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The Widow and the King (Cup of the World #2)
This stunning book opens 12 years after the end of The Cup of the World and tells the story of Ambrose, son of Phaedra and last in the king’s line, who is living exiled with his mother in the dilapidated manor of Tarceny.
Ambrose’s life is threatened by the hooded priest of the Undercraft, an ancestral spirit of pure evil who must end Ambrose’s life in order to survive him...more
Ambrose’s life is threatened by the hooded priest of the Undercraft, an ancestral spirit of pure evil who must end Ambrose’s life in order to survive him...more
ebook, 624 pages
Published
February 25th 2009
by Laurel Leaf
(first published January 1st 2005)
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There's not much I can say in this review because I'm writing it like two weeks late... I really need to get better at this.
Like The Cup of the World, The Widow and the King is beautifully written and compelling. The story has a little more action than the first book, and some more loveable characters. I absolutely adore Ambrose as a protagonist. Chawlin was one of my favourite characters. And Sophia was an interesting addition for a second narrator. She doesn't seem like that important of a cha...more
Like The Cup of the World, The Widow and the King is beautifully written and compelling. The story has a little more action than the first book, and some more loveable characters. I absolutely adore Ambrose as a protagonist. Chawlin was one of my favourite characters. And Sophia was an interesting addition for a second narrator. She doesn't seem like that important of a cha...more
The storyline itself was really good, especially when told from Ambrose's perspective because it is like looking through the world as a child. But I couldn't really relate to the other characters since they didn't feel like they were developed fully.
I did like how it wasn't quite like other fantasy books I have read since after reading a couple they tend to become cliche.
My only other concern that I didn't like was that I feel Ambrose's character could have developed a bit more, especially with...more
I did like how it wasn't quite like other fantasy books I have read since after reading a couple they tend to become cliche.
My only other concern that I didn't like was that I feel Ambrose's character could have developed a bit more, especially with...more
What I liked about the first book is what I eventually dislike about this one. Understandably, the plot calls for gloom and ominous feelings but there is just too much of it that is becomes very dull, repetitive, and monotonous, which kills the interest to read further. They tried to make a balance with Sophia but she just did not fit in the whole scheme to me. Situations and dialogues feel flat, abrupt, and anti-climactic (the ending is such). I still wanted to have seen some life and passion....more
I inter-library loaned(?) this book - the second in the series, and read it without having read the first. It is able to stand alone, but I think there are pieces that I could'nt fully grasp without reading the first. This is a dense and complex book and I am not surprised that I have not heard of the series in the YA world. I would not encourage any teens to pick up this series. They are more suited for older readers. I fail to understand why having characters who are young makes a book a YA bo...more
2.5. I couldn't decide with this one: it was well-written, but I had no idea what Dickinson was going on about with the plot! Chess pieces? Suns and moons and sons? Cups? Tears? What? I think that if he had stuck to one or two major metaphors or symbols, then it would have been a LOT easier for me to understand. However, I think that while I now find it a good effort, I believe that it may deserve a re-reading at a later time.
this series puts me into a spell. I can't stop reading and I sigh a lot when I'm forced to put them down. Wonderful fantasy for older teens and adults.
Dec 04, 2011
Selah Bell
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
fantasy
This book was just okay. It had a good story plot, but was not very well written. It was a bit too gloomy for me as well.
good but wanted to see the struggle ends with the Heron man better than it did. i wanted it to end by a great fight or something.. it was a good book anyway and the author totally improved his language and narrating skills.
I thought this was much better than the first. Ambrose's language and thought process was quite simple in the beginning, but it evolved and made me happy :D I'm happy it wasn't a really whiny POV this time. Definitely better than I expected after the first book. Wish it had a more romantic element.
A beautiful sequel to The Cup of the World. Loved it.
This didn't quite live up to the first book (The Cup of the World, I thought; the pacing was a little too slow, and the alternating POVs didn't hold me as well as Phaedra's sole POV, but the worldbuilding and atmosphere remained excellent.
Although the first one was just ok, I went on to read this sequel as well.
I did like it better, perhaps I liked the characters a bit better, but still, just bordering on being actually likable and actually anticipating the outcome.
But oh well, not horrible either. Won't leave a lasting impression.
I did like it better, perhaps I liked the characters a bit better, but still, just bordering on being actually likable and actually anticipating the outcome.
But oh well, not horrible either. Won't leave a lasting impression.
Not about happy endings, it is a great book about forgivness.
Good follow for Cup of the World. Nice story showing that what we have planned for life isn't the way it usually turns out.
I liked this book more than 'the Cup of the World'.
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John Geoffrey Hyett Dickinson (born June 1962) is an English author of young adult novels, and has also written one adult novel- Lightstep.
Dickinson lives in Painswick, Gloucestershire with his wife, Pippa Thomson, and two children. He is the household cook, an accountant & church treasurer when he's not writing.
More about John G.H. Dickinson...
Dickinson lives in Painswick, Gloucestershire with his wife, Pippa Thomson, and two children. He is the household cook, an accountant & church treasurer when he's not writing.
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“There is no treasure but Truth, there is no Truth but Wisdom. There is no Wisdom, but from Learning, and Learning is won by the devotion of hours, years, days and nights to the works of Nature and the Treasures of Truth that others have gathered.”
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