALAMW.
Sage, oops, Jaron is barely a month into his reign as King of Carthya before an attempt is made on his life. I won't reveal who the assassin is, but if I had thought about it, I would've come up with the name. What was surprising was the connection this person made in such a short period of time.
The pirates want Jaron dead. The king of Avenia wants Jaron dead and also wants to annex Carthya. Is anyone on Jaron's side? Apparently not, as the regents, headed by Gregor have decided that Jaron is not fit to rule and are prepared to appoint Gregor as steward until Jaron comes of age. Oh, and Amarinda hates him as well. And, he cruelly sends away one of the few who does not hate him, Imogen. Then, he drugs Mott and ties up Tobias. Oh, Sage/ Jaron, you do have a way with people.
Jaron becomes Sage again in a bid to save his kingdom. Action? Check. Sass? In abundance. Chutzpah? You bet. Sage is back and readers are in for a thrilling ride. No middle volume lull here folks. My only quibble was that there was very little of Mott. I mean, there was no way to have more of him, I just missed him. And Tobias too, but there were some interesting new characters introduced here, and a cliffhanger ending to leave fans panting.
I mentioned in my review of The False Prince that I was a bit reluctant to read it but was encouraged to do so by a fifth grader. She happened to come into the library to exchange books the other day when I happened to be about 20 pages from the end. I couldn't resist showing her the book and, of course, her jaw dropped. I promised her that she could read it when I'm done. I'll pass it on tomorrow, so she will have something to read during our blizzard. I love it when students recommend books to me, especially when I get that nasty knee-jerk reaction to the buzz and am proven wrong. Sometimes the buzz is well-deserved.
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