The King Commands

Tales of the Borderlands #2

by Meg Burden

In this eagerly awaited sequel to NORTHLANDER, THE KING COMMANDS: Tales of the Borderlands Book Two, Ellin Fisher, now a Healer, must choose between her love for the young Northlander king and her duty to her own people, the Southlings, who are feared and hated in the North.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

301 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2008

About the author

Meg Burden is the award-winning author of Northlander, Book One of the Tales of the Borderlands series, which she began writing when she was twenty-two years old. She's currently twenty-seven and has lived in rural Nebraska for most of her life.

At fourteen, she went to college via Mary Baldwin College's Program for the Exceptionally Gifted in Virginia. She graduated with a degree in music in May 2000, the day before her eighteenth birthday. After taking a year off to spend time with her family, she headed back to Virginia, this time to UVa, and spent a year in a PhD program for music. Somewhere in there, she fell in love, got engaged, adopted two cats, and figured out that she wanted to be a writer.

Meg and her husband currently live with a lot of cats and their toy Poodle in a neat old house in a tiny Nebraska town.

In addition to writing, Meg raises Siamese cats. In the past, she has been a waitress, a bartender, a pizza cook, an assistant parrot breeder (her mom used to raise birds) and a graduate teaching assistant.

Meg has been a fan of science fiction and fantasy all her life. One of her earliest memories is of crying at the end of the cartoon version of The Hobbit, and she read the book soon after that and was hooked for life. Most of her favorite books growing up are still favorites today, and the authors whose works transported her to other worlds when she was growing up, like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Patricia McKillip, Lloyd Alexander, and Susan Cooper, have places of honor both on her bookshelf and in her heart. Meg hopes to bring the same sense of wonder, escapism, and possibility to the books she writes.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I wasn't very excited by the first book in this series, but I did find it to be moderately enjoyable, if not wholly engaging. This one was even less enchanting. I think the problem is mainly that Ellin gets separated from the princes early on in the story, and their relationship dynamic is pretty much the only thing I found compelling. So, take that away, and we have a very mediocre book. Add a bizarre major character death (which could have been prevented but, for some reason, wasn't) and extremely muddled mythology, and we have this bland book. There was an obvious, desperate (pathetic) ploy to extend the story to a third installment, but all that happened is that this book had pretty much no story of its own. And I don't know if she was able to negotiate a third book contract, so maybe we're all losers this time. (And apparently Finn is an owl? Or something? I don't understand. But I laughed.)

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

For this second book in the series, I did a read-along with my friend Chachic -- see the full conversation we had about the book here -- needless to say, I totally loved this one.

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved The king Commands. I hope there will be another book added to this series.

I think the cover art for this book is cheesy and the book deserves better. Hopefully there will be another book in the series to tie up some of those loose ends.

[Arya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial thoughts on finishing this book:

YES!!! There is going to be a sequel

No!!!! nononono!!! I HAVE TO WAIT FOR A SEQUEL!!

I really don't like Alaric that much. What is the big deal about him?

Gareth is so sweet

Finn is ADORABLE!!

I cannot believe that Ellin did not try to heal you know who.

But I understand why she didn't . . .

Thalia rocks!

Review:

This book was just as good as the first one in the series. This is definitely not going to be a series that everyone enjoys, sometimes the pacing is a little slow at times and rushed in others, but I love these books!

Ellin Fisher has been welcomed back by the royal family of the Northlands with open arms. Alaric has been crowned king and abolished the cruel segregation between Southlings and Northlanders. Though this is a very good thing – morally – it is also a very unpopular move. Ellin is still treated with bare civility in town and there have been outbreaks between Southlings and Northlanders.

When Lev starts sending Ellin dreams she knows that she has to find out what they mean - so she goes to talk to him in jail. What starts out as innocent curiosity soon turns into guilt for what she has done to him and a resolution to heal him. He is child-like in his innocence now and she knows he could never hurt Alaric.

But when her sympathy towards the prisoner is found out Ellin is accused of treason and sent into the Southland where she must fight for her life against the Guardians.

Fraught with peril and as action packed as the first book, this is truly a treasure. I was really annoyed by Alaric’s mood swings. I never really fell in love with him as Ellin did, and this book just served to shove me further away from him. He is presented as a figure of immense purity and honor, a man who can do no wrong but we never really get to appreciate this because he is always acting out a conspiracy. The “I know it looked like I was a bad guy but I was really trying to protect Ellin” act got old after the first book.

All in all an enjoyable read. I await the sequel with impatience.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Kira M for TeensReadToo.com

After healing a Southling traitor's mind, Ellin Fisher is exiled to the Southlands by the Northland royalty. Seen as a member of the royal family, however, the king sends the youngest brother, Garreth, to protect her.

While in the Southlands, she discovers a plot by the Guardians, the overseers of the Southlands, to destroy the Northlands and the Southlings who have magical abilities. Torn between her homeland and the Northlands she's come to call home, Ellin must find a way to save her Southling friends and the Northland kingdom before it's too late.

This fantasy adventure story is well-developed and has lots of action, mystery, and suspense. The characters are entertaining and make the story easily addicting. Although this novel is the second in the TALES OF THE BORDERLANDS series, it is a great stand-alone read, as well.

Readers who like adventure, suspense, and action stories will enjoy reading this book. THE KING COMMANDS would make an excellent addition to any collection.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the first book and this book but I am pretty upset with the author. Who writes two books, this one with lots of questions unanswered, and then doesn't write a 3rd book. This book has been out since 08 and in 9 years she hasn't written a 3rd book. Maybe she couldn't but it is the most frustrating thing to not have a finished story. This story comes no where near to being done. The bad guys are not brought to justice the love story is not even close to completion. Our characters story's are not done! I fell in love with all the brothers and Ellin and this is a continuation of book one, they are all getting older and the kingdom is in turmoil in the North and the South. As they all try to help there people in both places they go threw some interesting growth experiences. This is a fun YA series but I can't recommend it because you will be left as frustrated as I am. So yes 4 stars because I loved it but 1 star because honestly this is only half a book.

[Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

After racing through the previous book, Northlander, I finally got my hands on this one. Plot-wise, this was so much more than I was expecting - Ms Burden covers more in this book then some authors do in an entire fantasy saga! I did think the plot felt as though it was spinning slightly out of her control with a few too many characters, and I found the POV shifts slightly jarring (maybe they could have been flagged a bit more with different headers or typesetting?). Still though, some beautiful sentences/paragraphs that left me somewhat breathless at times. A bit rough around the edges and some further polishing and evening out wouldn't go amiss, but a good read.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of the absolutely DREADFUL cover art, I found this book to be pretty entertaining. I wish that there weren't so many things left hanging, especially since the third book may be a long time coming, but it was still worth it. I think Meg Burden has a very creative world here with the main problems being that the books are too short and too much is left hanging for the next one! The heroine is awesome though I really don't understand the whole love-sick for Alaric business. The other brothers are far better, in my opinion, but I guess that can be chalked up to character development. I am looking forward to seeing how this all plays out in the third book (which will hopefully be a bit longer than the first two).

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in this series, Northlander, was such a pleasant surprise, and I was very happy to continue on with the second book. The cast of characters continues to be complex and intriguing, and the theme of cultural conflict and reconciliation is certainly a timely (and timeless) one. Ellin Fisher is a narrator who is very easy to relate to, and her developing powers create tension within herself as well as with others. This series would appeal, I think, both to fans of traditional fantasy and fans of paranormal fiction. And there's clearly at least one more book to come, which makes me happy.

[Gayle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I finally was able to finish this one (I discovered my copy had some kind of printing error and there were sporadic blank pages throughout the last 20 or so of the book so I had to get a replacement). I enjoyed this sequel to Northlander, but not as well as the first one. I think my biggest complaint is the switching of point of view between first person (Ellin) and third person (Finn). I realize it was done to tell all the pieces of the story, but it seemed a little awkward to keep jumping back and forth between the two.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Again, solid writing, more emotional and with a wider reach of consequences, but I still was not happy with my characters.

I was sort of vindicated when Ellin finally realized Alaric was not for her and began to see Finn's feelings, but nothing is resolved and it is going to be a long wait until the next book...

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just because it's a self-published book with crappy cover graphics doesn't mean it's bad! This is one of the times I wish I had a kindle to hide the cover though.

Pretty good sequel. The writing isn't perfect and the story line felt a bit awkward sometimes, but I really enjoyed it. I would like to read the next.

[Chachic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this along with my friend Michelle and we have a conversation-type of review at my blog. Sad that there wouldn't be a new book set in this world.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've liked these stories a lot, but I think I would enjoy the series more if the whole series was written and I could read them start to finish.

[Tanita Davis]

I wish Meg Burden could write a third book to this series; the world-building was so good I want more of the whole thing.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book was good; this is just sort of scattered, with a bad case of Middle Book Syndrome.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much improved from the first book. It has a solid plot, but ends on a cliffhanger. I look forward to reading the next book.