Cocktails and Books
Written on Sep 24, 2015
On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, seventeen-year-old Cyrene Strohm's lifelong plans come to fruition when she's chosen for one of the most prestigious positions in her homeland-an Affiliate to the Queen.
Or so she thinks.
When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems. Thrust into a world of dangerous political intrigue and deadly magic, Cyrene's position only grows more treacherous when she finds herself drawn to the one man she can never have...
King Edric himself.Cyrene must decide if love is truly worth the price of freedom. Find out in this first book inUSA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde's new Ascension series. Great for fans of Game of Thrones, Tudors, and Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series.
- ISBN10 1514864258
- ISBN13 9781514864258
- Publish Date 10 September 2015
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 332
- Language English
Reviews
Ashley
Written on Sep 22, 2015
The romance and some of the characters were... bleh. Very shallow.
The romance was TOLD instead of SHOWN and this was one of those things where every male seemed to be obsessed with the main character. There was hardly any dialogue between Cyrene and the king. Then when they spent the most time together, there was literally no dialogue at all. We were just TOLD that they spent time together and that it was fabulous.
She and Eric paced the deck, discussing everything from geographical formations to ancient history to gardening. Over meals, they found themselves contemplating various cultural differences between the cities of Byern, and at night, they practiced languages and read aloud late into the night. They listened to a minstrel on board, danced their favorite jigs, taught each other card games, and watched the sunset over the Taken Mountains.
This is literally a recap of the most time they spent together—four days. We're given no dialogue, no conversation, no experience of any of those events. We're just told that they happened.
This romance could have been so fantastic. There was definitely some chemistry there, we just weren't privy to any of their moments together and that was a bummer.
tl;dr
* Good story
* Interesting world/fantasy
* I like the magic elements
* The romance had POTENTIAL but it was very poorly executed
* The whole "every male in the world is in love with the MC" thing is sooo annoying
Romance Schmomance
Written on Sep 15, 2015
The Affiliate was a first KA Linde book for me, so I didn't really know what to expect. I have quite a few mixed feelings about this book and I don't want to sound like I'm butchering every little thing. I felt a roller coaster of things as I got through each chapter, so I'll do my best to break things down.
For the most part, I enjoyed the story and by the end of the book, I was rather intrigued with the direction that this series will take. For some who may have had a tough time connecting with this one, I think as the series progresses, the story will just get better and better.
Cyrene, the affiliate, although the heroine was a character that I couldn't quite connect with. We get to witness different sides of her, more on that in a bit. She gains the role of being the Queen's Affiliate. And the way that I comprehended this world is that when they at the age of seventeen, they're seen/interviewed in front of the royal court to determine what their role will be for the rest of their lives (I think). I had issues with the world building, it got confusing for me.
King Edric, the man in an arranged and loveless marriage. There's a lot of flirting and deep desires between Cyrene and King Edric. And love triangles are huge NO for me, they just make things messy. There are several moments throughout the book, we get to witness the progressing 'relationship' between the two and quite a few times where I'd love to high five Cyrene for some of her decisions. At the moment, I can't say that I exactly love what's going on between them. And I don't know what the end game will be, but as of right now, I don't want them to be together. Cyrene falls a little too quickly in love with him, but she is a teenager, so I'll play that card for her.
Prince Kael, the brother of King Edric and I think I liked him more than Edric. I'm kind of at an impasse with him. In the beginning, I thought he was a grade-a douche for the way he acted towards Cyrene. But as the book progresses, I'm somewhat okay with him. I think he's just a boy that is stuck in his brother's shadow, so he acts out. I don't necessarily see him as a bad person, but who knows what will happen in the future. I'm kind of rooting for him ...
I actually came to appreciate and love Cyrene's friends, and the journey they will all take together is something I'm 100% looking forward to. Towards the end, we learn that there's so much more that Cyrene is capable of, but it's a huge mystery of what that all is. SO, her team of friends venture to find the right people to help discover her "skills".
There are things I liked and didn't, but I'm hoping the next book explains more about this world and that the characters are more developed. I love the direction that the storyline is going and can't wait to see what will come of Cyrene and her friends. There's a lot of mystery involved with this and it'll be great to see it all unfold. I was definitely intrigued with this world. I'm not giving up on this series, so I'm looking forward to the next installment!