M. J. Sewall

Oh boy, this book was so much fun to read!

While not every fantasy junkie loves reading Young Adult Coming of Age stories, if the overall elements are in the right dosage, I simply can't get tired of reading them. Fortunately, Dream of Empty Crowns has a lot of things that I really enjoy in books (political backstabbing! Military scenes! Yeah!!!).

Our hero Gordon has lived his entire life in a well-off village less than half a day's walk from his nation's capital, strangely nicknamed the Kingdom of Thirteen. He has grown up alongside his childhood friends: Asa and Skyler, and his caring uncle Loren who is a very talented healer. And lucky him! To make this story really stand out from other Coming of Age teenager village boy hero stories, Gordon suffers from the devastating sweetblood disease (most likely Type I Diabetes). Now, this makes the plot a whole lot more interesting, because this is a medieval world where although magic is presumed to exist, healers don't have much technology to rely on to care for their sick, and it seems like Loren is the only healer in the entire world who has managed to figure out how to not only keep Gordon alive, but be rather healthy.

Now, getting back to the story, the first chapter is a huge milestone in the lives of the three childhood friends. In their nation, each 5 years they get a new gullible teenager to become king or queen. Apparently the political system was set up centuries ago by the 13 founders because they presumed the children wouldn't harbor malice, and given the job is only temporary (they have to resume their peasant lives once their term ends), there is little incentive for corruption... While we all know there's loopholes in every system that the villains in this book have taken advantage of, Gordon and his friends are all potential candidates to become the upcoming king and they innocently place a wooden plaque with their names into the choosing tower.

The selection day soon arrives, and... much to Loren's horror, and Gordon's disbelief, the next king is.... GORDON!!! Before the poor kid knew it, he loses sight of his uncle, and is dragged to the stage. As reality settles in, he stares at the nation's first councillor Thrundulin (and the main villain at the same time). The guy is clearly pissed off and Gordon has no idea why.

Gordon has always been raised by Loren to be scholarly and to try to keep certain secrets to himself, and he has managed to survive the first dinner without getting stabbed or poisoned. It isn't until the coronation where something really weird happens and he sees a futuristic vision of a multinational war on an airship, alongside several people he hasn't met yet... Gordon collapses to the floor and is hastily taken to the healers. Gordon miraculously escapes the palace thanks to the assistance of a mysterious teenager girl named Aline, locates his uncle, and all three flee for their lives as second-in-command military commander Brenddel goes on a desperate hunt.

Thurndulinn is at a quandary. He has been rigging the boy king selection for years to ensure he manages the kingdom however he sees fit, and didn't expect spies to use his schemes against him by casually selecting Loren's nephew, who at one time used to work in the palace.

Things move at a very swift pace, and we have several separate storylines from the main cast: Thurndulin's mischief, Gordon's adventures fleeing multiple nations while they locate Loren's allies, and Brenddel's POV while he seems to have his own morals being questioned.

Out of the characters of the book, I liked the cautiousness of Loren and Brenddel's questionable loyalty (seems like it is all spurred from a nascent soft spot for sweet Asa, who never deserved to be pulled into this whole mess any more than Gordon did).

If there is one thing that really made this book stand out, it's the world building. We get to visit 4 nations in the story (5 if you include the semi autonomous pirate enclave), and each country has completely opposing political systems that at first sight don't make all that much sense. Lots of honorable characters, and others such as the Queen of Thurnn who do some bad things, but for perfectly valid motives.

I really can't say much more about this story due to the risk of spoiling it, but I simply couldn't put it down and read it in just a few hours. It will be really hard for me to resist the temptation to read the sequels. I probably won't last a month before curiosity grabs a hold of me and entices me to find out what happens next.

I award the book 4 1/2 stars, only because there are a few typos and missed commas. However, it was still a really great read.… (altro)

As other reviews have commented, the sequel continues right where the first book ended, where several key characters are trying to form new political alliances, and both Gordon and Asa are trying to understand the complexities of their world.

I would not like to spoil much of the plot, because it would reveal too many hints about key points of the first book. One thing that will strike very boldly in this book is that we get a (fairytale) glimpse of the secretive country of Extatumn. TrTorrin conquered those lands around 20 years ago and has converted it into a highly secretive socialist country where only those in the highest rings of power enjoy any true privileges, as long as they fully align with their Dear Father's twisted vision.

The book has a lot of very good merits (especially the ending where everything seems to nicely wrap itself), but there are things that they let me down a bit. This is no "The Empire Strikes Back", where the heros suffer great catastrophes such as Han Solo being imprisoned in carbonite to be taken to Jabba as a gift and Luke losing his right hand the moment he discovers Darth Vader's true identity. The struggles and serious sense of danger from the first book were toned down in this sequel. Gordon is more of a meek passerby listening to TrTorrin's rants and doesn't really grow much as a character in the book. There are few true dangers for the two boy kings, and they always seem to get saved in the nick of time by their respective allies. This is furthermore drained by text that still needed a few rounds of edits to remove excessive description (such as scenes where you know that they are referring to Brenddel's ship will mention this is his ship several times even though it is quite obvious from the context), and scenes that could have been more dramatic lost some of that emotion by too much telling. There are also some typos in the text that confuse similar sounding words: were and where, your and you're, to and too, check and cheek.

I would have wanted Gordon to have faced far greater danger, maybe give Lantovas a bit more of a prominent role given he was unwillingly tossed into this adventure in the first book, and then ultimately reveal the identity of Ellice and her relationship with Loren and Gordon until the final third of the novel. Or maybe have Gordon not accept the truth about Ellice and act more like a rowdy 13 year old teenage boy would be expected to react.

Brenddel continues to be my favorite character in the novel, and I really enjoyed the brief scenes he spends with sweet Asa. Quite frankly, I kind of like Asa's character more than Gordon. He knew full-hand that his life was under constant danger because he was just a few steps away from Thurndulin, and despite the risks, he quietly took advantage of being in front of the nation's citizens to openly conteract Thurndulinn's authority. He has grown very much from the first book indeed!

All in all, while the sequel was unable to exceed the very high expectations of the first book, it was a fun easygoing read with a lot of very fun scenes and with many things that could possibly happen in the third book.… (altro)

This is the third and final book of the Chosen King series and it takes place 6 months after the end of the 2nd book.
Without spoiling too much about the plot of book 2, things are sort of settling down in the Thirteen Kingdom and the majority of the citizens have accepted Gordon and Asa as their two teenage kings.

However, as one would expect, peace is ever elusive in this series, and the author cleverly manages to split the adventures of the book into two parts so as not to overburden the starring role of Gordon and Asa. While Gordon embarks on a diplomatic mission to a mysterious nation of social outcasts named the Outlands in order to discover the true reason behind the attack in his palace that injured Asa, his fellow co-king has to soothe an increasingly vociferous group of angered Thirteeners that wish to get rid of the teenager king system due to internal government problems that has weakened the country.

I like how the book manages to give the two kings an equal chance to shine and be strong in their own different ways, and while I personally think Cayne's character as an additional villain was weakened due to the fact that he was never introduced in book 2, the book continues to be entertaining with a satisfying ending. Overall, it was definitely a step up from book 2, and quite an entertaining kid friendly story.

PS: I do find it weird however that even though Aline knows how to make the bitter cakes that lower Gordon's blood sugar, the book forgets about this when he is running low on his medication.… (altro)