The Shadow Throne (Ascendance Trilogy, #3)

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Source: Netgalley

Note: This review is also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

Review: Nielsen delivers big-time for Ascendance Trilogy fans in this final installment, offering a riveting and fast-paced adventure with the highest stakes yet.  No longer is just Jaron’s fate uncertain, but that of his entire country, and all of those whom he holds dear.  Nielsen has been offering readers teasers that “War is coming.”  Well, now war is here, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether a boy-king who specializes in pranks can use his courage and cunning to outsmart armies.

Watching Jaron develop his wits to plays his tricks on such a large skill is one of the coolest parts of The Shadow Throne.  Fans of the trilogy have watched Jaron grow up and grow into his new role as king, working to win respect even as he maintains his sharp tongue and playful personality.  In The Shadow Throne, he continues this maturation as he learns to turn what others see as his “childish pranks” into truly clever ruses to outsmart enemy armies whom he cannot hope to outfight.

Nielsen tries to play a few tricks on readers herself with some major plots twists, but the surprise and the suspense are executed better in the first two novels.  The Shadow Throne, rather than being as fresh and unpredictable as The False Prince, is basically a victory lap in which Nielsen pulls out all her readers’ favorite characters for one last showing.  She throws the greatest challenges of their lives at them, but readers have some idea of what to expect from these characters by now and will mostly feel delight and satisfaction in seeing their expectations fulfilled.

On a technical level, Nielsen does a fantastic job of keeping readers on track.  Because this is a book imbued heavily with intrigue, characters must make frequent references to previous events and conversations.  Nielsen skillfully weaves in commentary that reminds readers exactly what action or remark the characters are alluding to.  Readers are kept on top of all the plotting and deceits, without any feeling of unnatural authorial insertion.  One pet peeve about Nielsen’s writing: Characters constantly “withdraw” their swords instead of “drawing” them, which confused me more than once as I picture people putting weapons away, not pulling them out.

The Shadow Throne is an absorbing conclusion to the Ascendance Trilogy, and it will please fans with its adherence to the spirit of the first two novels and its resolutions to all of Carthya’s problems.  Nielsen makes sure to include the action and the witty lines her readers have come to love, all sprinkled with a bit of commentary on what it means to love and what it means to be a king.  Everything that makes the first two books is here, and Nielsen wraps up everything thoroughly, with practically no loose ends in sight.  A very pleasing finale.