The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen - Restarting September 8th 2016

[Rachmi]

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Sophie, Selia and I are going to read this popular book on February 13th. Everyone is welcome to join us!

[Rachmi]

Sophie and Selia, have you started it?

I'm reading it now and I like Sage already :)

[Tessa]

I'm going to join jou guys soon. :)

[Rachmi]

Yay! welcome Tessa, I'm enjoying this book so far.

[Rachmi]

Chapter 10, (view spoiler)[ Although Sage is the least who has resemblance with Jaron, he surely is the bravest among the three of boys (hide spoiler)].

[Rachmi]

Chapter 18, (view spoiler)[ Conner indicated that he doesn't want to be behind the next-king, that whom ever that is chosen will become a king with his help. I thought that it's his ambition and what this is all about for him, to rule Carthya through one of the boys. I wonder whether he is honest or it's just to hide his ambition (hide spoiler)].

[Tessa]

Wow, Rachimi, slow down or you'll read this alone @.@.
I'm only at ch 6. So far this reminded me a lot of The Queen's Thief. A lot of world building, not that much action yet. Actually, the world building is a little confusing as well, but I hope we'll get more information about the grand plan soon :).

[Rachmi]

I only read one book at one time, that's why it feels I'm faster than you :D But I can still discuss it even when I've finished it. I wonder where are Sophie and Selia, though. Could it be they forget about this buddy read? If you didn't join us, I think I will mostly read it alone.

[Rachmi]

I haven't read yet The Queen's Thief but this book reminds me of The False Princess. Don't worry, you'll get more information soon. I think we get a limited worldbuilding and all because it's told from Sage POV. But the more he learn something, it gets better, at least that's what I feel. I really like Sage, he's smarter than he realizes and witty.

[Rachmi]

Chapter 31, (view spoiler)[I never thought that Amarinda truly loves Darius, despite they betrothed since they were young. She seems a good princess (hide spoiler)].

[Tessa]

I'm only at chapter 13. I think Conner's plan is a very bad one and they will get caught. All bad things usually start from the noblest of intentions. So I think he really did want to save Carthya from a civil war, but I also think he wants the power that comes from ruling it as well.

[Rachmi]

Yeah...I thought so. He might has good intention in the beginning, to save Carthya from civil war but he can't resist the power to rule the kingdom. Then again, who can resist it?

[Tessa]

Chapter 25
(view spoiler)[So, I like how the action is going so far. Sage still reminds me of Eugenedies from The book Thief; how they are both so stubborn and clever ^^. I think Imogen will bring a bad complication to his story. (hide spoiler)]

The story is also a little slow, but there is only one week left till the final bang, so I'm keeping my hopes up XD.

Also, the author used the word "manager" while describing the tasks of a king. I find this word very unfitting for a story set in a world before the 20st century...

[Rachmi]

Agree with you, Tessa, both about Imogen and the paced, it's quite slow for a story that is take place only in two weeks.

To be honest I didn't pay attention about "manager" but then again maybe it's because English isn't my first language. So I basically didn't feel the difference about it. But after you mentioned it, I do more pay attention to the words choice and I found that in chapter 35, (view spoiler)[Sage used C'mon, instead of come on, quite odd for regent era (hide spoiler)]. What do you think?

[Rachmi]

Chapter 41, (view spoiler)[ I think Sage is actually Prince Jaron himself. I don't what happened to him (yet) that made him ended up at the orphanage but it's just the way he talks and act is like he is a Prince in disguise (hide spoiler)].

[sel]

Sophie wrote: "OMG, I totally forgot! Haven't even started yet, I will try to start tomorrow. Hope I'm not too late for some discussing *finger crossed*"

ME TOO! I just started it now!! Gah, we can discuss. :P

[sel]

Sophie wrote: "Selia {¢σи¢єαℓ, ∂σи'т fєєℓ} wrote: "Sophie wrote: "OMG, I totally forgot! Haven't even started yet, I will try to start tomorrow. Hope I'm not too late for some discussing *finger crossed*"

ME TO..."

That's fine. I'm reading another book also.

[Tessa]

Same here, I'm reading rather slow because I'm reading 6 books right now XD.
Rachmi is ahead because she likes to read 1 book at a time, but I think she'll join the discussion either way :) .

Rachmi wrote: "Sage used C'mon, instead of come on, quite odd for regent era"
English is not my mother language either, but some things are to obvious to miss :( . So, this part is a minus for this book. >__>

[sel]

Ah, yes. I got 5 books I'm reading, I think. XD I sign up for too many challenges and buddy reads...:P

[sel]

I know, right. I'll get overload one of these times.

[Rachmi]

I'm only a couple chapters to finish it but I'll still join your discussion. It's quite hard for me to focus if I read more than one book at a time :D

[Rachmi]

@Tessa, yes it's so obvious and do you realize a couple times they tell us (view spoiler)["I'm told" isn't it supposed to be "I was told"? (hide spoiler)].

[Tessa]

I think both versions are correct, not sure in relationship to that period XD.

[Rachmi]

It isn't as obvious as (view spoiler)[ manager or c'mon, then (hide spoiler)].

[Rachmi]

Finished it! I actually gave it 3.5 star but round up to 4 stars. Anyone who wants to read its sequel, I'm up for it :D

[Tessa]

@Rachmi: if I like this prequel I'm totally up for the sequel :) .

[Rachmi]

Finger crossed for you to like it, Tessa :D I still need one fantasy book for Mad Lib challenge.

[Tessa]

Ok, I finished this as well. It was actually a good read despite the fact that I gave it 3 stars.
- minus 1 star for the "inappropriate" writing (at times) - reffer back to the manager part; and
- minus 1 star for the predictable story
(view spoiler)[Donno about you guys, but since the middle of this book it was obvious for me that Sage was the lost prince, the real lost prince. And the fact that Connor was the bad character was not a surprise at all. I never for a second believed in his blabbering that he's having the kingdom's best interest at hand. (hide spoiler)]
Despite all that, I liked Sage as a character. He was smart, capable, courageous and kind. So he's the reason why I'll read the second book. I do hope it will be less predictable than this one :) .

@Rachmi let me know when you want us to start reading the second book. I'm currently reading The Night Circus. This is also fantasy if you are interested; and quite good from what I've read so far :) .

[Rachmi]

(view spoiler)[Yes, I can guess that Sage is actually prince Jaron from the middle of the story. And yes I also quite sure that Connor is the bad guy here but I also think that his reason to bring the false prince is make sense. I guess that makes him become more interesting for me. He is a bad character yet I can understand his reason, though it's because he has his own agenda (hide spoiler)].

I haven't bought The Night Circus yet so I cannot read it ASAP. But I'm ready to read . If you want to read it this month, can we do it on 27th?

[Tessa]

The date's fine with me. Can you read this in 2 days? Or is the Mad Lib challenge lasting longer than the end of the month?

About this book:
" I also think that his reason to bring the false prince is make sense."
(view spoiler)[He's the one who assassinated the royal family. He had no noble reason to get the false prince. His only reason was to get the power over the country. I found him to be a pretty delusional and ambitious villain. (hide spoiler)]

[Rachmi]

Tessa wrote: "The date's fine with me. Can you read this in 2 days? Or is the Mad Lib challenge lasting longer than the end of the month?

About this book:
" I also think that his reason to bring the false princ..."

(view spoiler)[ OMG how can I forget about it? but still I think Connor was an interesting character and I felt like I should give him credit because he can make me wondering of his true motive. Despite my guess, I wasn't really sure before Jaron said it so. So yes, my guess was right but I was still waiting for Jaron to reveal it. Do you understand what I mean? (hide spoiler)].

I have another buddy read on 25th, so I give it 2 days to finish and try to finish The Runaway King in 2 days too :D

[Tessa]

"Do you understand what I mean?"
No, but I'm probably just tired :D.

[Rachmi]

Selia & Sophie are you still reading this book? Tessa and I want to read its sequel, tomorrow, February 27th.

[Tessa]

Rachimi, I'm ready to start the buddy read for the second book. Can you please start the topic? :)

[Rachmi]

I think I should edit the title of the thread, right? and mark that we'll read the sequel now.

[Rachmi]

I've tried to edit the title of the thread but couldn't do it. Somehow the book didn't appear. I'm going to ask Sarah to edit it.

[Tessa]

I've started reading this one and I must confess that I'm kinda disappointed in the way this story is going. He's totally going to go and look for the pirates and then destroy them from the inside out *sigh*.
This character's strongest power is boldness and a bucket (or more) of luck. I can't really see a normal person pull this off, not even a very intelligent one. It's one thing to be intelligent and a completely different thing to have everything go the way you planed.
Also, that encounter with Roden was so cliche: we'll kill you, but not now [because the story would end then]... a little later in the story. *insert evil laugh*

I was expecting to see a more mature Sage in this book, but so far it looks like this author is going to follow the same story pattern she used for her previous book. Yey! Excitement runs all over me...yey...

[Rachmi]

Hahaha, I get what you mean and agree with all of things you mentioned. I didn't read much last night, though. I have to finish another book. One thing for me that obvious (aside that Roden thing you mentioned) is the way Jaron handle his relationship with Imogen. It's just so cliche.

How far are you, by the way? I'm only on chapter 7 now.

[Rachmi]

Chapter 10, (view spoiler)[ Even if Jaron can make the pirates on his side, it still isn't safe. I think he cannot trust them completely. Just like he isn't suppose to trust the regants (hide spoiler)].

[Rachmi]

Chapter 21, (view spoiler)[ Jaron/Sage insist to go alone but then when he close to meet the pirates he change his mind? I can't belive it! why didn't you hear what Mott said from the beginning? (hide spoiler)].

[Tessa]

Chapter 28
(view spoiler)[Until he gets to the pirates things are going to be a little slow. Then he gets there and finally gets discovered, obviously. And now he's so deep in shit that I don't even know how he'll manage to get out to the surface again, not to mention get the smell out...
Really, I was not expecting this from Sage, to go into something like this with no plan. (hide spoiler)]

[Tessa]

Finished this one. Sorry I couldn't wait for you, but I need this for this month's challenge.
Final conclusion: another dropped series.
(view spoiler)[In the end it happened exactly like I was expecting it to happen. Throw Sage in a lot of problems then let pure luck do the rest. I felt really disappointed in the sudden resolve of this book. Once Roden accepted him everything worked out just fine. (hide spoiler)]

To say I was unimpressed by the turn out of events is an understatement. The characters don't evolve at all in this book and not even the cliff-hang ending couldn't convince me to read the next book.

[Rachmi]

I finished it too, just need to review it.

Although there is things that unpredictable, like Imogen show up at pirate camp, I didn't expect it at all, most of the things are predictable and boring. I often skip Jaron description about its setting and all just so I can finish it. I still want to read book #3, though. I have this "bad" habit to finish all of books and series that I have started even the one that I don't like.

[Tessa]

Well, let me know if book 3 is any good. I have it on my kindle, but I don't think I'll have the patience to read it if I won't have a confirmation that it won't be as bad at this one.

The other series we're reading [Horrorscape] turned out to be quite a hit. I'm loving the second book so far :D .

[Rachmi]

I don't know when will I read book #3 but I'll try to read it within this year while I still remember the story. And so I can finish a whole series soon. I'll let you know about it :)

Glad knowing that Horrorscape is way better than Fearscape!

[Tessa]

If you want to read something similar to this one, but far better try "The queen's thief". :)

[Sarah Elizabeth]

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Date Changed. Restarting February 9th 2016. Happy Reading ☺

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[dianis.]

Hey! I would like to join you(:

[Abbie]

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Reading from the 8th of September 2016

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[Cinthia]

Might join this one. It's free on kindle.