Review: The Immortal Crown by Richelle Mead

Title: The Immortal Crown

Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: supernatural, dystopian
Series: Age of X #2
Pages: 432
Published: Expected May 29, 2014
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 4 out of 5

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Vampire Academy and Bloodline series returns with the second installment in her acclaimed Age of X series.

Gameboard of the Gods introduced religious investigator Justin March and Mae Koskinen, the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him. Together they have been charged with investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both inside the Republic of United North America and out. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: Not only are the gods vying for human control, but the elect—special humans marked by the divine—are turning against one another in bloody fashion.

Their mission takes a new twist when they are assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin’s old friend and rival, going into Arcadia, the RUNA’s dangerous neighboring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work, even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly acquired deity.

Meanwhile, Mae—grudgingly posing as Justin’s concubine—has a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter’s connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission—and with it the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.

Reviewed by Danielle. 
The Immortal Crown is everything I wanted from Gameboard of the Gods, and more. More supernatural powers, tighter mystery, more romantic tension, a reason for the third POV to exist. It’s one of the rare sequels that truly enhances and exceeds its predecessor.

This time around, Justin and his supersoldier bodyguard, Mae, are warned that they’re about to become embroiled in a “war of the elect”. While neither is sure what that means, it’s pretty obviously something not. good. So when Lucian Darling has the brilliant idea of taking them to Arcadia, a fundamentalist theocracy, as part of a goodwill delegation, Justin’s adamantly not interested. Unfortunately, Mae, and their respective deities, have other plans for our heroes.

Arcadia is terrifying. Nehitimar, (interestingly, the only god so far not from traditional mythology,) takes the worst of all the Abrahamic religions’ ideals and wraps them in even more misogyny and violence. Add in a crazy and dangerous Pope Grand Disciple with a highly magnetic religious artifact and you have a powder keg. Reading the physical and sexual abuse women suffer in this land is hard, and you should know you’re signing up for a sub-plot about sex trafficking. Yet, I appreciated that there is some shades of grey in the two countries. Arcadia may be backwards and violent, but RUNA’s hardly innocent, as we’re reminded that the initial secession was due to their forced breeding programs after Mephistopheles.

Meanwhile, Tessa’s plot is separate from Justin and Mae’s, but far more successful than in book one. She’s still obsessed with Gemman media and takes an internship with a reporter to learn more about the subject. This internship leads her to a conspiracy that might implicate important RUNA politicians in secretly engaging in religious worship. While investigating this lead, we finally get to see Tessa as Justin’s protege, and see more of Gemman daily life without the “wide eyed foreigner” thing that bothered me in the first book. Though the plots converge at the end, it makes a lot more sense for her to be doing something completely different and I felt like we actually got to know the character.

There’s a lot more magic this time around, which was mostly good. I’m going to need some parameters in the next book, because, especially at the end, people pull out some full on swords and sorcery shit, in what had previously been sci-fi with magic aspects. It works while the characters don’t understand the magic system either, but pretty soon we’re both going to need to learn its limits. Some of the “just have faith” messages got a little hokey, but for the most part I liked the way the gods interacted with their subjects. And that brings us to the climax. Fairly major plot spoilers below.

Credit to expostninja on Tumblr

If you can’t think of a better way to make your female lead vulnerable than rape, you need to stop and do re-writes. If you can’t think of a better way to drive the romantic leads apart than rape, you need to just stop.

Especially considering Mae was raped prior to book one already, had a very emotional scene, (complete with flashbacks,) dealing with the possibility of being raped again when she first met the Grand Disciple, there is no excusable reason to have her raped a second time to end this book. It’s never a good plot point. I understand the plot called for her to have a crisis of faith that would allow a chaotic entity to step in, and I’m interested in seeing where that goes, but there has to be another way to do it. And frankly, the reveal of who it was felt convenient and muddied both the plot and the magic system.

I really love this book and I’m disappointed that it and my review end on such a sour note. I hope the next book can recapture the excitement and intrigue of the first 400 pages, but I don’t think we’re in the right place going forward.

Review Take Two: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Title: Gameboard of the Gods
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: science fiction, post-apocalyptic, dystopia, supernatural
Series: Age of X #1
Pages: 464
Published: expected June 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4/5

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

Reviewed by Danielle.

I went back and forth on the rating for this book. On one hand, it’s a bit slow and the author is so anti-info dumps that I spent the first quarter confused. On the other hand, holy SHIT do I love Mae. I’m still wavering between a 3 and a 4, but I’m going to leave it at the higher rating, because while GotG isn’t the most solid book I’ve read, but it ends up being a really fun, unique fusion.

Mae Koskinen is a praetorian, and similar to the Roman bodyguards the sect derives their name from, an elite warrior/bodyguard. Unlike the ancient version, futuristic praetorians are the recipients of an implant that imbibes them with special skills. Mae’s body metabolizes chemicals at a super-human rate, allowing her enhanced reflexes and rendering her impervious to poison. Unfortunately, Mae sets a foot wrong and is demoted from guarding senators and monuments. Instead, she is assigned to guard Dr. Justin March, a brilliant but troubled servitor, (“investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims,”) who was previously exiled under rather mysterious circumstances. The government now needs Justin back to investigate a string of murders with a religious bend.

March is drowning his sorrows, and memories of supernatural activities, in a drug and alcohol fueled haze in South America, when a case of mistaken identity results in him and Mae going home together. This sets off the real mystery of the novel, the mythologic intrigue referenced in the blurb. <SPOILER ALERT>See, Justin has been claimed by an unknown god, who gave him several prophecies and a pair of supernatural ravens in exchange for an apple. Mae fits one of the prophecies and only through some tricky wordplay does Justin avoid being bound to the god’s service. <END SPOILER>Their tryst sends them both down the road of discovery as Justin’s personal mystery collides with the murder investigation.

At this point, we’re at a solid four stars. I have some quibbles on world building and the way it was revealed, but it’s nothing an appendix or a map couldn’t fix. Justin’s brilliant, troubled, and not just a little sleazy scientist was an interesting character with varied motivations, aspirations, and reactions. He’s a sexy jerk who frequently gets called out on it, while being a loving brother/uncle/foster father. And Mae is fantastic. She’s a tough, determined fighter, a sexually liberated lover, a conflicted daughter. I found them both well rounded and developed. They had great interplay and palpable chemistry.

Unfortunately, the book has three PoVs.

Tessa, a Panamanian teenager who seems to be included solely to appeal to Mead’s former YA fanbase, has none of Mae and Justin’s development. She is plucked, seemingly at random, from her household to come with Justin to RUNA. He made a promise to her father that he would bring them all with him, but immigration as it is, there can only be one. This does lead to her second purpose, to have the world building explained to her, and by proxy, the audience.

Tessa, we’re told, is a prodigy at judging people, but we rarely see it in action. She does sort of bumble her way into a big break in the mystery, but last I checked, getting kidnapped isn’t the same as being a intuitive mastermind. Other than that, she whines a lot about commercialism and patriotism. Perhaps she has a purpose that will be revealed as the series goes on, but as it stands I truly don’t care for, or about, her.

She’s not the only side character without a lot going on, either. Mae’s friends; Justin’s sister; Leo, the brilliant hacker and his vineyard-owning boyfriend, Dominic are all victims of a very driven story. They really only show up to provide a clue to a mystery and then disappear again. On one hand, I appreciate that the plot is kept moving. On the other, at least one scene, <SPOILER>where Tessa is picked up by the only two guards in the city who like Mae, brought back to Justin’s house, and the guards then proceed to give him her life story for funsies<END SPOILER> is so convenient.

Again, I did decide to round up because the main characters are great. The mystery was engrossing and deep. No guessing the final twist 150 pages in here, folks. It’s probably more enjoyable if you’ve got a handle on Greek and Roman mythology, (you know, a bit beyond Disney’s Hercules and Clash of the Titans,) otherwise references may go over your head. In all, I’ll forgive a few slow spots and underdeveloped side characters for an intriguing new world that I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time in. 

Review: Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Title: Gameboard of the Gods
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: dystopia, post-apocalyptic, fantasy
Series: Age of X #1
Pages: 472 (ARC edition)
Published: expected June 4 2013
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4.5/5

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

My first -- and far from last -- Richelle Mead novel, Gameboard of the Gods could not have been a better or more fun introduction to this popular author. A mix of futuristic science fiction, mystery, old school mythology, dystopia and post-apocalyptic genres, this book is weird and odd, and above all, really, really good. It takes a while to build into the tour de force of awesome it is, but the slow start is more than worth the time and wait. Gameboard of the Gods is creative, fast-paced, full of action and just plain fun. As the first in a new series, it's a promising beginning and one that leaves the reader eagerly anticipating what else Mead will cook up next for her adaptable protagonists.

The first hundred pages present the hardest challenge - there are a lot of terms, ideas thrown around and this is an author that doesn't believe an infodump of explanations are the way to immerse her readers into a new world. Rather, Mead doesn't immediately lay out her worldbuilding, but slowly reveals it through the characters' dialogue, actions, and inner monologues. And this created world, post-"Decline" - is a fascinating, thoroughly original one. There are still some gray areas left in how the Republic of United North America formed and operates, but with the first in the series, a remarkable amount of information is subtly dispensed to the audience. I have faith and the patience to see how Mead further carries the ideas she's laid the foundation for here with the sequels that are forthcoming.

Character-wise, this book is just as strong as it is in writing and plotting. Lead characters Mae and Justin complement each other very well, despite (or maybe because of) their many differences. They have palpable chemistry, and a complicated relationship that evolves just as much as the two of them do individually. Tjeir interplay and banter are consistently top-notch. I loved the typical-role reversal between the two as well. Usually it's a strong man protecting a brilliant woman, but Mae is the muscle (and has her fair share of brains), with Justin relying on her to protect them as they race to solve a mystery that tests everything both of them have been raised to believe.

If you like a well-crafted mystery, with two likeable and flawed protagonists (with intense chemistry), or if you like mythology with a fresh spin, or if you like well-done and thought-out dystopias with a side of post-apocalyptic world-building, Gameboard of the Gods is your newest best book friend. Great action scenes, a clever mystery and two great characters make this a very involving and compelling book. If this is how the series begins, I am very curious to see what happens next for the praetorian and the servitor. I only hope the next book isn't too long in coming!